St John's Cathedral, Brisbane and the Anzac Legend

Anzacs at Gallipoli …

“ …The thing above all others which stands out uppermost in the terrible fighting which has been incessant since our landing on 25 April is the magnificence of our Australian troops…for physique, dash, enterprise and sublime courage, the Australians are head and shoulders above any others. “Throughout the whole of the fighting there has never been a murmur of complaint, in spite of the hardships and privations and continuous hours of toil and deafening clamour…For the most perilous enterprises, whenever volunteers are called for, every man in sight offers instantly, though often it means certain death to many of them. “They are always cheerful, always cracking jokes, always laughing and joking and singing.…The 16th Battalion on 1 May, at dusk, charged the ‘Razor Edge’ singing ‘Tipperary’ and ’Australia will be there’…I am convinced that there are no troops in the world to equal the Australians in cool daring, courage and endurance.” Colonel (later Major-General Sir) John Monash, Anzac Cove,16 May 2015 (from Johnathan King Gallipoli Diaries , Scribe, Melbourne, 2014)

Background: Belying the bloody horrors which occurred on this stony beach more than a century ago, this tranquil 2017 view north across Anzac Cove retains at its centre the pointed clay outcrop which was variously referred to by the troops as ‘the Knife Edge’ and ‘the Cathedral’ before becoming more permanently known as ‘the Sphinx’ following their pre-landing training in Egypt.

https://stock.adobe.com/au/ozdereisa

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