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  • Just enough speechifying

    Video

    In 1912, Sir Thomas Mackenzie, former Prime Minister, was appointed as the New Zealand High Commissioner to London; a post he held until 1920. Mackenzie was particularly concerned about the treatment of New Zealand soldiers and made several visits to see the troops during the war.

    In this clip, Mackenzie, with his back to the camera, talks to New Zealanders outside the 2nd New Zealand Field Ambulance station.

    During his visit, Mackenzie also joined the 2nd Otago church parade, inspected the New Zealand Engineers and made an address to the 3rd Otago Battalion. At the end of Mackenzie’s visit Major General Sir Andrew Russell noted in his diary: "The whole visit has been successful, fine weather – just enough speechifying but not too much”.

  • March-past

    Video

    King George V inspects 7,000 New Zealand troops at Bulford Field on 1 May 1917. New Zealand’s high command did not miss the opportunity and also present were Generals, Brigadiers, the Prime Minister William Massey, Joseph Ward – Leader of the Opposition and their wives and daughters and other dignitaries.

    The 7,000 New Zealand troops on parade included: 4,000 from 4th Brigade; 1,500 from Sling Camp; 1,000 from Codford Command along with Engineers, ASC, Cadets and a few mounted rifles. After inspecting the troops, the King took the march-past and presented medals.

  • Entertaining the troops, “The Kiwis” concert party

    Audio

    The campaigns of the Western Front saw men serving in frontline combat positions in the trenches usually for a few days to a week at a time. In between, units were rotated back to ‘reserve’ positions several kilometres away from the Front, where boredom was yet another enemy to contend with.

    In an attempt to keep the troops entertained, concert parties were formed by the men, with names such as “The Pierrots”, “The Tuis” and “The Kiwis.”

    Bill McKeon, who served in the Wellington Infantry and had been in a concert party himself, had fond memories of “The Kiwis” and the high-quality shows they put on at Nieppe, near Armentieres in 1917, which he recalled in a radio interview with Neville Webber.

  • Flying the “Fighting Experimental Machine”

    Audio

    Royal Flying Corps Flight Commander Reg Kingsford of Nelson, New Zealand describes the third aircraft he learnt to fly during World War I, as the “Fighting Experimental machine.” Officially, it was the Royal Air Factory F.E.2b, the Farman Experimental 2 biplane (two-seater), in which he took a fellow Kiwi for a joyride.

  • A louse named Charlie

    Audio

    Many aspects of trench life were unpleasant – the mud and squalor, the monotony and drudgery, the abysmal diet, malnutrition and dysentery, the constant threat of death from enemy fire, and to top it off the discomfort – lice. The troops were crawling with them, almost to a man. In this excerpt from a 1981 radio documentary, George Lee recalls advice he got from a ‘lousy’ trench mate named Jack Saunders.

  • Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty

    Audio

    This song, in which a series of soldiers yearn to return to ‘Blighty’, or Britain, was hugely popular in 1917.

  • Never Mind the Food Controller

    Audio

    An uplifting music hall song, intended to provide comfort during wartime food rationing.

  • I’m Going Back Again to Yarrawonga

    Audio

    "I’ll linger longer in Yarrawonga"

  • Every Girl is a Fisher Girl

    Audio

    This rousing music hall song by Australian-born Florrie Forde, popular during WW1, suggests that every girl is ‘fishing for a mate’.

  • France’s South Pacific Soldiers in Sydney

    Video

    The First World War was truly a global war. What brought this home to Australians was seeing troops from other countries, including France’s Pacific colonies, passing through their country on their way to the Front.

  • The Patriot Spirit

    Video

    Troops from France’s Pacific colonies, on their way to the war in Europe, allowed Australians to display their loyalty and patriotism.

  • Sydney Marches to Remember

    Video

    With their white, starched uniforms and red crosses on their foreheads, 2000 members of the Junior Red Cross make a startling presence at the eleventh anniversary of Anzac Day in Sydney.

  • Anzac football in London

    Video

    During their war service, Australian troops organised Australian Rules football matches across Europe. The highest profile matches were played in the United Kingdom but one-off matches were also played in other countries, including Belgium and France in 1919.

  • Mimic Warfare

    Video

    Troops needed to practice warfare before experiencing the real thing. But they probably didn’t expect to have children walking around the ‘battlefield’ watching them!

  • Fill-the-Gap

    Video

    “We are dying of exhaustion for want of a spell”

  • Anzac Hospitals at Home

    Video

    Returned servicemen engage in handicrafts, music-making and flirting with the nurses while convalescing in an Anzac hospital.

  • France on the Firing Line

    Image

    France on the Firing Line was one of two propaganda films made by New York producer and theatre manager Lee Kugel and released through his company Kulee Features. The other – the now-lost Germany on the Firing Line – took the pro-Central Powers position, but reportedly contained similar footage of troops on the front line and copious dramatic explosions. When the films were released in 1916, the isolationist United States still hadn’t decided on which side they were going to enter the war – and as a clever producer, Kugel played to both sides. Though both played in the US, not surprisingly there is no evidence that Germany on the Firing Line was released in New Zealand.

    Though not completely lost, only 8 of the original 85 minutes remain. The print held at Nga Taonga Sound & Vision – the only footage known to survive anywhere in the world – unfortunately suffers from nitrate decomposition. This irreversible chemical reaction causes the film stock to becomes brittle, crumbly and sticky, and the image to dissolve into an indistinct whirl. Luckily we have secondary resources such as this poster to provide additional information on the film.

  • Early newsreels: A 1915 Pathé Animated Gazette

    Video

    People went to cinemas during the war to be entertained, but moving-pictures also played an important role in providing cinema-goers with news and information from abroad. Early newsreels, or topical films, were an important part of the typical cinema programme of the time.

    This film is an example of a full-length Pathé Animated Gazette newsreel that was shown during the war. It demonstrates the contents of these types of films and how they mixed serious topics with more light-hearted footage: scenes of the Algerian Native Cavalry in Flanders, a brief glimpse of King George V and Queen Mary making their way through packed London Streets to a service at St Paul’s Cathedral, the opening of a New Zealand military hospital, and Zouaves (Algerian French Infantry).

  • The Empire’s Troops

    Video

    Nearly three million troops from the colonies of the British Empire served during the First World War. This film made by Pathé Freres, released in 1917 but filmed over the period 1915 to 1917, shows how broadly based the Allied forces were. We see Canadians at Salisbury Plains, Indians at Marseilles, and Australians and New Zealanders in Egypt.

    Usually films of soldiers during the war are formal affairs. While the film starts off this way, with the usual scenes of training, marching and inspections, it also shows troops of all the different nationalities in a more informal mood, playing up to the camera-- including performing a Highland jig! It also shows a rare glimpse of ANZAC forces at camp relaxing in Egypt, with the spectacular backdrop of the Pyramids behind them.

  • First English hospital for wounded Kiwis

    Video

    The New Zealand Military Hospital at Walton-on-Thames was the first English hospital to be established for Kiwi soldiers during the First World War. It was officially opened on Saturday 31 July 1915, in a ceremony attended by “one of the largest gatherings of New Zealanders that has ever assembled" in the UK. (Evening Post, 24 September 1915, p.4)

    This film clip shows NZ High Commissioner Thomas Mackenzie and William Lord Plunket at the hospital’s official opening ceremony on 31 July 1915. Lord Plunket was a former Governor of New Zealand and the chair of the NZ War Contingent Association, formed on London at the outbreak of the war to support wounded NZ troops. The Association helped to select the hospital premises, and its members later visited convalescing patients.

  • “The Answer to Declining Enlistment Numbers”

    Video

    This pro-conscription cartoon appeared shortly after August 1915.  Although Australia had not long been involved in the war, it was already becoming apparent that casualty rates in Turkey were extremely high.

  • Regarding the epidemic of marriages

    Video

    A report issued in March 1916 observed that wounded and convalescing Anzac troops were falling in love with their nurses, and marrying them. Officials were concerned that these marriages, made in haste during exceptional circumstances, might not be wise. The situation became further complicated as servicemen applied for grants to bring their new brides back to Australia.

  • Australian troops at the Pyramids

    Video

    Australian and New Zealand troops arrived in Egypt in December 1914. They set up Mena Camp near the Great Pyramids outside Cairo and began training in preparation for the Western Front and Gallipoli. This footage sees them exploring the extraordinary landmarks - the Pyramids and the Sphinx.

    While they waited in Egypt to be deployed, the Australian and New Zealand forces were formed into the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) under the command of Lieutenant General William Birdwood. The training the Anzacs received was only rudimentary, and did little to prepare them for what was to come.

  • Direct to Aussie

    Video

    This footage shows Australian troops boarding a train in France after the battle of the Somme and some of the worst fighting of World War One. One carriage has ‘Direct to Aussie’ on the side, suggesting the troops are returning home – or perhaps just wishing they were!

  • Billy Hughes visits the AIF’s home away from home

    Video

    The First World War led to a major influx of Australians into Britain. From summer 1916 to the end of the war there were never fewer than 50,000 Australian troops present. In 1915 Horseferry Road in Westminster, London, became a home away from home for the Anzacs. The AIF Administrative Headquarters, the Australian War Records Section and the War Chest Club were located there (the Club was established to promote the welfare of all soldiers). Horseferry Road became a historically significant Australian location: it was where the Anzacs could create a community for themselves, and was filled with men wearing slouch caps and speaking with familiar accents.

    In this film the Australian Prime Minister, William ‘Billy’ Hughes, doffs his top hat to the camera before inspecting soldiers at the AIF Headquarters. These visits were effective in raising troop morale, letting them know that, though far from their own country, they remained in the thoughts of those back home.

  • Flags for Victory

    Video

    Belgian Flag Days, along with French Flag Days, Violet Day and Wattle Day, occurred across Australia during World War One. They were organised to raise funds, engage communities and encourage new recruits, as well as to honour and pay respect to the wounded, the fallen and their families.  This film shows a Belgian Flag Day held at the former mining town of Burra, South Australia, on 10 May 1915.

  • Australian soldiers in France

    Video

    Prime minister William (Billy) Hughes, Sir General Rawlinson and Major General Monash visited AIF soldiers in bombed out Péronne, Somme, France, July 1918. For almost the whole of the war, the town of Péronne was occupied by German troops; it was liberated by Australian troops on 2 September 1918.

  • "When We March Through Berlin Town"

    Audio

    When We March Through Berlin Town is a jaunty tune clearly aimed to lift the spirits the troops and encourage men to enlist. The soldier at the centre of the song says farewell to his sweetheart, Jeannie, because the King of England is needing ‘laddies big and broad’. He assures Jeannie that he will wear her sprig of heather in his old Scotch cap when they defeat the Germans and occupy Berlin. The tone of the song is one of supreme optimism.

  • "Advance, Australia Fair"

    Audio

    Written by Scottish-born composer Peter Dodds McCormick and first performed in1878, Advance Australia Fair was officially declared the national anthem by the Governor-General, Sir Ninian Stephen, on 19 April 1984. This version is one of the earliest recordings, thought to be made in 1915, when Australian troops were landing in Egypt.

    Despite it’s status as the official national anthem, Waltzing Matilda (1895), a more uplifting tune with lyrics by Banjo Paterson telling the story of a criminal stealing a sheep, is still widely regarded as Australia’s ‘unofficial’ national anthem.

  • Singing about Niuean soldiers who volunteered

    Audio

    The song ‘Lologo tau kautau Niue ne oatu he Felakutau Fakamua he Lalolagi’ was sung by the men from the Pacific island of Niue who volunteered to join New Zealand’s Māori Contingent in 1916. They served in France alongside Maori troops in the newly formed Pioneer Battalion, and suffered greatly from conditions colder than they had ever imagined.

  • The declaration of war

    Audio

    Ena Ryan was born in the upper-middle class Wellington suburb of Kelburn in 1908. In this interview she recalls going with her mother to hear the declaration of war being read outside Parliament buildings on 5 August 1914 – and the ensuing patriotic fervour which swept the country.

  • Surgeon-General Charles Ryan, ANZAC Cove, 1915

    Image

    Surgeon-General Charles S. Ryan is shown in a casual pose outside the aide-de-camp’s dugout at Anzac Cove, May 1915.

  • ‘It's a Long Way to Tipperary’

    Video

    In this animated film, a British soldier dodges bullets and explosions. He grits his teeth as he thinks, ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’. If you want to sing along, as cinema audiences did when it was presented, the lyrics are right there on the screen.

  • Leaving Gallipoli

    Audio

    From 18 to 20 December 1915, the Allies retreated from the Gallipoli peninsula. In the days beforehand, rumours of their impending departure produced mixed feelings in the men. After months of the hardships of war, they were reluctant to leave the resting place of their fallen pals. Had it all been in vain? In this compilation, three veterans remember the evacuation of Gallipoli.

  • Maggots and brandy – evacuating wounded men

    Audio

    Facilities for evacuating and treating men wounded on Gallipoli were woefully inadequate. The British military command had not anticipated such large numbers of casualties, who often waited for days unattended on the narrow beach before they could be transported by ship to a hospital. Alexander McLachlan, a Scots officer on board the transport ship Saturnia, recalls in this 1969 interview how he and his colleagues were unable to cope with the vast numbers of sick and wounded.

  • “We left a lot of booby traps behind…”

    Audio

    From 18 to 20 December 1915, the Allies retreated from the Gallipoli peninsula. The evacuations were carried out quietly, overnight, so the Turkish troops would not suspect that their foes were leaving. Here, two veterans recall stealthily sneaking away in the dead of night, leaving booby traps behind. The first speaker is Sergeant Walter Cobb, a machine gunner with the Wellington Mounted Rifles. The second is Captain Ray Curtis of the machine gun section of the Canterbury Infantry Battalion.

  • Gallipoli’s wounded return to Wellington

    Audio

    On 15 July 1915 the transport ship Willochra brought the first group of men wounded in the Gallipoli campaign back to a civic reception in Wellington. Seeing the bandaged and traumatised men paraded in the city’s Town Hall made a big impact on young Max Riske, who was taken to the reception by his mother. Sixty years later, he vividly recalled how the experience changed opinions about the war for him and many other Wellingtonians.

  • The walking wounded return home

    Video

    New Zealand soldiers board a ship. It may be a hospital ship returning them to New Zealand, as some of the men are visibly wounded, using crutches and walking sticks. A civilian woman can be seen in the opening frames, indicating that this scene may have been shot in England.

  • ‘They Were There! There! There!’

    Audio

    The lyrics of the song ‘They Were There! There! There!’ were written by Private Harley Cohen shortly after his return from Gallipoli in September 1915. He was still recovering from wounds sustained during the Battle of Lone Pine.

  • Māori and Pacific Islanders march to war

    Video

    On Saturday 5 February 1916, the 3rd Māori Contingent of Reinforcements and others made their way from Parliament along Lambton Quay to their departure point at Wellington’s waterfront. Members of the Māori Contingent are easily identified by their uniform of pith helmet, shorts, putties (a long strip of cloth around the lower leg) and lack of ammunition pouches, which distinguished them from the ‘lemon squeezer’ hat and full uniform of the other troops. The idea of engaging in a battle in foreign lands so far from home must have raised excitement as well as doubt as the Māori Contingent headed for the challenge and conflict of World War One.

    Troops from several South Pacific countries formed part of the 3rd Maori Contingent. Among them was Sergeant-Major Uea of Lalofetau, Niue. He had helped to encourage support for the war effort and was the oldest of the Niuean volunteers who sailed that day.

  • Ex-pat Kiwis march in the London Lord Mayor’s Show

    Video

    In November 1914 the annual London Lord Mayor’s Show took on a very military flavour, with thousands of troops from Britain and her allies marching through the streets. They included a group of 150 New Zealanders, part of a contingent of 200 who were living in Britain when war was declared.

    As this tiny fragment of film from 1914 shows, the New Zealanders were still wearing the ‘slouch’ hat with the upturned brim which New Zealanders had worn in the South African War.  Later in the war this would be replaced by the peaked ‘lemon squeezer’.

  • Soldiers swim at Gallipoli

    Image

    This hand-coloured glass slide shows men swimming in or lying beside the water at ANZAC Cove, beneath Plugge’s Hill (in background).

  • Brother Turk Thankful

    Video

    Harry Julius’s clever animated comment on the fighting spirit of Australian forces against the Turkish enemy.

  • Even Major-Generals die in battle

    Video

    The sombre 1915 funeral procession of Major-General Sir William Bridges, killed in action at the Dardenelles. Filmed in Melbourne after Bridges’ body arrived home months after his death.

  • Nurses remember the sinking of the Marquette

    Audio

    Three New Zealand nurses - Elizabeth Young, Mary Gould and Jeanne Peek (née Sinclair) - recount their experiences of the sinking of the troopship S.S. Marquette on 23 October 1915. The nurses were part of the New Zealand No. 1 Stationary Hospital unit, which was sailing on the troop transport from Alexandria, Egypt, to Salonika (Thessaloniki) in Greece, when their ship was struck by a torpedo from a German U-boat.

  • Who was to blame for the sinking of the Marquette?

    Audio

    Thirty-two New Zealand medical staff, including ten nurses, were killed when the troop transport ship SS Marquette was sunk by a torpedo from a German U-boat on 23 October 1915. The Marquette was en route from Alexandria to Salonika, carrying troops of the British 29th Division Ammunition Column, Royal Field Artillery, along with their equipment and animals. The medical personnel, equipment and stores of the New Zealand No. 1 Stationary Hospital were also on board. Questions were later asked about why a hospital unit was travelling with an ammunition column, which made the ship a legitimate military target.

    In this 1965 recording two survivors, Herbert Hyde and Alexander Prentice of the New Zealand Medical Corps, recall the shipwreck and their impressions of why the disaster happened.

  • Machine gunners at Chunuk Bair

    Audio

    Leonard Leary was an ammunition handler with a Wellington Infantry Battalion machine gun team, and was wounded at Chunk Bair. The outdated Maxim machine guns used by New Zealand troops on Gallipoli were operated by a team of six men. These teams had to carry their guns up to vantage points and assemble them there in the heat of battle.

    Listen to Leonard Leary reading from his memoir about the battle of Chunuk Bair.

  • No bayonet needed / E hara te pēneti i mau

    Audio

    Captain Pirimi Tahiwi of Te Hokowhitu a Tū, the Māori Battalion, describes how he and Captain Roger Dansey led a charge on Sari Bair, Gallipoli in 1915. Te Rauparaha’s famous war cry “Ka Mate, Ka Mate” rang out as they cleared the Turkish trenches. Tahiwi says there was no need to use the bayonet as the Turkish troops fled for their lives.He was wounded in the neck and evacuated to England to convalesce. After an outstanding military career he attended the 50th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings as the sole surviving officer to serve in Te Hokowhitu a Tū, the Māori Pioneer Battalion. Tahiwi laid a mere pounamu, a symbol of both peace and war, on the memorial at Chunuk Bair.

  • Haka in the Sand / He Haka He Onepu

    Video

    The First Māori Contingent are seen in Egypt on 3 April 1915, enthusiastically performing the haka “Te Kāhu Pōkere” which was as popular then as Te Rauparaha’s famous war cry “Kā mate, Ka mate” is today. The Māori Contingent were bound for Malta before moving on to Gallipoli. Their sense of adventure is still apparent in this film as they were yet to face the heat of battle when, as many a soldier has said, “Boys became men at the burst of the first shell around them.” Performing the haka was found to be a good way to unite men under a common purpose. It provided relief from the mundane day to day existence in training camps, and was a form of entertainment for the Contingent and other troops, as well as a morale booster.

  • From Queen Street to the front

    Video

    Although the details are uncertain, this brief film clip shows the Auckland Mounted Rifles Regiment marching down Queen Street on 22 September 1914, after a civic farewell at the Auckland Domain. The New Zealand Herald newspaper reported that “[f]lags were waved, and lusty cheers were given as the troops passed”. These scenes were later included in the 1928 Australian film The Exploits of the Emden. The original footage, like much film from that era, is now long lost.

  • Dust in our ears, eyes, mouth, nose and everywhere

    Video

    In late 1914 the New Zealand and Australian forces were diverted from their original destination of England to Egypt. There they combined to form the ANZAC Corps that would eventually fight in the Gallipoli campaign. This film shows an activity that became a routine part of soldiers’ life - the troop inspection.

    As well as the blazing Egyptian heat, the ANZAC troops had another menace to contend with – dust. Herbert Hart wrote in his diary “[t]he sand is worked into such fine dust near camp, that it now flies everywhere whenever the troops move over it. We had dust in our ears, eyes, mouth, nose and everywhere, it fell from our puggarees [cloth wrapped around the regulation sun helmets], pouches, pockets, putties [long cloth strips wrapped around the calves] or from all our clothes.”

  • The Anzac convoy departs from Albany

    Video

    The Main Body of the NZ Expeditionary Force steamed off from Wellington on 16 October 1914. The convoy consisted of 10 transport ships and four escorts, carrying 8000 soldiers and nearly 4000 horses. They arrived in Albany on 28 October to join up with 28 Australian Imperial Force troopships. The combined Anzac fleet of 38 troopships and escorts, carrying 30,000 soldiers and 7,500 horses, departed Albany on 1 November.

    This film shows soldiers of the Auckland Infantry Battalion ready to embark on Albany Wharf, and the line of grey-painted New Zealand troopships waiting to follow the Australian convoy ships (which retained their civilian colours). This vast fleet took soldiers from Australia and New Zealand halfway around the world to participate in the First World War.

  • Wrestling on deck

    Video

    This film was made during the New Zealand convoy’s 1915 journey from Wellington to Egypt, via Hobart and Colombo. On long voyages like this, an especially popular way for soldiers to spend their free time was watching wrestling bouts. Here the crowd watches intently as two soldiers, possibly former professional wrestlers, come to grips on the deck of the troopship. This appears to be a “worked”, or staged, bout, rather than a genuine contest. Gambling was prohibited on board troopships, but it seems highly likely that money changed hands on this occasion.

  • Readying the Samoan Expeditionary Force

    Video

    When war was declared in August 1914, New Zealand was asked by the British Government to capture German Samoa. A Samoan Expeditionary Force made up of just over 1300 soldiers, mostly from the Wellington region, departed for the Samoan capital, Apia, on 15 August. Little resistance was met when the troops landed a fortnight later, and a New Zealand military administration occupied Samoa over the course of the war.

    No footage of the New Zealand occupation of Samoa exists. However, this is footage of the two troopships, S.S. Monowai and S.S. Moeraki, which transported the Samoan Expeditionary Force. While the provenance of this film is unknown, the fact that the transport ships are still in civilian colours, a "2" is evident on the side of one of them (the troopship number), the dress of the sentry and the presence of a 12 pound gun suggests that it shows a glimpse of the preparation on Wellington’s waterfront for New Zealand’s first action during the war.

  • A sea of faces say goodbye in Dunedin

    Video

    Tahuna Park in Dunedin was the initial training camp for soldiers of the Otago and Southland Section of the Main Body of the NZEF. It was also the site for this civic reception farewelling the men on 16 September 1914. The Otago Daily Times reported that “seldom, if ever, has such a large Dunedin crowd been gathered together at one time." (17 September 1914, p. 2).

    The soldiers seem all smiles and expectant faces, and eager to be off to war. The film also gives rare glimpses of how Dunedin people felt as their fathers, husbands, brothers and sons headed off to the front. There is a sense of apprehension amongst this sea of faces, and it was well founded. Many of the troops shown in this film later became casualties of the 1915 Gallipoli Campaign.

  • Poor old soldiers, both two-legged and four-legged

    Audio

    Horses were among the unsung heroes of the NZEF during World War One. Ten thousand horses were sent overseas over the course of the war. They were used by mounted troops and officers, and for transporting equipment and artillery. The life of a horse in the army was a tough one. They endured brutal conditions travelling to the front and at the battlefield, and only a handful returned back to New Zealand, as Percy Lowndes recalled in 1969.

  • An army marches on its stomach

    Video

    Raising the main body of the NZEF was a huge logistical exercise and needed to be done quickly. By early August 1914 the first recruits arrived at training camps established in the four military regions across the country (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Otago-Southland). One of the most important tasks, beside basic training, was housing and feeding the new troops.

    Tahuna Park in Dunedin was chosen as the initial training camp for the Otago-Southland region. This rare ‘behind the scenes’ footage shows the work of the tin shed cookhouse set up to feed the 1100 men camped there. The Cook Sergeant, with a bandaged arm, orders around the cookhouse fatigues (work teams). Notice how everyone is puffing away on pipes or cigarettes, adding extra fibre, flavour and aroma to the camp stew!

  • The last month I was there, I never wore trousers

    Audio

    The Anzac troops on Gallipoli faced many discomforts in addition to the Turkish soldiers shooting at them from over the hill. They lacked food and drinking water, suffered from sicknesses like dysentery and typhoid, and were surrounded by bodies decomposing in the heat. Life on the peninsula was all about survival, and it changed the men’s priorities. Here two New Zealand veterans talk about the highs and lows, including eating a dead sheep they found, squabbling over fresh bread and being evacuated due to dysentery.

  • “What about a drop of water, Digger?”

    Audio

    Water shortages were a constant problem for the thousands of men based at Gallipoli in 1915. Natural water was scarce on the peninsula and attempts to solve the problem by using water condenser units to convert sea water for drinking proved inadequate. Water supplies, often from as far away as Egypt, had to be brought in by boat and landed on the beach, sometimes under fire. Then the various containers had to be dragged over the rugged landscape to the thirsty men in their trenches. 

    The unidentified New Zealand veteran in this interview recalls how the mateship between Kiwis and Australians meant they sometimes gave each other preferential treatment with water rations.

  • The Daisy Patch

    Audio

    Joseph Gasparich was a gumdigger and school teacher before he joined the Auckland Infantry Battalion. In May 1915 he was serving with the combined Australian and New Zealand forces at Anzac Cove in Gallipoli. General Sir Ian Hamilton decided to try and break through to the south of the Gallipoli peninsula, and New Zealand and Australian infantrymen were sent to Cape Helles by ferry. On 8 May the New Zealanders launched a series of attacks across an open field of poppies and daisies. In 1968 Joe Gasparich recorded his memories of the unsuccessful attacks in the Daisy Patch. “It was absolute murder – or suicide, whichever way you like to look at it.”

  • Seasick men and horses

    Audio

    Twenty-three-year-old Auckland telegraphist (signaller) Cyril Bassett sailed for the war in October 1914 with the Main Body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Cyril was on board the battleship Waimana, with the rank of orderly corporal. In this 1976 interview, he recalls that during the long sea voyage. his job was to clean up after seasick men and horses. However, in August 1915 Bassett won the Victoria Cross, the highest award for bravery in the Allied forces, for maintaining communication lines under fire during the Battle of Chunuk Bair.

  • Mrs Barnard’s gingernuts

    Audio

    Six of Helena Barnard’s eight sons went away to fight, and she sent them care packages that included the gingernut biscuits she used to bake for them to take on tramping trips. The gingernuts were a welcome change from the notorious Gallipoli diet of tinned bully beef and ship’s biscuits. They lasted well and quickly became favourites with the boys at the front. Many wrote to Mrs Barnard asking her to provide their own mums with her recipe. Her gingernuts became famous and are quite possibly the original ANZAC biscuit. This interview was recorded around the time of Helena Barnard’s 100th birthday.

  • Treating Gallipoli’s wounded – Dr Agnes Bennett

    Audio

    The Australian-born and New Zealand-based doctor Agnes Bennett refused to let routine sexism keep her out of the war. She offered her services to the New Zealand Army as soon as war broke out but was turned down because she was a woman. Undeterred, she paid her own passage to Europe, intending to join the French Red Cross. In May 1915 she was sailing through the Red Sea when word reached the ship of the casualties arriving in Egypt from the Gallipoli campaign. She disembarked at the next opportunity and began working in the over-stretched military hospitals of Cairo, with the status and pay of an army captain. Dr Bennett recalls her wartime experiences in this recording, made in 1959.

  • Swimming with Birdie at Gallipoli

    Audio

    As the weather warmed up on Gallipoli during the summer of 1915, new problems plagued the Australian and New Zealand forces. The increased heat worsened the men’s thirsts and a huge number of flies swarmed over the battlefield, due to the many unburied corpses and shallowly-dug latrines, or field toilets. A refreshing swim in the Mediterranean was the only relief, as New Zealander Bertie Cooksley recalls.

  • A.I.F Parade and Departure

    Video

    In the first months after Australia entered the war, the public mood was wildly enthusiastic and patriotic. That mood is evident in this clip, showing cheering crowds gathered to support a military parade as AIF troops depart on the troopship A2 Geelong. The ship can be briefly glimpsed departing at the end of this film.

  • Expert rough-riders – Australian Light Horse

    Video

    By 1914 Australian horsemen had proved themselves as expert rough-riders and good shots in wartime. Untrained colonial cavalry had distinguished themselves in the Boer War, and Australia had 23 regiments of volunteer cavalry at the outbreak of WW1. Many men from these regiments joined the Light Horse Regiments of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). Some are seen here in training with their horses, and in a military parade. Troops are also shown departing on the troopship A2 Geelong, farewelled by a huge crowd as the ship leaves the dock.

  • Flower power

    Video

    It was the most spectacular parade that the South Island town of Nelson had ever seen. Daffodil Week, a fundraising campaign to provide comforts to troops serving overseas, took place in September 1916, and the highlight was the grand parade and crowning of the Flower Queen. The streets were decorated with flags and from early morning children were selling buttonholes (small posies of flowers), while stallholders sold cut flowers, ferns, plants, seedlings, sweets and produce.

    In this short film the impact of World War One is evident. The floats and organizations are marshalled by uniformed soldiers, and the streets are lined with members of the local Territorial infantry battalion. The Rt. Rev. William Sadlier, the Bishop of Nelson, can be seen in a frock-coat in the crowd. The annual Flower Queen, elected by popular vote, was Miss Hazel Win. Altogether £780 (or NZ$100,000 today) was raised for Christmas presents for the boys at the front.

  • The landing of the Australian troops in Egypt

    Audio

    This commercial sound recording includes what might be the first recorded version of 'Advance Australia Fair', the song that became Australia's national anthem. In music and drama, this production recreates the 1914 arrival of the Australian troops in Egypt, before their departure for Gallipoli. It may have been aimed at giving those on the home front a sense of the soldiers’ lives. The recording is very celebratory and full of pride at the role Australia was playing in the Great War.

  • Australia will be there

    Audio

    Of all the patriotic songs of WW1, 'Australia Will Be There' is probably the one best known to Australians. It became the marching song of the Australian Expeditionary Forces and was used to rally the troops as they marched away from home. 'Australia Will Be There' was written in 1915 by Walter ‘Skipper’ Francis. The song quotes from ‘ Auld Lang Syne’ in its chorus and is often given its longer title, 'For Auld Land Syne - Australia Will Be There '.

  • Fundraising for the war effort, Sydney

    Video

    Various wartime fundraising and recruitment activities are seen in this film from about 1916, shot from outside the General Post Office in Martin Place, Sydney, after rain. In pavilion-style tent stalls, Red Cross workers sell ribbons, flowers and other produce. The top-hatted Governor of NSW, Sir Gerald Strickland, walks among the crowds. Many AIF troops are shown in this clip, their humour in evidence in a shot of a young male civilian being ‘accosted’ and compelled to enlist, while others pretend to take his measurements for a uniform.

  • Sailing into war, 1914

    Video

    For many Anzac soldiers, their outward voyage on a troopship was their first overseas experience. The excitement of departure was soon replaced by seasickness on one of the world’s roughest seas. On the long voyage to Egypt they took part in leisure activities and routine training exercises like those shown here. Officers organised physical training programmes, inoculations, lectures and target practice sessions to keep the troops occupied.

  • Joining the Flotilla, 1914

    Video

    At the outbreak of war in August 1914, dozens of vessels were hastily converted into troopships to transport military units to their destinations overseas. This film shows newly recruited AIF troops boarding troopships at Woolloomooloo (Sydney, NSW) and Port Melbourne (Melbourne, Vic.)  Their ships then joined the flotilla at King George Sound (Albany, WA), the final Australian anchorage for the first convoy of almost 30,000 Australian and New Zealand soldiers heading to Egypt.

  • Distraction from the war - Coogee Beach

    Video

    Scenes of surf, sun and swimming at Coogee Beach, Sydney, played upon the sea as a place of recreation in stark contrast to the suffering at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. This film clip from 1915 shows the local surf lifesaving club practising with a surf reel. The foreshore is teeming with swimmers and sunbathers, as well as a good number of beach visitors dressed to the nines and content to promenade.

  • “Play the Greater Game”

    Video

    This 1915 Australian Government recruitment film uses slogans such as 'Play the Greater Game' to urge men to join the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). Later propaganda films were less subtle in their efforts, and used persuasion, fear, guilt, confrontation, accusation, or scenes of heroic action on the battlefields to influence eligible men to enlist. The films omitted any reference to the harsh realities of military life or the threat of death or injury for Australian troops abroad.

  • Australian artillery on the Salonika Front

    Video

    The camera operator is unusually close to the artillery action in this British-made newsreel. It shows an Australian gun crew operating their weapon gun beneath a canvas shelter in the Greek port town of Salonika (now Thessaloniki). Opposing them are Bulgarian forces who, together with Germans, had forced the Serbian Army from the port. This Australian artillery crew seems comparatively relaxed in comparison to the usual grim scenes of battlefront action from this period.

  • Comforts for the troops

    Video

    Throughout the war Federal Government House, the magnificent Melbourne residence of Australia’s Governor-General, was a central depot for Red Cross supplies for Australian troops serving overseas. Medical supplies and clothing, and small luxuries such as soap, tobacco and fruitcakes (known as ‘comforts’) were donated by the women of Victoria and delivered to Government House. Its ballroom became a warehouse and factory where goods were received, made, checked and despatched by volunteers, and the stables were converted into a workshop for making furniture and crutches. This silent film clip shows the first shipment of Red Cross supplies being loaded on to motorised and horse-drawn vehicles and leaving Government House for despatch to Australian soldiers in Egypt.

  • Departure of Reinforcements to the Front

    Video

    Troops (seen from dock) wave from ship prior to departure. Numerous civilians hold streamers connected with occupants of ship, while other civilians wave handkerchiefs as the ship leaves the wharf. The HMAT A20 Hororata weighed 9,400 tons with an average cruise speed of 14 knots or 25.92 kmph. It was owned by the New Zealand Shipping Co Ltd, London, and leased by the Commonwealth until 11 September 1917.

  • A troopship departs for Albany, 1914

    Video

    When Australia entered the First World War in support of Britain, ships were urgently needed to transport troops to the distant battlefields. The hastily refitted ships also had to carry the troops’ horses and military stores, plus wool, metals, meat, flour and other foodstuffs, mainly for the armies of Britain and France. This film shows the loading and departure of troops and horses aboard HMAT (His Majesty’s Australian Transport) A20 Hororata from Port Melbourne, Victoria on 18 October 1914. Troops move up the gangplanks of the transport ship while horses are taken up another gangplank. A tug then tows the Hororata out of port and it joins other ships in the convoy to head out to sea.

  • ‘Worst comes to wurst’

    Video

    A German soldier’s horse is turned into German sausage (or ‘wurst’) in the first sketch in this weekly episode of Harry Julius’ Cartoons of the Moment. Next, a battered fez-wearing turkey represents the beleaguered Turkish forces. In the third sketch of this clip, Kaiser Wilhelm II – the Crown Prince of Germany – is caricatured with human skulls adorning his uniform to emphasise the enormous loss of life suffered by German troops.

  • The Lynch Family Bellringers

    Image

    The Lynch Family, Harry Lynch and his four sons, toured Australia’s regional areas for several decades with their hand bell-ringing show. Gradually singers, dancers and comedians, including visiting European performers, were incorporated into the show. This poster advertises a 1914 tour featuring the novel attractions of the Glassophone and Aluminum Organ Chimes.

  • The exploits of the Emden

    Video

    The German battle cruiser Emden opened fire on the Australian cruiser Sydney off the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean on November 9, 1914. The Sydney was then escorting the first convoy of Australian and New Zealand troops to the front. With her more powerful guns, the Sydney damaged the German vessel and drove ashore. This naval battle was recorded in a 1928 film, The Exploits of the Emden, based on an earlier German production. These extracts show New Zealand and Australian troops preparing to join the troop convoy in their own countries.

  • ‘Australia prepared’ – making ammunition

    Video

    ‘The Amazing Micrometer’, a machine measuring to one 40,000th of an inch, is one star of this 1916 film, made at Australia’s Colonial Ammunition Company. Many of the factory’s workers are women, symbolising a community united in the war effort and highlighting women’s vital contributions on the home front. They are seen making .303 cartridges, packing them in cases, and filling a soldier’s bandolier (ammunition belt). This is an extract from an hour-long documentary showing how Australia ‘made and equipped the expeditionary forces’ to contribute to the Allied cause during the Great War.

  • Dogs of war - the ‘Aucklands’ on parade

    Video

    After six weeks in training camp, the Auckland section of the Main Body of the NZEF was reviewed by Minister of Defence James Allen at Auckland’s Alexandra Park on 19 September 1914. This film shows the men of the Auckland Infantry Regiment, the Mounted Rifles, the Motorcycle Corps and and the Field Ambulance, in full battle equipment. Watch out for the dogs who also take starring roles, running in and out of shot. Films of this period often show dogs accompanying New Zealand troops, both at home and overseas.

  • A rickshaw ride in Durban

    Image

    Two Australian soldiers riding in a rickshaw pulled by a local man in Durban, South Africa, is taken from a B&W glass slide. Durban was an important port during WWI as troopships from Australia and New Zealand sailed around the Cape of Good Hope. From 1916 this was a safer route than the Suez Canal as there was a risk of a submarine attack in the Mediterranean. Soldiers disembarked in Durban and the troopships resupplied the journey took up to eight weeks to and from Australia.

  • Soldier’s souvenir view of Egypt

    Image

    This image (B&W glass slide) was probably taken by an Australian soldier during a break from a route (training) march. Australian troops relax under the shade of trees in Egypt. Many images taken by soldiers serving overseas in the war show more famous tourist scenes such as men seated on camels, the pyramids, the Sphinx, or in a building or busy city street. Yet this shot still gives a feel of the tourist abroad, in the relaxed lounging poses struck by many of the subjects.

  • Unloading barges, Anzac Cove

    Image

    This scene of soldiers unloading barges at what became known as Anzac Cove captures one moment in the landing and subsequent eight-month campaign at Gallipoli. The soldiers’ routine activity does little to indicate the heavy casualties incurred or the physical hardships endured. Turkish gunners had a good fix on Anzac Cove and many men were killed and badly wounded in the beach area or by the water.

  • At Anzac Cove

    Image

    This hand-coloured glass slide shows British soldiers near a dugout at ANZAC Cove. The scene appears calm, with the men in small, groups close to sandbagged dugouts and tents. The barges remind us that supplies were always a concern, as they had to be shipped in. Despite the superficial calmness of a blue and grey tinted sea and sky, the Allied forces had to struggle with a rough terrain, establishing shelter and supply lines on rugged cliffs and narrow unprotected beaches.

  • Washing the horses, Suvla Bay

    Image

    With the Gallipoli campaign at deadlock, a smaller Allied force, including Australians and New Zealanders, made an amphibious landing at Suvla Bay on the Aegean Sea to relieve pressure on the main force. Many horses accompanied the landing parties, providing vital transport for men and material. This photograph shows men washing their horses in advance of the Suvla attack, with mules, tents and other equipment in the background.

  • Farewelling troops in Wellington

    Video

    This rare film records a civic ceremony for New Zealand troops departing for the front. It shows the official farewell to the Wellington Section of the NZ Expeditionary Force on 24 September 1914. The troops are inspected by a group of dignitaries, including Prime Minister William Massey, Lord Liverpool the Governor-General and Major General Sir Alexander Godley. They then march four abreast down Adelaide Road and along Lambton Quay, Wellington’s main shopping street. The men of the NZEF are then seen crammed on board the deck and high up on the rigging of a troopship. Most have happy faces as they await what they expected would be a grand adventure. Contrast this with the more subdued figures of the 6th Reinforcement who appear at the end of the film. They are seen departing for the front in August 1915, when the horrors of the Gallipoli Campaign had become widely known.