Leaving Gallipoli

For our farewell to Gallipoli, we returned to the cemetery at Shrapnel Gully, where Martin paid tribute to his adopted digger, Stanley Vaughan. Hadley played the Last Post and the Rouse and was followed by Tom on the bagpipes. Then as a special goodbye we grouped together and sang “I am Australian”, led by Bridget.

Students singing 'I am Australian' at Shrapnel Gulley

It had been raining and there was a cold wind blowing. But that seemed appropriate. It helped us imagine how much colder and harder it had been in December 1915, when the Allied High Command finally realised that the Dardanelles campaign would never succeed, and ordered the ANZACs to withdraw from Gallipoli. 

Martin pays tribute to his digger

Martin's adopted digger, Pte Vaughan

Bruce again encouraged us to put ourselves in the place of those men on both sides, who had endured so much and lost so many comrades. He talked about the padre who walked among the graves sewing wattle seeds, as a final gesture of defiance. 
At last we boarded the bus and drove towards the ferry terminal. Ahead of us was the city of Cannakale, the site of an ancient fort which had stood up against the shells of the British and French ships, which had originally planned to sail into the harbour of Istanbul and force the surrender of Turkey. Thanks to Evan’s charm and his increasing ability to speak to simple Turkish, the Chief Petty Officer of the naval base at Cannakale invited us aboard the latest replica of the minelayer, Nusret, which had cause such havoc among the British and French fleets in battle for the Dardanelles.

Below decks on the Nustret, we were treated to an impressive, new diorama and original film of the encounters between the Allied battleships, the Turkish shore batteries and the minelayers! It was a total surprise and a real highlight for everyone on the tour. 

After that, we were ready for a walk around the ruins of Troy, where we were guided by a local historian, who has published a book on the site and who was able to make sense of the crumbling stones of the once magnificent city besieged by the Greeks. Of course, we all climbed into the wooden horse for obligatory photo opportunity!

After walking the major sites of Istanbul on the first day in the rain, we were looking forward to getting back there in hopefully better weather. But all of us struggled to get out of bed in time to catch the one-and-only early morning flight from Cannakale at 5.45am. And we landed at Istanbul’s second airport, on the Asian side of the city. We faced a long, slow crawl through bumper-to-bumper traffic to get back to our hotel in Sultanahmet and a visit to the Grand Bazaar. But it was worth it!