Gallipoli Campaign Speech

Goodmorning ladies and gentlemen. We are gathered here today, at the Australian War Memorial, to commemorate the 103rd Anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign, February 1915 to January 1916. One of the most memorable events that occurred during this campaign was the landing. The ANZACs landed 2km north of their intended location, Gaba Tepe, and that place became known as Anzac Cove. The landing was significant as it began the formation of the Anzac legend. The Battle of Lone Pine deserves more attention alongside the Gallipoli landing. This is because (insert hypothesis here).

The Gallipoli landing is commemorated as it started the Anzac legend and gives people a sense of Australian spirit. Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett was an English war correspondent

Costing 2,000 men and resulting in 2,300 casualties, this battle was intended as a diversion from other attempts made by Allied Powers to break the perimeter at Hill 971 and Chunuk Bair illustrated by John Patrick Hamilton and Walter John Warneford (Australian War Memorial, 2018). It successfully diverted Turkish reinforcement away from other places and contributing to seven Victoria Cross medals awarded to soldiers who fought there, the highest number ever awarded to an Australian division for one battle. The Victoria Cross is the highest honour awarded for demonstrations of courage in battles. The Battle of Lone Pine took place from the 6th to the 9th of August, involving the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 11th, 12th, 23rd and the 24th Australian Infantry Battalions and was led by the 1st Brigade of the Australian Imperial Force. This event was significant during the Gallipoli campaign and was recognised back then for the heroism and sacrifice made by the Australian soldiers (Australian Government Department of Veteran’s Affairs, 2017). (still have to finish paragraph but have to write second half of that

This is because it occurred after the landing and once that died down, no one was as invested in the outcomes meaning that they cannot truly understand the values that came about in the later battles. It also means that they don’t know any other examples of courage and resilience shown so they can’t commemorate them. The Battle of Lone Pine should be given greater attention alongside the Gallipoli landing as it was a rare success in fierce fighting, (Gray, 2018), costing only 2,000 soldiers, whereas the landing was a failure costing over 8,000. That’s more than four times the amount at Lone Pine. Another reason is because the soldiers’ first goal was reached in less than half an hour, overall success by 6pm, 9th August (Gray, 2018), and they still displayed examples of the Australian values: courage, sacrifice, friendship, perseverance and teamwork. Why do we believe the history we were fed by one person? What about the other battles? What about the soldiers in those battles who lost their lives? What about their families? How many men do we not remember? Why do we celebrate just one event when there is so much courage, so much sacrifice, so much perseverance elsewhere? There are many displays of our values elsewhere. Seven men were awarded the Victoria Cross for their actions during the battle of Lone Pine (AGDVA, 2017). There were only two awarded from actions at the landing.