Gallipoli, TURKEY
Airing Date: Jan 1st, 2002
Every year the number of Australians making the pilgrimage to this site grows and grows.
The Gallipoli Peninsula can be found in western Turkey, and for a place with such an ugly past, the area is surprisingly beautiful.
The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps - the Anzacs - landed here at Anzac Cove at dawn on 25 April, 1915. By nightfall, 2000 Australians had been killed or wounded.
At the end of nine months of fighting the Aussie death toll stood at well over 8000.
One look at the steep, harsh, scrubby terrain they had to conquer and visitors can see why it was they didn't stand a chance.
Just a short walk from the cove is Beach Cemetery. The Anzacs buried their first man here the day they landed.
With the peninsula running 35 kilometres from one end to the other, it takes a good one to two days to see the major memorials and to walk through the trenches.
Lone Pine is the main Australian memorial. It lists the names of 3724 soldiers with no known grave.
But it's not the only memorial. Monuments remembering the war dead of Australia and New Zealand stand beside those of the war dead of Turkey.
Unlike during World War I, today Gallipoli is a peaceful place where a message written by the Kemal Atat|rk, the first president of modern Turkey, can bring a tear to the eye. You, the mothers who sent their sons to this faraway land wipe away your tears, having lost their lives on this land they will become our sons as well.
In Gallipoli be sure to visit The Boomerang Cafe. With Vegemite sandwiches on the menu, it's a great reminder of the strong Aussie-Turkish connection that exists today.
The facts
Malaysia Airlines flies direct to Istanbul twice a week.
Malaysia Airlines
Tel: 132 627
Tempo Holidays offers Anzac Day tours to Gallipoli which include attending the Dawn Service.
Tempo Holidays
Tel: 1300 362 844
Australian War Memorial Battlefields Tours
Tel: 02 6243 4383
