April 25, 1916, was the climax of the Gallipoli Campaign in which troops from Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand attempted to land from the sea and drive the Ottoman Turks off the Gallipoli Peninsula in what is now Turkiye.

The landing was a disaster and ultimately cost Winston Churchill his job as First Lord of the Admiralty.

ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) casualties on the first day numbered around 2,000 men killed or wounded.


Eric Bogle, a Scottish transplant to Australia wrote this song in 1971 commemorating and lamenting the sacrifices suffered by the men and their families of Australian and New Zealand soldiers.



"Waltzing Matilda" is Aussie slang for the pack and bedroll a "swagman" (bushman, vagabond, rover) carries with him as he wanders from "Murray's green basin the dusty outback."  The song became an unofficial anthem of the ANZAC forces in World War I.

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