Gallipoli documentary made after much careful research

Press, 21 April 1984, Page 17

Gallipoli documentary made after much careful research

Most nations celebrate old victories. New Zealand does not. Anzac Day began as a remembrance of an agonising defeat, a failed campaign fought upon Turkey’s Gallipoli Peninsula. There, half a world from home, of the 8500 eager young New Zealanders who had volunteered, more than a third were killed and 4700 were wounded. That era marks the beginning of New Zealand’s identity as a nation — with Anzac Day as the cornerstone of our nationalism — but New Zealand’s involvement in the Gallipoli campaign has never been researched in detail or accurately chronicled. A 73-minute documentary, which was two years in the making, finally unshrouds the mythology surrounding the campaign, to tell for the first time of the events, and the role played by the New Zealand troops. “Gallipoli — The New Zealand Story” will be screened at 8 p.m.

on One, on Sunday, three days before Anzac Day. “This is the story about a moment in our history that we as New Zealanders should know about and understand,” says the programme’s director, Doc Williams. The project was inspired by Television New Zealand’s director general, Mr Allan Martin. An experienced programme marker, Mr Martin had earlier made a documentary on Crete, and now felt that the story of New Zealand’s participation at Gallipoli should be told before it was too late. Doc Williams, a producer of the Auckland documentary unit, was appointed director. The author and playwright, Maurice Shadbolt, whose play about the assault on the summit at Gallipoli, “Once on Chunuk Bair,” had been performed at the Mercury Theatre in Auckland two years before, was commissioned to write the script. Lieutenant Gen-

eral Sir Leonard Thornton was chosen as presenter and narrator, after Mr Martin had seen him on film and recognised Sir Leonard’s authoritative on-camera quality. A military historian, Major Chris Pugsley, who was already deeply involved in researching Gallipoli for a book, was the logical choice as military expert. According to Doc Williams, “Pugsley probably knows more about the Gallipoli campaign than anyone else in New Zealand.”

The production team’s first step was to locate any Gallipoli veterans still alive in New Zealand. It was almost too late. Nearly 70 years after the campaign, those former soldiers who were left were old men in their late eighties and nineties. However, after months of searching, researchers found just over 300. Four of the veterans who appear in the documents have since died.

The research also uncovered old diaries, photo-' graphs taken by the soldiers and letters written home by men since killed. All helped to give a clearer picture of that forgotten moment in our history. It is against this backdrop of present day Gallipoli that Sir Leonard Thornton presents the documentary. Colour film of the trip is combined with the historical black and white photogaphs taken by the men themselves, interspersed with sketches by the distinguished war artist, Peter Mclntyre. A model is used to illustrate the planned strategies of attack.