Vol. 47 No 2 (New Series) WINTER 2017 THE GALLIPOLI GAZETTE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE GALLIPOLI MEMORIAL CLUB LTD …..Alf Carpenter…..100 not out 1 EDITORIAL…….. This edition carries a full report on the Gallipoli Art celebration and presented Alf Carpenter with a Prize which again attracted a broad range of entries. certificate of Club Life Membership. We also look at the commemoration of Anzac Day The elevation of John Robertson to Club President at the Club which included the HMAS Hobart at the April Annual Meeting sees the continuity of Association and was highlighted by the 2/4th the strong leadership the Club has benefitted from Australian Infantry Battalion Reunion which over past decades since the Club was lifted out of doubled as celebration of the 100th birthday three financial uncertainty in the early 1990s. "Robbo" days earlier of its Battalion Association President for joined the Committee in 1991 along with outgoing the past 33 years, Alf Carpenter. President Stephen Ware and myself. So, I know first- The numbers at the reunion lunch were bolstered hand of John's strong commitment over many years by the many friends Alf has made among the to the Club and its ideals. The Club also owes a families of his World War Two mates and the massive debt to retiring President Stephen Ware, support he has given to those families as the ranks who has stepped down to be a Committee member of the 2/4th diminished over the years. The new for continuity. Thank you Stephen for your visionary Gallipoli Club President, John Robertson, joined the leadership and prudent financial management over three decades. THE GALLIPOLI MEMORIAL CLUB LIMITED Patron: Major General Arthur Fittock AO Board of Directors: President: John Robertson Senior Vice President: David Ford Junior Vice President: Ted Codd Hon. Treasurer: John Brogan Directors: Stephen Ware, Glenn Tetley, Scott Heathwood, Andrew Condon, Marc Higgins Editor: Bob Lawrence Secretary Manager: Margaret Brown Club Ph: 9235 1533 Fax: 235 1582 Email: [email protected] www.gallipoli.com.aU RESTAURANT TRADING HOURS Dumpling Bar @ Loftus (Ground Floor) 12 Loftus St, Sydney Phone: 9247 6350 Email: [email protected] OPEN EVERYDAY: 12.00 noon - 9.00pm (THURSDAY & FRIDAY: Open -10.00pm) North Ocean Chinese Restaurant (1st Floor) 12 Loftus St, Sydney Phone: 9247 9450 LUNCH: MONDAY - FRIDAY 12 Noon - 3.00pm DINNER: MONDAY – SUNDAY 5.00PM - 9.00PM (Friday Open till 10.00pm) 2 2017 Gallipoli Art Prize The 2017 Gallipoli Art Prize was won by Sydney based artist Amanda Penrose Hart with her painting ‘The Sphinx, Perpetual Peace’. The painting depicts the towering rocky "However, we saw when we were dragging outcrop at Gallipoli that the Anzacs called The through the bush with all our gear quite a few Sphinx. It was selected from the thirty eight body parts, it's really awful." finalist works for the $20,000 acquisitive prize. The painting took her about a year to complete Amanda said that her painting of the extreme and is her way to commemorate the soldiers landscape that faced our soldiers on April 25, who lost their lives and whose remains still lie 1915 showed the extreme height of the hills on that hill, camouflaged by the vegetation. and sharp barbed wire like vegetation which "There were so many people died there and slashed the men trying to advance over those that's why it's so full of bones, and the hills. vegetation grew and grew because there's so "I walked this hill on two trips to Gallipoli and much blood and bone in the hills," she told the while in good shoes and good clothing I media conference after her win. struggled to reach even half way. To some the Ms Penrose Hart often paints landscapes in- land is now a mere tourist site, but to others it situ. Born in Brisbane in 1963 she holds a is a sacred burial ground. The trees have Diploma of Fine Art from Queensland College rejuvenated and the grasses spread like of Art and a Bachelor of Visual Art from Griffith wildfire – they camouflage the thousands of University. body parts within,” she said. 3 The last Fuzzy Wuzzy Known unto God – AE1 By Noel Kelly By Margaret Hadfield (Inaugural winner 2006) She has held twenty solo exhibitions and has Gallipoli Club's 'creed'. Artists can interpret the shown in many more group exhibitions. She broad themes in relation to any armed conflict regularly has work selected in prizes such as in which Australia has been involved from 1915 the Portia Geach Memorial Award (2006, 2007, up to the present day. The works do not need 2008, 2011) and the En Plein Air Art Prize. to depict warfare. Her works are also included in public and “The Gallipoli Art prize continues to attract the private collections including Australian support of the visual arts community who have National Maritime Museum, Sydney; Bathurst once again responded with innovative works Regional Art Gallery, NSW; Brisbane Polo Club; that preserve the best of the ANZAC spirit,” Gold Coast City Art Gallery; Hawkesbury said the head of the Judging panel, Jane Regional Art Gallery, NSW; Redcliff Regional Watters, who is the Director of the S.H. Ervin Gallery, Qld; Taronga Park Zoo, Sydney; and Gallery. University of Sydney Art Collection. “The broad range of imagery represented in Every year Australian, New Zealand and the Prize demonstrates the level of inquiry by Turkish painters are invited to submit works to the artists into the stories and people from not the Gallipoli Art Prize that reflect upon the just the Gallipoli campaign but from other themes of loyalty, respect, love of country, conflicts and also from daily life experiences,” courage and comradeship as expressed in the Ms Watters said. THE GALLIPOLI MEMORIAL CLUB CREED WE BELIEVE…. that within the community there exists an obligation for all to preserve the special qualities of loyalty, respect, love of country, courage and comradeship which were personified by the heroes of the Gallipoli Campaign and bequeathed to all humanity as a foundation for perpetual peace and universal freedom 4 GALLIPOLI – A FAILED CONQUEST BY BOTH SEA AND LAND By Bruce McEwan The landing at Gallipoli by allied ground forces only happened because the original naval campaign by allied warships failed dismally due to a lack of planning and the paucity of military intelligence. Winston Churchill, then first Lord of Britain’s Cape Helles; and the untried Australian and Admiralty, believed victory over the New Zealand Corps (ANZAC) landed at what Dardanelles would give access to the Black Sea became known as Anzac Cove. At the same and enable the allies to link with Russian time a French diversionary force landed on the forces. He thought this would be facilitated Asiatic shore. through a decisive naval strike by ships of the The French withdrew, according to plan, but allied navies – Britain and France the men of 29th Division were pinned down at The proposed victory was to give some relief to the water’s edge on the two main landing the rising public condemnation of the awful beaches. By the end of the day, the 29th had troop losses and lack of success on the western established a limited beachhead despite battle front at Flanders. It was largely a political massive casualties. At Anzac Cove, the ANZACS decision that was given little military pushed a little way inland only to be forced forethought. Conceived at a time when back to the beach by a Turkish counterattack Britain’s leaders grappled with the unpalatable and losses were heavy. reality of deadlock on the western front, the Despite the lessons of the west front, trench Dardanelles campaign sought to utilize warfare ensued. Conditions were primitive, Britain’s major asset, sea power. and the summer heat took its toll. Over the Churchill believed that a British-French fleet next few months both the Allies and the Turks would easily force its way through the launched concerted attacks to try to break the Dardanelles, the straits that separate Europe deadlock, but all met with pathetic failure. from Asia, and then menace Constantinople, Then, on 6 August, the British initiated fresh capital of Ottoman Turkey – which was allied landings at Suvla Bay and a major effort was with Germany. He reasoned that with Turkey’s made to break out of the Anzac Cove deadlock. surrender to allied naval power that Russia, When this also failed the British generals unhindered, could then deploy powerful army decided at last to evacuate Gallipoli in two forces from Balkan states such as Romania and stages, in December 1915 and during the Greece to fight in the Balkans. following month. The Dardanelles campaign, Instead, the allied navy lost the advantage of which had promised so much, ended in surprise by bombarding Turkish coastal disaster. Yet it has earned near heroic status in defences in February 1915. After firing massive which facts have had to compete with myth salvos at the protective fortifications, the fleet and legend. Many admirers of Churchill believe suffered heavy losses from mines and accurate his plan to breach the Dardanelles only failed fire from Turkish shore batteries when on 18 because of poor tactics by both naval and March it attempted to force the straits. military commanders. However, there can be When this failed the British 29th Division was little doubt that the concept was too landed on the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula, at ambitious, that planning and intelligence The Avenue of Honour at Mortlake by David Porter 5 were lacking, that the response of the Turks was grossly underestimated, and that the operation was under resourced.