Gallipoli Campaign

New Zealand and Australia’s baptism of fire in the First World War took place with the landings on Gallipoli Peninsula of Turkey on 25 April 1915. The Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) sailed in convoy from Western Australia, landing in Egypt where they formed the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir William Birdwood. The 8556-strong NZEF was dwarfed by AIF that consisted of the 1st Australian Division and additional brigades, two of which were added to the NZEF to make the New Zealand and Australian Division.

The 1st Australian Division landed before dawn and were followed mid-morning by the New Zealanders. The day did not go according to plan and by nightfall the Anzacs were hanging on grimly, desperately trying to stop the Turks driving them back into the sea

One Gallipoli veteran spoke of the hillside above Anzac Cove on the night of 25 April, being covered with ‘beautiful cameras, cameras galore, just thrown off because you had to travel light… just a rifle, bayonet, ammunition and a trenching tool.’ Photography was forbidden but everyone took photographs until the film ran out. It was these photos sent home to Mom and Dad and published in the illustrated papers that gave the public in Australia and New Zealand, some idea of the conditions under which their boys were fighting.

The only film shot on Gallipoli was shot by the British journalist, Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett assisted by the official Royal Navy photographer, Ernest Brooks. Ashmead-Bartlett had no experience of film-making but needed the money and so he accepted an offer of 1000 pounds and 45 per cent of the sales, by the London theatre owner, Alfred Butt, if he would film the Gallipoli Campaign. Butt provided an Aeroscope portable camera and 10,000 feet of film. From July to September 1915. Ashmead-Bartlett filmed scenes of the British forces at Cape Helles and the Anzacs in the Anzac area around Anzac Cove. He also filmed preparations for the major British landing at Suvla Bay to support the Anzac attack onto the high ground as part of the August offensive.

Ashmead-Bartlett took some of the most vivid combat footage filmed during the First World War. He filmed the attack on Scimitar Hill at Suvla Bay on 21 August when artillery shells set fire to the scrub and burnt to death wounded. He also encouraged soldiers of the 5th Royal Irish Fusiliers to fire at the Turks and a small furious battle started: all for the camera.

The film With the Dardanelles Expedition premiered in London on 17 March 1916. It was sold throughout the world and shown to full houses throughout Australia and New Zealand by Fraser Films. It had no storyline and was simply a series of scenes of the Gallipoli Campaign that could be shown in three parts.

In 1918 the Australian War Records Section purchased a copy of the film from Butt. It seems that this was was incomplete, but was all that was left of the original film. This was edited into the narrative film Heroes of the Dardanelles by Charles Bean, the official Australian Miltary Historian. Bean’s aim was to show Australian achievement at Gallipoli and in captioning the film, Bean deliberately took the action scenes of the British at Suvla Bay and represented them as Australians fighting around Anzac Cove. Scenes of New Zealanders at Quinn’s Post were similarly relabelled.

Recent research has uncovered additional scenes and extra footage to existing scenes in a compilation film deposited with the Australian War Memorial. These new images could only have come from an original copy of ‘With the Dardanelles Expedition’. They are important additions, providing new scenes of Anzac Cove and confirming the identity of New Zealanders at Quinn’s Post. They also confirm that almost all of the combat footage of the August offensive is of British forces at Suvla Bay. Film audiences in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand in 1916 automatically assumed that With the Dardanelles Expedition showed their boys. It is important a century later that we recognise the same realities when watching Heroes of Gallipoli.

F T E

Washing the horses, Suvla Bay

With the Gallipoli campaign at deadlock...

At Anzac Cove

This hand-coloured glass slide shows Br...

Unloading barges, Anzac Cove

This scene of soldiers unloading barges at&n...

“What about a drop of water, Digger?”

Water shortages were a constant problem...

Dust in our ears, eyes, mouth, nose and everywhere

In late 1914 the New Zealand and Austra...

Haka in the Sand / He Haka He Onepu

The First Māori Contingent are seen in Egypt...

Heroes of Gallipoli

Heroes of Gallipoli contains t...

Swimming with Birdie at Gallipoli

As the weather warmed up on Gallipoli d...

Treating Gallipoli’s wounded – Dr Agnes Bennett

The Australian-born and New Zealand-bas...

Teenage soldiers and a boat full of blood

Seventeen-year-old Daniel Patrick (Pat) Lloy...

Australia’s submarine at Gallipoli

In the early hours of 25 April 1915, Ro...

The First Anzac at Gallipoli

Britain’s Royal Navy was in charge of l...

The Daisy Patch

Joseph Gasparich was a gumdigger and sc...

"War is lunacy": The burial armistice

On 24 May 1915, both sides on Gallipoli agre...

The last month I was there, I never wore trousers

The Anzac troops on Gallipoli faced man...

Boys of the Dardanelles

Boys of the Dardanelles
They fa...

The landing of the Australian troops in Egypt

This commercial sound recording include...

Good to Go / E pai ana, Ka haere

The Second Māori Contingent is shown pa...

No bayonet needed / E hara te pēneti i mau

Captain Pirimi Tahiwi of Te Hokowhitu a Tū, ...

A rickshaw ride in Durban

Two Australian soldiers riding in a ric...

Soldier’s souvenir view of Egypt

This image (B&W glass slide) was probab...

The war cameraman

British journalist Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, o...

A narrow escape at Lone Pine

This eyewitness account by a Gallipoli ...

Getting the message through at Chunuk Bair

Lance Corporal Cyril Bassett, an Auckla...

“Every one of those lads was lying dead”

Dunedin-born Charles Duke was working in Aus...

“All my mates ever got were wooden crosses”

Corporal Cyril Bassett was the only New...

Wounded at Chunuk Bair

The battle for Chunuk Bair was one of the bl...

Machine gunners at Chunuk Bair

Leonard Leary was an ammunition handler...

Who was to blame for the sinking of the Marquette?

Thirty-two New Zealand medical staff, i...

Lieutenant General Birdwood takes a dip

Lieutenant General Sir William Birdwood...

Even Major-Generals die in battle

The sombre 1915 funeral procession of M...

Brother Turk Thankful

Harry Julius’s clever animated comment ...

Nurses remember the sinking of the Marquette

Three New Zealand nurses - Elizabeth Yo...

Soldiers swim at Gallipoli

This hand-coloured glass slide shows me...

New Zealand soldiers recover from battle wounds

After being wounded in battle, many Anz...

‘Heroes of the Dardanelles’

The Gallipoli campaign inspired a numbe...

‘They Were There! There! There!’

The lyrics of the song ‘They Were There...

The walking wounded return home

New Zealand soldiers board a ship. It m...

Gallipoli’s wounded return to Wellington

On 15 July 1915 the transport ship Will...

“We left a lot of booby traps behind…”

From 18 to 20 December 1915, the Allies retr...

Maggots and brandy – evacuating wounded men

Facilities for evacuating and treating men w...

Battle in the Blizzard

In late 1915, towards the end of the Ga...

Diggers in the tunnels of Quinn’s Post

The underground war at Gallipoli was fought&...

"The toughest part of the war was lack of sleep"

Coupled with the lack of shelter or wat...

Leaving Gallipoli

From 18 to 20 December 1915, the Allies retr...

Surgeon-General Charles Ryan, ANZAC Cove, 1915

Surgeon-General Charles S. Ryan is shown in ...

Australian troops at the Pyramids

Australian and New Zealand troops arrived in...

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