Voices of Gallipoli

Hear the voices from the past, read aloud once more

For Anzac Day this year, we partnered with Voices of Gallipoli to take part in a three-day international act of remembrance. Voices of Gallipoli, by Maurice Shadbolt and adapted by Arthur Meek, is part of an international project to remember the lives of kiwis at war by speaking their words out loud at Anzac Day commemorations and events. See below for photos from our live readings.

All live readings happened at Roimata Pounamu (Tears on Greenstone Memorial)
– Wednesday 24 April @ 11am and 1pm
– Thursday 25 April (Anzac Day) @ 12.30pm only
– Friday 26 April @ 11am and 1pm

People could be as involved as they wanted; listening to the diary readings and reflecting on the words, or lending their voice and participating by reading from the diaries too. We were fortunate enough to have a couple of people from our local Waiouru community, uniformed army personnel from Waiouru Military Camp, and our own staff volunteer to ‘lend their voice’ to the readings.

An excerpt from Vic Nicholson, joined from Gisborne and fought in the Wellington Infantry Battalion.

“Scared?

Sometimes you were too scared to be scared.

I would laugh at any individual who says he wasn’t afraid.

Those who say they are devoid of fear talk absolute phooey.

I was paralysed with fear.”

An excerpt from Joe Gasparich. Joined from Whangarei and fought in the Auckland Infantry Battalion.

“The ground was jumping and the bushes were swaying this way and that, and it sounded as if I were running through a giant swarm of bees on the move.

They weren’t bees.

They were bullets buzzing around my ears, everywhere.

The landscape was alive with bullets.”

An excerpt from Charlie Clark, joined from Gisborne and fought in the Wellington Infantry Battalion.

“Suddenly there was a terrific volume of rifle fire and yelling.

The two men we had on watch came charging back to us and said the Turks were coming through.

We was going to be pretty well in the middle of the Turks unless we moved fast.

My mates said to me, ‘Well, you led us down here. Now you lead us back.’

So I took off, back towards the top of Chunuk Bair, with bullets hopping around me, and the others following behind.”

An excerpt from Dan Curham, joined from Whanganui and fought in the Wellington Infantry Battalion.

“The intention was to cut the Gallipoli peninsula in two, right across to the Narrows.

But we knew perfectly well that Chunuk Bair was the key – the key, that is, to victory or defeat on the peninsula.

That hill was vital.

It dominated the middle of the peninsula and commanded ground right down to the Narrows.

And in the August offensive Chunuk Bair was the objective of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade.

Victory or defeat was in our hands.”

An excerpt from Henry Lewis, joined from Wellington and fought for the Otago Regiment.

“They just kept coming at us.

If any got up to our trench, we had to hop out and bayonet them back.

Otherwise we just fired point blank into the mass.

Our rifles got red hot, and some of them jammed.

The bottom of our trench was ankle deep in spent shells.

I don’t know how long it lasted.

It seemed many hours, but perhaps it was only two.

I was black with bruises from the recoil of my rifle.”