COUNCILLOR Angela Long has stood in Turkey where Australian and New Zealand soldiers fell 100 years ago.
At her own expense she took part in the Anzac Study Tour in April and May 2013 while serving as Greater Dandenong mayor.
“It was emotional to be over there and have the opportunity to attend nearly 14 Anzac services,” she said.
“To be there is an experience you can’t really predict.”
Cr Long said there were 26 cemeteries in Gallipoli, demonstrating the great loss experienced on both sides during the conflict.
“For such a strategic non-event, to lose so many lives on all sides… ” she said.
“You’re not only remembering your own but others.”
She wrote about her trip for the Journal.
IN 2013, along with my husband Barry, I was fortunate to be able to do an Anzac Study Tour through Greece and Turkey with two other Victorian councillors, state MPs from Victoria and Western Australia, Federal MPs from South Australia and New South Wales, and members of the Lemnos/Gallipoli Commemorative Committee.
It was our second trip to Gallipoli. We also went in May 2007 as part of our round the world trip.
We started off in Lemnos, which is one of the Greek islands, where we went to Commonwealth War Cemeteries and memorial sites and laid wreaths during ceremonies at these sites.
We also visited the site where the Australian tent hospital was, where soldiers that were injured at Gallipoli were taken to recover.
We then flew to Istanbul, Turkey, where we had a bus trip down to the ruins of Troy on 23 April and had to cross the Dardanelles.
On the way back we went to Gallipoli for a walk around.
We stayed in Canakkale, which is on the other side of the Dardanelles from Gallipoli.
On 24 April we assembled at a hotel where there were six buses waiting to take us, along with many other dignitaries, across the Dardanelles by ferry to Gallipoli. We attended four ceremonies there – an international ceremony, two Turkish ones and a French one.
On Anzac Day the same six buses again crossed the Dardanelles to attend the Dawn Service at Anzac Cove.
After that we were escorted to a local hotel for breakfast then we attended the Australian service at Lone Pine and another one for New Zealand at its cemetery.
After that we did a bus tour though Greece, stopping at many significant memorial sites and attending some more services and laying wreaths.
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and leant a lot about what our soldiers went through during the First World War.
I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to do a tour like this to do so.
