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Seldom in history can the exertions of a single division commander have exercized,on three separate occasions, so profound an influence not only on thecourse of a battle, but perhaps on the fate of a campaign and even the destiny ofa nation 16 .The meaning of the Anzac experience to a new fledgling nation amere thirteen years old is stili a matter of pride, historical analysis, contentionand strong debate. The qualities then believed to be required ofmales from British colonies of settlement - physical strength, adaptability,masculine egalitarianism, democratic politics and environmental superiority- vvelded vvar experiences to the bush legends 17 . Yet the overvvhelmingimpression, and it is an historian's duty to be sceptical of suchmatters, is of the lack of rancour and hatred that marked the individualsoldier's experiences on the Peninsula on both sides of trenches that vvereoften only a fevv metres apart. After May 1915 mutual respect betvveenthe Anzacs and the Mehemets grevv and remained. The evidence for thisis quite conclusive and has lasted until the present day, although only atiny handful of Gallipoli veterans from both sides are stili alive. This regardextended from both the highest to the lovvest. For instance, on AnzacDay, 25 April 1934, Kemal Atatürk sent the follovving message:The landing on Gallipoli on April 25 1915, and the fıghting that took place onthat peninsula will never be forgotten. They showed to the vvorld the heroism ofali those who shed their blood there. How heartrending for their nations vvere thelosses that this struggle caused 18 .Thomas Kelly, a veteran of the Queesland 9th Battalion reciprocatedthese sentiments in a letter to Atatürk on 6 March 1934 to vvhich the leadercordially replied:At Anzac dinners... The name of "Johnny Turk" is certainly not absent from ourtalk. He takes an honoured place in our memory, and not a single word is saidthat might be detrimental to the honour of the Turkish soldier. He is appreciatedby the Anzacs as having been a clean, gallant, and generous foe 19 .These informed the accounts of latter years and that have continuedto the present day vvithout apology but, in modern parlance, producingand promoting on several levels a sincere and rather rare form of recon-16. Aspinall-Oglander, C.F., Official History of the Great War. Military Operations Gallipoli,Vol. II, London 1932, pp.485-486.17. See: Adam-Smith, Patsy, The Anzacs, London, 1978, McKernan, Michael, The AustralianPeople and the Great War, Melbourne, 1980: Moorehead, Alan, Gallipoli,new ed., London, 1967; Robertson, John, Anzac and Empire, Melbourne, 1990;Serle, G.S., "The Digger Traditions and Australian Nationalism', Meanjin, 2, 1965,pp. 149-58.18. Sydney Morning Herald, 26 April 1934.19. ibid, 5 July 1934. Smith's Weekly, 19 May 1934, p.8. See also Reveille, 1 July 1934,p.9.694