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Gallipoli history

  • Timelines

    Australian Soldiers at Lone Pine thumbnail

    The timeline Australians at Gallipoli and at War enables you to quickly locate information and perspectives on significant dates in the history of Australian warfare, including 100 important events at Gallipoli, the role of the Australians in the Gallipoli campaign as well as Australia's involvement in war from 1901 to 2000. more ...

  • The Gallipoli landing

    Landing soldiers thumbnail

    Historians still debate whether the Anzac troops were landed at the correct place. Why did the Allied commanders send Australian troops to land on a beach before rugged hills, ridges and steep gullies? What was the objective? What happened? Trace the events that led to the landing as well as first hand accounts. more ...

  • Bravery at Gallipoli

    Gaining the VC thumbnail

    The Victoria Cross, the highest award for bravery in battle in the old British Empire and Dominions,was awarded to eleven soldiers in the Anzac area of Gallipoli between April and December 1915. Discover how these eleven men earned the Victoria Cross for their extraordinary acts of courage. more ...

  • Nurses at Gallipoli

    Gallipoli Nurse

    Read about the role of the nurses at Gallipoli in 1915, the conditions in which they worked on hospital ships and on the islands of Lemnos and Imbros, what they endured and their feelings about service. Look through the amazing photograph album of Private A W Savage which documents the life of the 3rd Australian General Hospital on Lemnos in 1915, a visual chronicle of life and death. more ...

  • Signaller Silas at Anzac

    Portrait of Ellis Silas thumbnail

    Among the original Australian infantry units at the Battle of the Landing from the evening of 25 April to 3 May was the 16th Battalion. Something of the battalion’s story from its raising in Western Australia in 1914 to the end of the battle was subsequently told by one of their own, the artist Signaller Ellis Silas, in his book Crusading at Anzac, A.D. 1915. more ...

  • Lemnos diary

    Lemnos thumbnail

    On Gallipoli, Lance Corporal Archie Albert Barwick kept a diary, some of which may have been written in retrospect. This lasted from the landing of 25 April to the evacuation of his unit—the 1st Battalion, AIF—on the nights of 16-17 December 1915. Sections of his diary deal with his time on the island of Lemnos. more ...

Researching feature

Still from AE2 Animation

Submarines
at Gallipoli

April 1915: AE2 though the Narrows!

At 2.30 am on 25 April 1915, as the men of the Anzac Corps approached the west coast of Gallipoli in the ships of the invasion fleet, the Australian submarine AE2 entered the Dardanelles to disrupt Turkish sea communication.

Portrait Lieutenant-Commander Henry Stoker

The Australian submarine AE2, the first Allied warship to make it though the Dardanelles, was commanded by Irishman Lieutenant-Commander Henry Stoker. Its aim was to assist the military landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula by getting past the Narrows to operate against Turkish military transports in the Sea of Marmara. After successfully navigating the Dardanelles, including the torpedoing of a Turkish ship at the Narrows, from 26 to 30 April, the AE2 hunted for Turkish ships in the southern area of the Sea of Marmara. Read about this historic journey, and watch detailed animation of the AE2's voyage, based on Lieutenant-Commander Henry Stoker's reports. Also read the story of the B11 submarine commanded by Lieutenant Norman Holbrook that sank the Turkish battleship, Mesudiye, off Çanakkale in the Narrows in December 1914. more ...

Special features: Gallipoli bravery - nurses’ stories

Portrait of Albert Jacka

Bravery awards at Gallipoli

For Valor: The Victoria Cross and Anzac

Victoria Crosses were hard earned. They stand out as official recognition of an act, or in some cases a series of acts, of outstanding courage.

Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded at Gallipoli. Seven Victoria Crosses were awarded to Australians for their courage at Lone Pine, five of them for actions on one day alone, 9 August 1915. Explore the deeds of those Victoria Cross recipients: Alexander Burton, William Dunstan, Frederick Tubb, John Hamilton, Leonard Keysor, Alfred Shout, William Symons, Albert Jacka, Hugo Throssell, Cyril Bassett and Walter Parker. more ...

Nurses thumbnail

Lemnos: nurses' stories

Australian General Hospital: Lemnos Island, 1915

Explore the nurses' experience of Gallipoli from their letters as well as life on Lemnos through the diary of L.C. Barwick. Read about the workings of the 3rd Australian General Hospital at Lemnos and examine the photographs of the hospital taken by A.W. Savage in 1915.

The wounded from the landing commenced to come on board at 9 am and poured into the ship’s wards from barges and boats. The majority still had on their field dressing and a number of these were soaked through. Two orderlies cut off the patient’s clothes and I started immediately with dressings. There were 76 patients in my ward and I did not finish until 2 am more ...

Other researching highlights

The drawings of Major Hore

Hore's Drawings thumbnail

Major LFS Hore recorded his experience of Gallipoli through ink, pencil, wash and watercolour drawings. These drawings reveal a personal view of Gallipoli through the eyes of a man sensitive to the beauty and drama of his surroundings and the tragedy of war. These works have lain largely unseen in the Mitchell Library since 1919. more ...

The Australian home front

Dinkum Anzac thumbnail

Look at some of the applications that Australians made to use the word 'Anzac' in songs, cards, photographs, designs and product names in Anzac – a national heirloom. Also explore the individual stories of two men – Roy Denning and Wilfred Emmott Addison – who came from Yass to fight at Gallipoli in Gallipoli and a Country Town – Yass. more ...

Historical timelines

Australian Soldiers at Lone Pine thumbnail

The timeline Australians at Gallipoli and at War enables you to quickly locate information and perspectives on significant dates in the history of Australian warfare, including 100 important events at Gallipoli, the role of the Australians in the Gallipoli campaign as well as Australia's involvement in war from 1901 to 2000. more ...

Gallipoli today

  • Anzac Day at Gallipoli

    North Beach on Anzac Day thumb

    Find out about the key events held at Gallipoli including the Anzac Day Services which are held each year and which since 2000 have been conducted at the Anzac Commemorative Site. more ...

  • War grave sites at Gallipoli

    Ari Burnu Cemetery thumb

    On the Gallipoli Peninsula today are 31 war cemeteries, and a number of memorials to the missing. The cemeteries contain 22,000 graves. However, only 9,000 of these are of identified burials with grave markers. more ...

  • Anzac Commemorative Site

    Anzac Commemorative Site Plaque thumb

    The Anzac Commemorative Site is 300 metres north of Ari Burnu at North Beach. Explore the site and its Interpretive Panels, as well as how it was constructed, including interactive site plans. more ...

  • Gallipoli tour

    Turkish roadside seller Alçitepe village thumb

    Take guided audio tours of the whole Gallipoli region, including a tour of the Anzac Battlefields, a tour of Cape Helles, and an Asian shores tour including Çanakkale, Fort Dardanos and Kumkale. more ...

  • Turkish memorials

    Turkish Monuments thumb

    Take a tour of the the Turkish monuments and memorials at Gallipoli including those at Kilitbahir and Çanakkale, the Kanlisirt and Atatürk Memorials , Seddülbahir Fort and Atatürk's house at Bigali. more ...

Anzac Art, Images and Designs

  • The drawings of Major Hore

    Hore's Drawing thumbnail

    Hundred of soldiers in Gallipoli recorded their experiences in diaries and letters. Major Hore recorded his sense of Gallipoli in drawings using at different times ink, pencil, wash and watercolour. Hore's drawings reveal a personal view of Gallipoli through the eyes of a man sensitive to the beauty and drama of his surroundings and the tragedy of war. more ...

  • ‘Anzac’ - a national heirloom

    Anzac image thumbnail

    In the collections of the National Archives of Australia there are many files dealing with applications to use the word ‘Anzac’ or to copyright material associated with Gallipoli and the remembrance of the campaign. Look at some of the applications that Australians made, from requests to name their children and homes 'Anzac' to using the word in songs, photographs, cards, designs and product names. more ...

  • Interactive plans - Commemorative Site

    Interactive Plans thumbnail

    Explore the interactive site plans for the Anzac Commemorative Site created in Flash. The plans include elevation drawings, site and drainage plans and structural details. The new site, with its informal low stone walls, paths to the beach and information panels, will become a focal point for visitors to this heritage area of special significance to Australians and New Zealanders. more ...

  • ‘Anzac - the landing 1915’

    Painting ‘Anzac - the landing 1915’ thumbnail

    View a selection of images of Gallipoli including scenes as they were when photographed in 1915 and as they appear today. There are detailed looks at two famous paintings depicting major events at Gallipoli – "Anzac, The Landing 1915" and "The charge of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade at the Nek, 7 August 1915". more ...