Print this page Reduce font size Increase font size

Gallipoli history

  • Anzac Centenary

    Anzac Centenary thumbnail

    Between 2014 and 2018 Australia will commemorate the Anzac Centenary, marking 100 years since our involvement in the First World War. Visit the Anzac Centenary website

  • 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 ...

Main 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 at 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. more ...

Portrait Lieutenant Norman Holbrook VC

December 1914: B11 Sinks Turkish Battleship!

On the morning of 13 December 1914 the B11 commanded by Lieutenant Norman Holbrook sank the Turkish battleship, Mesudiye, off Çanakkale in the Narrows.

B11 Submarine

‘Swinging the periscope around across the broad sweep of Sarisiglar Bay, just below the town, Holbrook was taken aback to see just the sort of sight he was hoping for – a Turkish battleship, the Mesudiye. Nobody had yet spotted their arrival in the area and B11 possessed one of the elements vital for the success of any attack, surprise.’ more ...

Special feature

Map of Anzac Walk

The Anzac Walk

Guided Tour Of Gallipoli In English & Turkish

The ‘Anzac Walk’ is designed for the Australian visitor who has little time but can devote one day to explore the main area the ‘Anzacs’, held on Gallipoli from 25 April to 20 December 1915.

The Anzac Walk takes the visitor around 14 locations on the old Anzac battlefield of 1915 at Gallipoli.

Discover the stories of North Beach, Artillery Road, Lone Pine and the Nek as seen through the eyes of those who fought and died there. Feel the truth of the words of Australia’s official historian of the Gallipoli campaign, Charles Bean: The graves of Gallipoli, exquisitely maintained, where Anzac folk can walk amid thousands of names as familiar as those along Collins or Pitt Streets, do call for visitors. more ...

Site highlights in Turkish

Turkish Monmument thumbnail

Gelibolu'yu Bugün Ziyaret

Some features on the site are also available translated into Turkish language:

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 have 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 ...