View up Monash Valley

View up Monash Valley toward Quinn’s Post (centre). Pope’s Hill is out of picture to the left while Courtney’s and Steele’s Posts are further to the right. 

Quinn’s Post was one of the most dangerous places on the Anzac line. Situated on the extreme right of the New Zealand and Australian Division’s front, it comprised six separate commands of 20 men. Nos 1 and 2 were next to Courtney’s Post, about 25 m from the enemy. In the centre, nos 3 and 4 were just 6 m from the Ottoman trenches. On the left, nos 5 and 6 were above Monash Valley, facing enemy positions 45 m away on Dead Man’s Ridge. Men reached Quinn’s Post by climbing a long staircase from the floor of the valley (visible in the centre of the photograph).

Quinn’s Post and Pope’s Hill were crucial to the defence of Anzac, as they protected Monash Valley and Shrapnel Valley – the main supply routes to and from the beach. 

The last post I was on was Quinn’s Post with Colonel Malone. There the position was desperate. The trenches converged into one another – a few yards between the Turks’ trench and our trench. The Turks had put enormous sacks of soil on top to protect the troops down below.
The New Zealanders used to go over there every night and raid and try to put the bayonets down through the sacks to get at the blokes down below. The Otagos and the Canterburys and the Aucklands all lost a few men each night they went over.

Russell Weir, Wellington Battalion, in Jane Tolerton, An awfully big adventure: New Zealand World War One veterans tell their stories, Penguin, Auckland, 2013, p. 87