April 2005 marked ninety years since the Anzac troops landed on the Gallipoli peninsula.
This began a bloody battle with the Ottoman Empire which lasted for nearly nine months, and resulted in huge casualties on both sides.
Ninety years on, Anzac Day retains a special place in the psyche of this country, with increasing numbers of New Zealanders attending dawn services and community ceremonies, even as the events we gather to remember recede into the pages of history.
To commemorate this special anniversary, the Ministry was involved in a number of initiatives on and around Anzac Day.
Ministry war historian Ian McGibbon wrote a new book, Gallipoli: a Guide to New Zealand Battlefields and Memorials, a guidebook aimed at helping travellers around the significant sites of Gallipoli. The book fits easily into a backpack and combines stories of the battles with maps and photos and easy to follow instructions on how to get to each site. It will undoubtedly become the book for Kiwis of all ages to take when they make the journey to Turkey, to see for themselves the peninsula where so many of our young men lost their lives.
With the growing interest in our war history there has been an increased demand for straightforward, easy to find information on Anzac Day and the Anzac story. To meet this need the Ministry developed a new website, www.Anzac.govt.nz. The site has sections on the history, traditions and ceremonies associated with Anzac Day, along with a searchable database of New Zealanders who died during the campaign.
Advanced technology is used on the website to provide images of the significant sites of Gallipoli, the places where our soldiers fought and the memorials and cemeteries which mark the peninsula today.
These stunning interactive panoramas enable the web visitor to experience a 360-degree view of some of the sites at the move of a mouse. The virtual tour of the battlefields and memorials are supported by text adapted from Ian McGibbon’s guidebook.
The guidebook and the Anzac website were both launched by the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Helen Clark at Te Papa in Wellington shortly before Anzac Day. Following the launch, the Ministry was proud to host the first Australasian screening of a Turkish documentary film on Gallipoli.
Turkish director Tolga Örnek’s documentary film Gallipoli includes excerpts from diaries, letters and photographs from soldiers who fought on both sides of the Gallipoli campaign, including three New Zealand soldiers.
The film features reconstructions, animations, and dramatic re-enactments , with actors Sam Neill, Jeremy Irons and others taking the voices of the soldiers to bring their stories to life. As the film progresses the nationality of the soldiers speaking becomes less identifiable, highlighting the fact that war has devastating effects on individuals and their families, irrespective of which side is labelled as ‘the enemy’.
The Ministry assisted with the research and development of this documentary, which will be distributed on general release in New Zealand in due course.
Overseas, the Prime Minister was in Gallipoli for the 90th anniversary commemoration services and opened a walking track built by the Turkish government between Chunuk Bair and the coast. The track follows approximately the route taken by New Zealand troops in the assault on Chunuk Bair in August 1915 and will give visitors a feeling of the nature of the battlegrounds on which so many died.
The London commemoration service in Westminster Abbey was attended by Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Phillip and featured the premiere of a new Anzac anthem. Australian musician Alicia Grant collaborated with New Zealand poet Vincent O’Sullivan to put the words of Vincent’s poem Homecoming – Te Hokinga Mai to music. The poem was first read at the interment ceremony for the Unknown Warrior, and on Anzac Day was sung by the Abbey Choir.
In just ten years time, one hundred years will have passed since our men were thrust into the tragedy which was the Anzac campaign in Gallipoli. Discussions are already underway as to how we will honour a century of memories.
The activities we were involved in around the 90th anniversary of Anzac Day support the Ministry’s Outcome 2, widespread access to and understanding of New Zealand culture and heritage.
