Walker's Ridge Cemetery

Walker's Ridge Cemetery; Walker’s Ridge is the last cemetery on the unmade road leading down from the Nek Cemetery towards the edge of the plateau. From the cemetery itself the view northwards sweeps away superbly towards Suvla Bay. These heights were quickly reached from North Beach by Australians in the first hour or so after the landing at 4.30 a.m. on 25 April 1915. The ridge was called after Brigadier-General Harold Walker who commanded the New Zealand infantry at the landing and established his headquarters hereabouts.

Walker’s Ridge Cemetery was begun during the Gallipoli campaign and is the final resting place of thirty Australians of whom only twelve have been positively identified. The remaining eighteen, known to be buried here, are commemorated by Special Memorials.

Among the burials are eight members of the 2nd Battalion, seven of whom died between 27 April and 2 May 1915, the period of the ‘Battle of the Landing’. The deaths of the seven men of the 20th Battalion at Walker’s Ridge occurred between 2 September and 25 November. Here also are men of the 9th and 10th Battalions AIF, units which fought in this area at the landing, and men of the 8th and 10th Australian Light Horse Regiment who were killed during the famous charge at The Nek on 7 August 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 travel into the main Anzac area. After 11.8 km's, follow the metalled track to the cemetery which is 250 metres from the main road.

Visiting Information

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

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.

On 25 April, Walker's Ridge was the post of command of Brigadier-General Walker, then commanding the New Zealand Infantry Brigade. It was held by a mixed force until 27 April, when the New Zealanders took it over. A Turkish attempt to take the ridge on 30 June was repulsed by the 8th and 9th Australian Light Horse.

The cemetery was made during the occupation and consists of two plots separated by 18 metres of ground, through which a trench ran.

There are now 92 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 16 of the burials are unidentified and special memorials commemorate 26 soldiers known or believed to be buried in the cemetery.