ANZAC Day 2015

Posted by Anura Samara, 25 April 2015

At Gallipoli for the Anzac Day Centenary commemorations.

We were lucky enough to get tickets in the ballot for the centenary commemoration of ANZAC Day at Gallipoli. Part of the deal with the tickets was that we had to be part of an organised tour – you can read about the rest of the Turkey trip.

Getting there

Our launching point for the Gallipoli activities was the town of Canakkale. This is in the eastern (or Asian) part of Turkey and therefore means we need to cross on the ferry to the other side.

As expected, the ferries were busy and our tour guide was in constant communication to make sure that her planned ferry crossing would still be open. When we arrived for the crossing, it wasn’t entirely clear what the order of loading was – it definitely wasn’t first come first served as we watch other buses drive straight on to the ferry while we were forced to wait.

Once across at Eceabat, it was a short drive to the first checkpoint at Gelibolu Yarımadası Milli Park. The car park here was used to assign every bus with a number and to then check the passports and tickets of everyone on board.

Staying on the bus, we then cross the peninsula to a park directly on the other side about 3.5km from ANZAC Cove. Here we went through the formal screening – including checking our passports and a bag check. It turns out that the security screening wasn’t as robust as the pre-trip documentation suggested – people were getting in easily with walking poles and other large items. After the security checking, we crossed over to the park on the sea shore to wait for our bus number to be called. There were a few food and drink stands in the park as well as souvenirs. But the main issue was just sitting around and waiting for 1.5 hours.

Once our bus number was called, we had the option to either walk the distance or get a shuttle bus. We wanted to get to the site as quickly as possible to make sure we got a seat, so we opted for the shuttle bus while others started off on foot. It looked like a bad call initially as the shuttle buses had to progress in convoy in only one direction at a time, but I think we just about beat them there.

ANZAC Cove itself was well set for the crowds. Lots of public toilets, lots of food and souvenir stalls and tiered seating around three side of the area (the fourth side was the stage and official area). There was also a fair amount of security provided, with warships patrolling out at sea and Turkish snipers on the hills behind us.

We found seats in the middle section directly facing the stage, got some food and then settled in for the night as best we could …

Overnight

… and it was a long night. All up, it was probably a good 10 hours from when we first took our seats to the start of the dawn service.

The event was well organised. During the night, there were a series of mini-concerts, short films displayed, spoken sections and more to keep us interested. It really is meant to be a vigil, so the night technically wasn’t for sleeping. Having said that, and knowing that we still had a full day ahead of us, I did try to get some sleep – hard when you’re sitting upright. And it was cold too – others had brought sleeping backs but we opted for layers. The additional blankets we had bought at a local store on the way were a blessing.

More people kept arriving during the night, and by the early hours those who had travelled directly from Istanbul only had the grassy area in front of the seating. As this filled up, there was less and less room for people to lie down. I’m not sure which would have been worse – our long stay on the seats or a shorter period of greater discomfort on the ground.

Dawn Service

Around half an hour before dawn, all of the overnight activities stopped, the lights went out apart from some blue lights on the water and all was quiet except for the sound of water lapping at the shore. It was at this time that we felt what our forebears must have felt 100 years ago – looking out of the dark and silent water with no idea of what was ahead.

As the light appeared on the horizon, we could make out a line of Australia, British and Turkish warships steaming in line formation towards the coast and the continuing in an arc further south.

The Dawn Service itself was no different from any other at hundreds of locations around Australia. Although the dignitaries did get a role – the Prince of Wales and the Australian and New Zealand Prime Ministers all got a speaking role – the format and content of the service itself didn’t suggest there was anything special about this particular ANZAC Day dawn service.

Once the service was over, we had to stay put – people were released by sections for the walk to the next service at either Lone Pine (for Australians) or Chunuk Bair (for the New Zealanders). The walk itself was 3km initially along the shore road but then climbing along the dusty Artillery Road into the hills. It was a fairly steep walk and once we were past the Shell Green Cemetery there were frequent stops where it wasn’t entirely clear what the hold up was. The road was protected by armed Turkish soldiers.

Once we got closer to the top, the Kiwis continued walking and we peeled off for yet another checkpoint before finding our seating.

Lone Pine Service

The seating at Lone Pine was allocated, so we were guaranteed a seat when we arrived. Unfortunately, ours was at the end of the stand at the rear of the ceremonies so we couldn’t directly see the formal service (although we could see it all on the big screen).

Again, the service itself wasn’t very much different from a normal ANZAC Day service. There were dignitaries with various speaking roles but the words and rituals were the same as a normal service.

Getting out again

After all of the services were finished, the problem was leaving again.

Due to the restricted access, buses were only allowed in convoys. But of course we all had to wait for the New Zealand services to finish (and they had a later start time) before any buses were allowed in. So we sat around and waited, or queued for over an hour for a coffee to keep our spirits up or just to stay away. Some people played cards, others shared their remaining snacks around – those were the well behaved ones. Others simply lay down on the graves or the monument to sleep – lots of people objected, but despite repeated broadcast requests to have more respect many people just stayed asleep where they were.

Due to the restricted access, buses were only allowed in convoys of 4-5 vehicles and in no particular order. So the organisers simply called out a set of numbers for the people belonging to those buses to go to the exits. Eventually, they got a bit smarter about it and could give us advance warning of the bus numbers in the next four convoys but we had to wait around 5 hours before our bus turned up. Miraculously, our entire group was there and ready to board with no delay. And then we were on the return journey back to our hotel in Canakkale.

Final thoughts

Was it a special occasion? In many respects, the massive logistical exercise involved in getting to ANZAC Cove and the leaving again combined with the long hours spent waiting took away some of the ‘specialness’ of the occasion. The huge number of people in such a restricted site meant it was hard to appreciate the terrain, to imagine soldiers battling to simply get ashore and scale the heights let along confront enemy fire.

For me, the best time was in that quiet half-hour just before dawn, when all was quiet and we were left with our thoughts and imagination, before the officials spoke, before the Last Post was played, when it seemed to be just us and the spirits of those long dead heroes.

Categories: Turkey

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