Members of the 2nd Australian Field Ambulance practice boat drill off the island of Lemnos, Greece, in preparation for the landings at Gallipoli, April 1915. [AWM C01632]

For some time before the naval attack was called off, the British Army had been preparing for the eventuality that a landing to support the navy would be necessary. General Sir Ian Hamilton, a semi-retired officer, was sent out to Egypt to take command of what became known as the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (MEF). This force ultimately consisted of British, French, British India Army, New Zealand and Australian units. During their training in Egypt the AIF and the NZEF were combined into a corps – the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) – consisting of the First Australian Division and the New Zealand and Australian Division commanded by a British India Army officer, Lieutenant-General Sir William Birdwood.

The Australians and New Zealanders, soon to be known simply as Anzacs, were given the task of invading the central section of the Gallipoli peninsula. This landing was to be effected at dawn on 25 April 1915, while two hours later the main British force was to go ashore at the tip of the peninsula. The French would stage a diversionary landing on the Asian shore of the Dardanelles near Kumkale, but come off within days to support what was envisaged as a successful British capturing of the main features of the Gallipoli peninsula. The British, so the plan went, would have advanced rapidly to the taking of Kilid Bahr, the high plateau which lay across the centre of the peninsula. Meanwhile, the Anzacs would have seized the heights of the Sari Bair range immediately inland of their prospective landing sites and made their way across the peninsula to a hill called Mal Tepe. This hill commanded the roadway leading from the eastern part of Gallipoli to the south, and was essential to Turkish forces moving to reinforce positions there. It was all meant to be over quickly; few thought that it would result in an eight-month long unsuccessful campaign. High opinions were not held of the fighting capacity of the armies of the Ottoman Empire, whose fortunes had been in decline for more than a hundred years.

In the month before the invasion, the MEF units gathered on the Greek island of Lemnos, 100 kilometres to the south-west of Gallipoli. Here, at Mudros Harbour, was the main base camp for the campaign, and soon to be an area for large tented hospitals such as the Australian No. 1 Stationary Hospital and the 3rd Australian General Hospital. The Australians, aware now of their destination, practised landings and some officers were instructed in that art:

... Lieutenant Green [12th Battalion, Tasmania and Western Australia] was detached for duty. No one exactly knew what his duty was, but he could always be seen careering around the harbour in a motor or steam launch, or towing lighters or barges from jetty to troopship ... the ease with which he substituted nautical orders for military words of command gained him the nickname ... 'The Admiral'.

On the afternoon of 24 April 1915, the Anzacs boarded troopships, destroyers and battleships for their short overnight journey to Gallipoli. The more reflective among them were aware that they were embarked on a significant venture, not only for themselves, but for Australia. Lieutenant Alan Henderson of the 7th Battalion, a 20-year-old accountant from Hawthorn, Victoria, confided in a letter that would have arrived home well after his death in action a few days later:

It is going to be Australia's chance and she makes a tradition out of this that she must always look back on. God grant it will be a great one. The importance of this alone seems stupendous to Australia.

Heading for Gallipoli that night was the British destroyer Ribble, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Ralph Wilkinson, with elements of the 12th Battalion on board. Wilkinson, who admired the soldiers in his care, describing them as 'the cream of the men of Australia', had a close conversation with one of them:

I well remember a very fine Australian officer ... he spoke to me of his wife and his children, showing me snapshots of them. He asked me, ‘Was I right to volunteer and come?’ – I trust my answer helped to reassure him.