Day 3 - Gallipoli....continued....

The third day of our trip had an overwhelming theme of commemoration. Throughout the day there were ten commemoration ceremonies held for the Australia and New Zealand diggers who we’d “adopted” and researched in our preparation for the study tour. As each student paid their tribute, we heard moving accounts of the lives of a range of gallant young men, from Privates to Reverends and Majors, each with their own story. These tributes were completed by the Last Post, the recitation of the Ode and the Rouse, played on the bugle by Hadley Black.

This fantastic day of touring the battlefields began with a group photo at the famous ANZAC sign at North Beach. We then traveled to Embarkation Pier, where we heard a tribute from David Lewien, who is a Vietnam veteran and a member of the State Executive of the RSL. He paid tribute to Reverend Andrew Gillison, a chaplain to the 14^th Battalion. From there we went onto 2^nd Post Cemetery. Thanks to Bruce’s knowledge of the area we were able to view the remains of a WW1-era barge on the shores. We spent the rest of the day along the 2nd ridge which was for the most part the front line at Gallipoli.

The most memorable part was the visit to the Lone Pine Cemetery. Gazing upon the thousands of names inscribed on the wall was truly heart wrenching. This experience was capped off by six tributes to diggers accompanied by Amazing Grace on the pipes and the Last Post and Rouse on bugle. At Lone Pine we also explored subsided trenches from the campaign.

Liz Sandbach at Lone Pine

After a tribute at Quinn’s Post we moved on to The Nek. This is a narrow strip of land, not much bigger than a tennis court, where three waves of Australians charged Turkish machine gunners. I found it hard to believe that while there are more than 200 men buried at The Nek – only 10 could be identified. The rest had literally been shot to bits. Here we met Turkish tourists from Istanbul and of all people, a school group from Horsham, Victoria. Here we heard stories from men who fought at the Nek. Bruce got Bob, our tour leader, and Nick, one of the teachers to read an extract from the film script of Gallipoli. This inspirational experience was followed by an amazing but terrifying view from Walkers Ridge down a steep cliff into Mule Gully.

Hadley playing the Last Post at Quinn's Post

Walker's Ridge looking into Mule Gully

SOAPs and Horsham Secondary College

 

A short bus trip followed, up to Baby 700, the sight of teacher chaperone Nick’s adopted digger tribute. Our tour of the 2^nd ridge was completed with a visit to Chunuk Bair. Chunuk Bair was an ANZAC objective of the first day at Gallipoli but would only be briefly captured during the August Offensive. This offensive by New Zealand soldiers would cost of many hundreds of lives. One amongst these was Tom’s adopted digger Colonel Malone, the leader of the new Zealanders who took Chunuk Bair.

This amazing day at Gallipoli was finished by cultural entertainment at Hotel Kum. The students enthusiastically took the opportunity join Turkish party and to learn traditional dances. A truly cultural experience.