Johnston’s Jolly Cemetery

Johnston’s Jolly Cemetery; The area of the Anzac battlefield known as Johnston’s Jolly lies along the ridge just north of Lone Pine. It was named for the commander of the 2nd Australian Division Artillery, Brigadier-General George Johnston, and was reached by Australian soldiers on the morning of the landing of 25 April 1915. The field-guns of Johnston’s artillery were said by the troops, to ‘jolly up’ the Turkish battery opposite. This position, known to the Turks as Kirmezi Sirt or ‘Red Ridge’, was lost on 26 April and never retaken by the Australians.

Johnston’s Jolly Cemetery was created after the war when remains were brought here from isolated graves in the surrounding battlefield. Of the 181 burials in this cemetery, 144 are unidentified. There are Special Memorials to thirty-six Australians known to have been buried here. Nearly all were serving in the 4th and 7th Battalions, and died during the action at Lone Pine between 6 and 10 August 1915. The only identified burial in the cemetery is that of Lance Corporal Herbert Norman May, 15th Battalion, of Casino, New South Wales, who was killed in action on 9 May 1915.

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. 400metres past Lone Pine Cemetery and Memorial you will find Johnston's Jolly. This cemetery stands on the northern part of Plateau 400 in the Anzac part of the peninsular.

Visiting Information

The Cemetery is permanently open and may be visited at any time.

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

Allied landings were made on 25-26 April 1915 at Helles, on the southern tip of the peninsula, and on the west coast, in an area which later became known as Anzac. On 6 August, further landings were made at Suvla, just north of Anzac, and the climax of the campaign came in early August when simultaneous assaults were launched on these three fronts.

Johnston's Jolly (called by the Turks Kirmezi Sirt, or 'Red Ridge'), was named from the commander of the 2nd Australian Division Artillery, Brigadier-General G J Johnston, CB, CMG, VD. The position was reached by the 2nd Australian Infantry Brigade on 25 April 1915, but lost the next day and it was never retaken.

The cemetery was made after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefield.

There are now 181 Commonwealth servicemen buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 144 of the burials are unidentified and there are special memorials to 36 Australian casualties believed to be buried among them, almost all of whom were killed in the capture of Lone Pine in August 1915.