A century since Chunuk Bair

Marking the 100th anniversary of the battle at Chunuk Bair.

Soldiers occupying a trench on Table Top, Gallipoli, during the night of August 6. 1915, in preparation for the attack on Chunuk Bair. Photograph taken by James Cornelius Read. Ref: 1/4-058130-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.

Soldiers occupying a trench on Table Top, Gallipoli, during the night of August 6. 1915, in preparation for the attack on Chunuk Bair. Photograph taken by James Cornelius Read.Ref: 1/4-058131-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.

Rhododendron Spur with Chunuk Bair on right. Australian War Records Section.

Lieutenant-Colonel William George Malone. Image: Archives New Zealand (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Cyril Royston Guyton Bassett, 1916, wearing his Victoria Cross medal. Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref: PAColl-6001-05.

New Zealand soldiers at the Apex near Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli. Photo: Masterton District Library Archive.

Old No 3 Outpost taken from No 2 Outpost, looking east. Chunuk Bair is on the skyline. This hill was taken by the New Zealand Mounted Rifles on 29 May 1915 and was held for a couple of days and then driven off. It was recaptured again on the night of 6 August 1915 by the New Zealand Mounted Rifles.

A deep valley leading out of Chunuk Bair. Australian War Records Section.

Sergeant Cyril Royston Guyton Bassett, the first New Zealander to be awarded the Victoria Cross, eating a meal in the trenches during World War I. Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref: 1/2-013548-G.

After the heavy fighting at Chunuk Bair. Some of the remnants of the W.M.R. moving from Anzac to Hill 60. Image: NZETC (CC BY-SA).

Site of the proposed Chunuk Bair memorial, Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey. Dominion Museum :Photographs of war graves at Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey. Ref: PAColl-7082-3. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.

The battle of Chunuk Bair, 8 August 1915, by Major Ion George Brown. Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref: D-001-035.

Cyril Royston Guyton Bassett, photographed in 1929. Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref: 1/1-018785-F.

The New Zealand Memorial at Chunuk Bair (RNZ Susie Ferguson)

Anzac Day centenary service at Chunuk Bair 2015 (RNZ Susie Ferguson)

The view towards the Narrows (Dardanelles) from Chunuk Bair (RNZ Kim Baker Wilson)

Collection items

  • Recollections of the fighting at Chunuk Bair

    9 Aug 2015

    A report with actuality of New Zealand war-related events during August 1915. Recollections of the fighting at Chunuk Bair from Corporal Cyril Bassett of Auckland, a signaller, who was the first New… Audio

  • Memories of Chunuk Bair

    2 Aug 2015

    A report with actuality of New Zealand war-related events during August 1915, including memories of Chunuk Bair and comments from Cyril Basset who won the VC at that battle. Narrator Jim Sullivan. Audio

  • Southern theatre and Chunuk Bair

    18 Jul 2015

    South Island theatre director of a new production of Once on Chunuk Bair by Maurice Shadbolt, which is being staged at the Air Force Museum in Christchurch, to coincide with the 100-year anniversary… Audio

  • William Malone biographer Jock Vennell

    6 Aug 2015

    This weekend marks the 100th anniversary of the battle at Chunuk Bair, and perhaps the best known New Zealander to serve at Gallipoli, and fall during that campaign, is Lieutenant Colonel William… Audio

  • A century since Chunuk Bair

    5 Aug 2015

    Soprano Madeleine Pierard sings this weekend along with The Choir of Wellington Cathedral of St Paul to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Chunuk Bair, fought at Gallipoli in the First… Audio

William Malone
Lieutenant-Colonel William George Malone. Archives New Zealand (CC BY-SA 2.0)