Ari Burnu Cemetery

Ari Burnu Cemetery (253 burials) is named after the promontory at the north end of Anzac Cove and was used throughout the occupation.

Until 2000, Ari Burnu Cemetery has been the site of the Anzac Day Dawn Service. The cemetery was begun during the campaign. Among the 182 Australian graves are 82 of men from the Australian Light Horse regiments. The first row of graves above the sea wall — row A - contains mostly soldiers of the 8th Light Horse from Western Victoria. Their date of death tells their story — 7 August 1915, the morning of the charge of the 8th and 10th Light Horse (Western Australia) at the Nek. The men of the 10th lie in rows E and F. In grave E 30 is Sergeant Duncan Bain, 10th Light Horse, who just before the charge was heard ‘calling to his men to get ready and that they would be up on Baby 700 [hill].

Another interesting grave is that of Guiseppe Camilleri, Maltese Labour Corps (row J, grave 4). These men, along with British wharf labourers, were brought to Anzac after the August offensive to labour in the rear areas, thus releasing soldiers for work closer to the line.

In 1926 and 1927 11 graves from the Kilitbahir Anglo-French Cemetery and three from the Gelibolu Consular Cemetery were concentrated into Ariburnu Cemetery.

The cemetery, designed by Sir John Burnet, principal architect of the CWGC cemeteries and memorials on the peninsula, is under the control of the CWGC. It was registered as a cultural heritage Site by the Turkish Ministry of Culture on 14 November, 1980.

Kabatepe Ari Burnu Beach Memorial is a stone monolith at the south of Ariburnu Cemetery, beside the Aegean Sea. Inscribed in English on the monolith are the famous words Mustafa Kemal Ataturk delivered in 1934 to the first Australians, New Zealanders and British to visit the Gallipoli battlefields:

Those heroes that shed their blood

And lost their lives...

You are now lying in the soil of a friendly Country.

Therefore rest in peace.

There is no difference between the Johnnies

And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side

Here in this country of ours...

You, the mothers,

Who sent their sons front far away countries

Wipe away your tears,

Your sons are now lying in our bosom

And are in peace

After having lost their lives on this land

They have become our sons as well

 

Kabatepe Ari Burnu Beach Memorial ATATURK 1934

The monument was unveiled by Senator Arthur Gietzelt, Australian Minister for Veterans' Affairs, on 25 April, 1985. Plaques to the memory of Ataturk were unveiled in Canberra (Australian Capital Territory), Albany, Western Australia, departure point of the Anzac contingent left in 1914, and Wellington, New Zealand at the same time (Taylor and Cupper, 1989).

The memorial, designed by architect Ahmet Gulgonen, was registered as a cultural heritage site by the Turkish Ministry of Culture on 17 June, 1991.

Location Information

The Anzac and Suvla cemeteries are first signposted from the left hand junction of the Eceabat - Bigali road. From this junction you should travel into the main Anzac area. At 10.7 kms. you will find the cemetery on the left hand side of the coastal road. Ari Burnu Cemetery lies between the beach and the cliff under Plugge's Plateau, about 1000 metres north-north-west of Lone Pine.

Visiting Information

The Cemetery is permanently open and may be visited at any time. Wheelchair access to this cemetery is possible via the main entrance.

Historical Information

The eight month campaign in Gallipoli was fought by Commonwealth and French forces in an attempt to force Turkey out of the war, to relieve the deadlock of the Western Front in France and Belgium, and to open a supply route to Russia through the Dardanelles and the Black Sea.

The Allies landed on the peninsula on 25-26 April 1915; the 29th Division at Cape Helles in the south and the Australian and New Zealand Corps north of Gaba Tepe on the west coast, an area soon known as Anzac.

Ari Burnu Cemetery, named from the Cape at the North end of Anzac Cove, was made in 1915. In 1926 and 1927, graves were brought into it from the following two cemeteries:-

KILID BAHR ANGLO-FRENCH CEMETERY, which was on the Eastern side of the Peninsula. It contained the graves of five soldiers and one sailor from the United Kingdom, four soldiers from Australia, and four (including one unidentified) from India. Six of these men died in 1915 and were buried originally in the Greek cemeteries at Bigha and Maidos or on the field; the others died in November 1918.

GALLIPOLI CONSULAR CEMETERY, which is near the North end of the Peninsula. This contained (among Crimean and other British graves) three soldiers from the United Kingdom who died in 1919.

There are now 252 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 42 of the burials are unidentified but special memorials commemorate five casualties believed to be buried among them. Other memorials record the names of three Indian soldiers who were buried at Kilid Bahr.