Members of the Ashburton Rotary Club joined with members of the Rotary Club of Timaru for an excellent and topical ANZAC Day presentation about South Canterbury’s involvement in the  Gallipoli campaign given by Chris Rapley, Social History curator at the South Canterbury Museum.
 
Our national consciousness has grown over recent years as we remember those who gave their lives 102 years ago at Anzac Cove.
 
South and Mid Cantabrians and were involved as infantrymen in the Canterbury Battalion and in the Mounted Rifle Squadron. There was chaos at Anzac Cove, where the troops supposedly landed on the wrong beach and split into two platoons – one headed up rugged terrain towards Chunuk Bair while the second platoon, under the command of Major David Grant (a Timaru butcher) followed the coast and were heading up to Baby 700 ridge, the nexus of the battle. They never got there and Grant was mortally wounded.
 
Further slaughter occurred at Cape Helles where the NZ troops gathered to help the Brits, but they were also attacked by artillery and machine guns as they crossed open ground. Those left unscathed returned to Anzac Cove in August, where they were joined by mounted riflemen, but the attack resulted in a stalemate.  The August offensive planned to take Chunuk Bair. This plan started out well, but the troops took a wrong turn, and arrived at a cliff face, meaning they couldn’t reach Rhododendron Spur as planned and the battalion was effectively wiped out. Because our men were outnumbered, exhausted and at risk of being gunned down by the Turkish artillery as new artillery arrived from Germany, a successful evacuation was undertaken – ironically one of the most successful manoeuvres of the campaign. Those that survived went on to fight on the Western Front.
 
16,000 Kiwis served in Gallipoli, 2779 died and 5212 were wounded. Anzac Day was first marked in 1916 and this commemoration gives us a chance to honour our boys who served.  Lest We Forget.