Our troops landed on beaches (now called ANZAC cove)

On the Turkish peninsular at dawn in this fateful day.

They suffered a terrible defeat but our men-

-fought with great bravery and would have succeeded if not for one...

man-Mustafa Kemal, later known as Ataturk.

Although it was a disaster it brought out some great characteristics...

Of mateship and sacrifice for this little island continent of ours.

We talk about the "Anzac Spirit"

Which was born that day and use the term as a mark of the greatest respect.

We use this day to remember those who fought, and...

Especially those who fell, in this war and all subsequent wars.

The Battle

In 1915 Australia along with its Allies  (Britain, France and Russia, Italy, and Japan) was at war, fighting the Central Powers (Germany, the Ottoman Empire aka Turkey, and Austria-Hungary). When most people think of WW1 they think of fighting Germans in the trenches across France however Russia was also under attack from the Turks in the Caucasus. To aid their plight the Allies hatched a plan to distract Turkey by attacking the Gallipoli Peninsula, on Turkey's Aegean coast. Once the peninsula was taken the Allies would be able to take control of a strait of water called the Dardanelles and lay siege to Turkey's main city, Istanbul (then Constantinople).

Australian and New Zealand troops then training in Egypt were tasked to participate in the attack. On April 25, 1915, the Australian troops landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula on what they had been told was a nice friendly flat beach. Instead, they found that they had been landed at the incorrect position and faced steep cliffs and constant barrages of enemy fire and shelling. Around 20,000 soldiers landed on the beach over the next two days to face a well organised, well armed, large  Turkish force determined to defend their country - and led by Mustafa Kemal, who later became Ataturk, the leader of modern Turkey. It is said that Ataturk just happened to be holidaying in the area and took control of the Turkish forces right at the last moment. Thousands of Australian men died in the hours that followed the landing at the beach that would eventually come to be known as Anzac Cove.

What followed was basically a disaster. The Aussies hung in for several months however could make little headway against the Turks. They had nowhere to go and no real hope however they dug in tenaciously and absorbed whatever the Turks threw at them. Many thousands of Aussie and Kiwi soldiers died, not only from the battle but from disease brought about by the poor living conditions. However from this disaster was born the image of the Aussie Digger, a brave and laconic battler, betrayed by the mother country but facing impossible odds with humour, courage and mateship.

Eventually the ANZAC troops were withdrawn from the peninsula having accomplished nothing. Those that survived went on to fight on other fronts but it was at Gallipoli that the legend was born.

For the Fallen 

They shall not grow old,
As we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember them.