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Shrapnel Valley Cemetery is reached by a short walking path 75 metres south of the Turkish Memorial on Queensland Point. The cemetery is one of the most beautiful on Gallipoli. It has an irregular oval layout indicating original wartime burials, although some graves were added after the war. The cemetery contains the graves of some 700 soldiers, including 527 Australians and 85 unnamed graves. Major Hugh Quinn (15th Battalion AIF) was buried here after he was killed on 29 May at the front line post which bears his name. Shrapnel Valley was the name given to the main line of communication from the beach supply base to the front line and culminating at the Nek. At the height of the Anzac occupation, the sides of the valley were terraced with dugouts, tents and stores covering the slopes and it was said to resemble a wild mining township. Monash Valley branches from Shrapnel Valley higher up, to form the only route to the furthest part of the front line at Quinn's, Courtney's and Steele's Posts. The Turks called the connected valleys, Korku Dere (Valley of Fear). The valley path starts on the southeastern side of the cemetery and follows a sandy creek bed which is today heavily overgrown; it can be walked with some difficulty. Plugge's Plateau Cemetery is located on the seaward end of the 100 metre high plateau which dominates the shore at Ari Burnu and was the first major obstacle facing the troops landing there. The smallest, but one of the most beautifully sited cemeteries, Plugge's contains the graves of only 24 soldiers, including 12 Australians, many of whom were killed on 25 April. It is reached by a steep walking track which begins outside the seaward (western) wall of Shrapnel Valley Cemetery. Remains of Anzac field battery emplacements are passed on the walk to the cemetery. The effect of these guns caused the Turks to name Plugge's Plateau, Ham Tepe Treacherous Hill). Canterbury Cemetery, north of Ari Burnu and below Walker's Ridge, is in an area which was part of the New Zealand sector throughout the campaign. The cemetery was created in 1919 by consolidating nearby cemeteries and individual graves. It contains the graves of 37 soldiers, most of them New Zealanders, including 16 soldiers of the Canterbury Mounted Rifles Brigade from whom the cemetery derives its name. No.2 Outpost Cemetery, located at the foot of the hill known as No.2 Outpost, is approached by a track from the main road. It was created during the campaign and today contains the graves of 104 soldiers, including 28 Australians of the 7th Battalion AIF; killed by heavy Turkish fire as they rowed to shore on 25 April-many of them lay mortally wounded in the landing boats for several days before their bodies could be recovered. New Zealand No.2 Outpost Cemetery is 100 metres north of No.2 Outpost cemetery beside the main road. The cemetery contains the remains of 152 soldiers in a single long grave dug in September 1915; only two graves are identified. Embarkation Pier Cemetery marks the northern boundary of the Anzac battlefield. The cemetery was named after a pier built nearby to evacuate the wounded from the August battles. It contains the graves of 622 unknown soldiers, 13 New Zealanders and 7 Australians. 7th Field Ambulance Cemetery, named after the 7th Australian Field Ambulance which landed on Gallipoli in September. The cemetery contains 433 graves, most of them reburied in 1919 from other smaller cemeteries. The dead come from the period of the August offensive to the evacuation; 21 are Australian soldiers and there are believed to be another 47 Australians among the 262 whose identity remains unknown. Hill 60 Cemetery is approached on a narrow access
road (impassable to vehicles in wet weather) signposted on the right from
the main road. It was constructed over trenches on the site of the last
assaults of the August offensive. Hill 60 stands midway between the Anzac
and Suvla sectors. The cemetery contains the graves of Australians of
the 18th Battalion who attacked the position in late August in an attempt
to link the Suvla and Anzac lines. Hill 60 cemetery is an unusual circular
design which contains 754 graves of which only 42 are unidentified (712
are unmarked graves). In the centre is a memorial to the New Zealand Mounted
Rifle Brigade which suffered heayy losses in the actions at Hill 60. |
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