This website has been prepared by
the first "hotel de charme" on the Gallipoli peninsula
"picture of "Brigadier-General H.B. Walker, the British commander
of the Australians at Lone Pine", reproduced from "The boys who came home", (Crows Nest 1990), Harvey Broadbent, p. 93
This cemetery and the ridge it stands on, was named after a British officer,
General H.B. Walker, who commanded the New Zealand Infantry Brigade in the early
days of the campaign.
"Gallipoli Battlefield Guide", Istanbul 2006, Gürsel Göncü & Şahin Aldoğan, p.
145
The word
spread along the line.
Trooper Harold Rush, a young farmhand, realising he
was likely to die in the next few moments, turned to his mate beside him and
said : “Goodbye cobber. God bless you”. Later, when his grieving parents were
told this they arranged for his last words to be inscribed on his headstone,
which today lies in the cemetery on Walker’s Ridge.
"The Nek", (Kenthurst 1996), Peter Burness, p. 113
On 6th
August 1914, before sailing from New Zealand, Lieutenant
Westmacott accidently overheard Captain Alfred Bluck
on the phone to his wife :
In
the passage I heard him holding a long distance conver-sation over the phone
with his wife. He had said he would be going and after a pause with a note of
surprise in his voice, he asked “You are not crying are you?” I fled. Bluck
was a dairy farmer with a young family.
Lt Westmacott (AIR) quoted in "Gallipoli-The New Zealand Story",
(Auckland 1998), Christopher Pugsley, p. 37
At Anzac potential leaders of these citizen armies had to learn their trade. Contrary to the mythology about our natural skills compared to the British Regulars, the most outstanding commander within the Anzac perimeter was a British officer, Brigadier-General Harold "Hooky" Walker. He commanded the New Zealand Brigade on the first day and would command the 1st Australian Division during the August offensive. It was he who forged the Australians into a professional formation.
"Gallipoli Revisited" (2006), Christopher Pugsley.