Key Dates in Australia's Military History: World War One – 1915
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25 April
Australian troops land on the beaches of Gallipoli, Turkey.
15 May
Death on Gallipoli of Major General WT Bridges, Commander of the 1st Division, AIF. Bridge’s body is returned to Australia and buried in the grounds of the Royal Military College Duntroon.
19 May
Death on Gallipoli of Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick of ‘Simpson and his donkey’ fame
Australians in captured Turkish trenches at Lone Pine, Gallipoli 6 August 1915.
(AWM A02022)
19 May
Australians repel major Turkish attacks on their positions at Gallipoli.
19–20 May
Lance Corporal Albert Jacka, 14th Battalion, AIF, becomes the first Australian to be awarded the Victoria Cross in World War I for his actions at Gallipoli, Turkey.
24 May
Formal truce on Gallipoli, during which the Turkish dead of 19 May were buried.
May
Acronym ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) first used to describe the Australian positions at Gallipoli.
Front cover of The Anzac Book, 1915, composed of items written by Australians who served on Gallipoli in 1915, and edited by CEW Bean.
(Department of Veterans' Affairs Library)
6–9 August
Battle of Lone Pine, Gallipoli, at which Australians awarded 7 Victoria Crosses.
7 August
Charge of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade at the Nek, Gallipoli.
21 October
Vera Deakin, daughter of the ex-Prime Minister Alfred Deakin, establishes the Australian Red Cross Missing and Wounded Enquiry Bureau in Cairo, Egypt. During the remainder of the war the Bureau handles thousands of enquiries from Australian families seeking information about wounded and missing soldiers.
20 December
Last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli Peninsula.
1915–1918
Ships of the Royal Australian Navy join the British Grand Fleet in the North Sea and take part in the economic blockade of Germany.
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