Mule Gully, Gallipoli

Scene at Mule Gully, Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, Turkey, with Australian, New Zealand and Indian soldiers. The Red Cross hospital and a water tank are at right.

Because of the conditions at Gallipoli motor transport and four-wheeled vehicles drawn by horses were replaced by small, manoeuvrable ‘Indian mule carts’ drawn by two mules. Mules and donkeys coped better with limited water and steep terrain. They transported supplies such as water and ammunition by cart and on their backs.

But even these hardy animals struggled to reach some places. Writing from the peninsula in September 1915, a Reuter’s correspondent told readers that the Australian and New Zealanders had to dig in, heave and carry when not fighting:

On the lower levels mule transport can be used, but higher up every cartridge, biscuit and mouthful of water must be humped up on men’s backs.

New Zealand Herald, 21 September 1915, p. 7