Boats and supplies at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, 1915

Educational value

• This asset shows Anzac Cove during the Gallipoli campaign of the First World War - only 600 metres long and about 20 metres wide, this site was a vital base for the supply of stores, goods, equipment, ammunition and reinforcements during the eight months of fighting; the beach at Anzac Cove was protected from the direct sight of Turkish troops by two headlands, Hell Spit to the south, where the photograph was taken, and Ari Burnu to the north (Ari Burnu is the furthermost hill in the photograph).
• It conveys a sense of the unceasing activity at Anzac Cove during the Gallipoli campaign - limbers, French 75-mm field guns and barrels of wine for the French Army line the shore where they have been unloaded near the first two pontoon (floating) piers, while a steam pinnace is being unloaded at the third pontoon pier and further in the distance a permanent pier is being constructed.
• It includes many soldiers from several countries' armies busy on the shore with the Australians identifiable by their slouch hats, the British by their service caps (a flat-topped military cap with a visor, also known as a peaked cap) and the French by their kepis (similar to those worn by the British, but deeper between the lower edge and the top).
• It depicts limbers (bottom left) - two-wheeled, horse-drawn vehicles that were used to transport large field guns and ammunition onto the battlefield - a limber could be detached from the gun or caisson (chest containing ammunition) and used to transport water tanks and other supplies; at Gallipoli, limbers were pulled by mules controlled by muleteers from the Indian Mule Corps and the Zion Mule Corps.
• It depicts the pontoon piers used to assist the loading and unloading of small boats, but due to Turkish gunfire they could mostly be used only at night - these temporary piers, built in the week after the initial landing, were replaced by sturdier structures, the first being Watson's Pier completed on 18 June 1915.
• It features a steam pinnace, a small boat carried on a larger vessel and used for conveying people and goods to and from the shore, being loaded or unloaded (centre left) - steam pinnaces played an important role in the initial landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula on 25 April 1915 when they towed barges and life rafts full of men and equipment from battleships and destroyers to the shore; later in the campaign they continued to be used to carry supplies and to ferry sick and injured men to the hospital ships, which were anchored off Hell Spit.
• It depicts a barge and a life raft (near the second pier) used in the initial landing, which also continued to be used in the supply line between ships at anchor and Anzac Cove.

Year level

2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12

Topics Cultural interaction Military campaigns War Weapons Radio drama Australian history Jetties World War I