N.Z.’s Gallipoli role recalled

Press, 23 April 1984, Page 4

N.Z.’s Gallipoli role recalled

New Zealand’s role at Gallipoli will be reflected in a new exhibition which will open tomorrow evening at the New Zealand Army’s Memorial Museum at Waiouru.

Entitled “Gallipoli — The New Zealand Story,” the exhibition has been sponsored by the Cable-Price Downer, Ltd, group of companies with a grant of $15,000. It will be opened by a former Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant-General Sir Leonard Thornton.

The opening of the display has been planned to coincide, with several other events. One, of course, is Anzac Day, and another was

the screening of a Television New Zealand documentary on Gallipoli last evening. Major Christopher Pugsley’s book on the subject will also be launched at the museum tomorrow.

The display will include a wide range of photographs, artefacts, and a large-scale model of the peninsula which was used by TVNZ in the making of its documentary.

A number of charcoal sketches by the New Zealand artist, Peter Mclntyre, have also been given to the museum by TVNZ. An audio-visual display, which includes interviews with Gallipoli veterans, is in-

eluded in the display. It will be open to the public from Anzac Day until the end of March next year. It replaces the display of Sir Cecil Beaton’s war photographs which have been on display since July.

The theme of the new display is to show how the nine-month campaign developed from the first landing on the peninsula on April 25, 1915, to the eventual withdrawal on December 20, 1915.

Nearly 1 per cent of New Zealand’s population in 1915, 8556 men, saw combat in the network of trenches established on the peninsula by the Australian and New

Zealand Army Corps. During those nine months 2712 New Zealanders died and 4752 were wounded. A feature of the new display will be the only Victoria Cross won by a New Zealander at Gallipoli. It was awarded to Corporal Cyril Bassett for extreme bravery under fire on the slopes of Chunuk Bair on August 8, 1915.

Mr Bassett died in January, 1983, and this month his widow presented the medal to the Army on a long-term loan agreement, and its inclusion in the display will be the first time it has been available for public exhibition.