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Anzac beach landing place
Number 4 gun, 9th Battery, McClay's Ridge, Gallipoli
Anzac beach showing hospital in foreground
Above photos courtesy Major McDonald collection via Casterton Historical
Society
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Anzacs
 Australians along with New Zealanders (ANZACS) fought at Gallipoli from 25
April to 20 December 1915, against the Turks. At Gallipoli, they landed at
Anzac Cove with steep cliffs rising from the beach and had to endure, just
like the Turkish soldiers, a life from hell. Anzacs are praised for the
landing and evacuation, acclaimed for capturing the redoubtable Ottoman
trenches at Lone Pine, and pitied for being led by British officers, many of
whom are claimed to have been half-witted. Australia�s Gallipoli, as
portrayed in Australian director Peter Weir�s highly successful feature film
of the same name, is remembered as a triumph of the Australian character over
a hostile foe, difficult terrain, and incompetent leadership. The Turks might
have won the battle but we won the fight, is what most Australians like to
believe.
Despite the passing of the years, the Gallipoli story is still passed down
with the same passion as was done with earlier generations. Australian
schoolchildren still listen to stories of brave Simpson and his donkey, the
gallant attack at Lone Pine, the selfless charge at the Nek, or some such
tale of Australian bravery. Each year the children are asked to observe a
minute�s silence in memory of men and events they probably do not understand.
No-one could pass through the Australian education system without becoming
aware of Gallipoli, but few students realise that the Anzacs were invaders.
Even after all these years, the Anzac legend, like all legends, is highly
selective in what it presents as history.
The interesting thing is that, in some ways, the legend has been redefined
in recent years to embrace the Turkish soldiers along with the Anzacs. In
recent times, Australia�s annual Anzac Day remembrance has focussed less on
the battles and more on the human values that shone through during the
fighting. When viewed in this light, the Anzac and Ottoman soldier can each
be seen as sharing much the same fate; fellow sufferers rather than sworn
enemies. This sense of a shared experience between the soldiers of the two
countries has created a special affinity between the two nations.
Over the decades, a sea change has occurred in Australian-Turkish
relations. Gallipoli is for most Australians still their primary point of
contact with Turkey and Turkish people. But now the 1915 battles are seen as
things that bond the two nations. A new respect, even a sentimentality, has
emerged with �Johnny Turk� today being a figure much more loved than hated by
Australians. In Australia and Turkey, it has almost become obligatory to
mention Gallipoli whenever the other country is the subject matter.From "Gallipoli - The Turkish Story", Allen & Unwin, 2003
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