Courtney's and Steel's Post Cemetery

Courtney's and Steel's Post Cemetery; Courtney's Post was named for Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Courtney, who brought the 14th Battalion AIF to the position on 27 April 1915. It lies along the ridge leading northwards from Lone Pine and on the original front line at Anzac established on the day of the landing. Close by, and slightly to the south-west, was Steel's Post (also known as Steele’s Post) named for Major Thomas Steel, also of the 14th Battalion. Both posts were initially occupied on 25 April 1915 and held until the final evacuation of the Anzac position in December 1915. Charles Bean described Steel’s Post as a steep niche ‘of which the top was a sheer landslide of gravel where a man could scarcely climb on hands and knees’.

After the war, the Imperial War Graves Commission (today the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) created Courtney and Steel’s Post Cemetery in the area of these old Anzac positions. Here lie the remains of 225 Commonwealth servicemen, 160 of whom are unidentified. There are six identified Australian burials in Courtney’s and Steel’s Post and fifty-eight Special Memorials to others believed to be buried here – fifty-four Australians, two Royal Marines, one Royal Navy seaman, and a New Zealand Soldier.

Location Information

The Anzac and Suvla cemeteries are first signposted from the left hand junction of the Eceabat- Bigali road. From this junction travel into the main Anzac area.

At 11.1 kms. from the junction Eceabat- Bigali, the cemetery will be found on the left hand side of the road.

Visiting Information

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

Please note that in the absence of a cemetery register, visitors are advised to locate the Grave/Memorial reference before visiting. This information can be found in the CASUALTY RECORDS within this page.

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.

Courtney's Post, towards the northern end of the original Anzac line, was named from Lieut-Colonel R E Courtney, CB, VD, who brought the 14th Australian Infantry Battalion to it on 27 April 1915. Steel's Post was next to it on the south-west and was named from Major T H Steel, 14th Battalion. Both these positions were occupied on 25 April 1915 and held until the evacuation in December.

There are 225 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery. 160 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 58 casualties believed to be buried among them.