Lone Pine Cemetery and Memorial

Lone Pine is one of the most emotionally powerful sites on the Gallipoli peninsula. The Australian National Memorial here bears the names of over 4,900 Australian and New Zealand soldiers who died on Gallipoli and have no known grave. The cemetery itself contains 1,167 graves, many of them simply inscribed "Known unto God."

The Battle of Lone Pine in August 1915 was one of the campaign's most intense engagements. In three days of fighting for a small pine grove, seven Victoria Crosses were awarded — more than in any other single action in the campaign. The site is compact but the weight of history here is considerable. It sits above ANZAC Cove on a plateau, reached by the road that passes Chunuk Bair.

things to do sight
A story
The single pine tree that gives Lone Pine its name descended from a cone brought back to Australia by a soldier's mother after the war. The original tree was destroyed by Turkish shellfire during the August 1915 offensive. An Australian nurse who received the cone germinated it, and cuttings from her tree were eventually planted back at the site where the tree had stood. The pine growing here today is a descendant of those cuttings — a tree that had to travel to Australia and back before it could take root again.

Other places in Things to Do