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George Lambert, Anzac, the landing
1915
1920-22. oil on canvas
190.5 x 350.5 cm
(AWM 2873)
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Hanging in the Gallipoli gallery of the Australian War Memorial
is one of the best-known Australian war paintings–George
Lambert’s Anzac, the landing 1915. Depicted
in the centre of the painting are Australian soldiers, crawling
and scrambling their way up a steep, scrubby cliff. Some
have been killed, some lie wounded, while others press on
towards the heights where the growing daylight shows up
distant, shadowy figures of the enemy above. Lambert has
caught on canvas the struggle of Western Australians of
the 11th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force (AIF), as
they made their way up towards Plugge’s Plateau from
where they had been put ashore on North Beach. In the painting,
the Sphinx is beginning to catch the first light of day
as the men climb in the shadow of the western side of ‘Plugge’s’.
This is the dawn rush of the first wave of Australians as
described to Lambert by Lieutenant Hedley Howe who, as Lance-Corporal
Howe, had taken part in the landing.
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Men of the 11th Battalion and 1st
Field Company,
Australian Engineers, assembled on the forecastle of
HMS London at sea off Lemnos, 24 April 1915.
The next morning they would leave the London
to land on North Beach, Gallipoli.
(AWM A02468)
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Rowing in to land opposite the Sphinx, just a quarter of
an hour after the Western Australians, was ‘A’
Company, 12th Battalion, comprised mainly of Tasmanians.
With the rest of the great invasion fleet, the destroyer
HMS Ribble, carrying the Tasmanians, had the evening
before steamed from its anchorage at nearby Lemnos Island
and headed for the Turkish coast. As dawn approached on
25 April, the crew of the Ribble watched anxiously
as the first boatloads of Australians–men of the 9th,
10th and 11th Battalions–brought close inshore by battleships,
headed for the hazy coastline ahead. The ship's captain,
Commander Wilkinson, called out:
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The 10th Battalion in formation on
the deck of
HMS Prince of Wales, 24 April 1915.
The battleship is leaving Mudros Harbour
on its way to the Gallipoli landings.
(AWM A01829)
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The Ribble increased speed and headed for an anchorage
further inshore and to the north of the battleships. On
board was Lieutenant Ivor Margetts, 12th Battalion, a Hobart
schoolteacher:
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Troops lowering themselves into tow
boats for
the landing at Anzac, 6 am, 25 April 1915.
(AWM A01829)
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Minutes later, when they were about 200 yards from the beach,
Commander Wilkinson gave the order to man the boats. As
the first boats from the Ribble moved away they
heard the firing of a Turkish machine gun and bullets began
hitting the water around them. Margetts watched the 12th
Battalion's commanding officer–Lieutenant Colonel Lancelot
Clarke–head off in the first boat:
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I turned around to get the second tow ready, when
a man just in front of me dropped, hit in the head.
This was the first casualty and very soon there were
several others hit. There was some difficulty in getting
the second tow ready but eventually when a naval cutter
came alongside we got in and started for the beach;
three men were hit before the boat struck the shore.
When she hit the beach, I gave the word to get out
and out the men got at once, in water up to their
necks in some cases, men actually had to swim several
strokes before they got their footing. It was almost
impossible to walk with full marching order, absolutely
drenched to the skin and I fell twice before I got
to the dry beach where I scrambled up under cover
of a sand ridge. I ordered the men to dump their packs
off, load their rifles, and waited a few seconds for
the men to get their breath.
It was just breaking dawn and, as we looked towards
the sound of the firing, we were faced by almost perpendicular
cliffs about 200 feet [60 metres] above sea level,
and as we were of [the] opinion that most of
the fire was coming from this quarter, it was evident
that this was the direction of our attack. Therefore,
after a minute or two, having regained our breath, we
started to climb.
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[Captain I S Margetts, Diary,
25 April 1915, AWM 1 DRL/0478]
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