Overview
Anzac Cove, Turkey.
The landing of allied troops at Gallipoli was the first major action in which Australians were involved in the First World War. The beach site at Anzac Cove represents a mixture of achievement and tragedy for all Australians. During that time, Australians found their true spirit, a new national pride and our indelible identity as a people. Thousands of Australians visit Anzac Cove every year.
More information
Around Ari Burnu Point, the northernmost point of Anzac Cove, are the locations where the legendary landings on 25 April 1915 occurred. On disembarking, the troops were faced with precipitous cliffs rising from a narrow strip of beach. Turkish forces were strategically placed to repel the landing.
Official war historian Charles Bean later wrote "that strongly marked and definite entity, the Anzac tradition, had, from the first morning, been partly created here".
Anzac Cove, Turkey.
Anzac Cove soon became the chief stores area for the Corps, the headquarters site, the location of medical facilities, and the place from which men arrived or left the peninsula.
A new national pride
The eight-month campaign concluded with a successful withdrawal in December 1915. The campaign gave to Australia - a nation less than 15 years old - a new pride. The news of the landings at Gallipoli and Australian and New Zealand success there in managing to hold on against determined counter-attacks by brave Turkish forces was received enthusiastically in Australia. The price, however, had been high. Australia, whose population was then fewer than five million, lost 8700 men at Gallipoli.
Commemorating the dead
Anzac Day ceremonial area
Since 1916, the significance of the landings at Anzac Cove has been marked by annual commemorative ceremonies on the anniversary known as Anzac Day. The characteristic traits attributed to the Australians at Gallipoli give the Anzac legend its form: these were brave, resourceful, irreverent, loyal, humorous men, and mateship was their creed.
The Gallipoli campaign affects the way Australians think about war, themselves, and their society. It also formed the basis for a lasting friendship between Australia and its one-time adversary, Turkey.
The Spirit of Anzac "stood, and still stands, for reckless valour in a good cause, for enterprise, resourcefulness, fidelity, comradeship and endurance that will never own defeat." Charles Bean, official war historian