Title / object name Diary, Gallipoli
| Maker | Role | Date |
| Cox, Edward Percy | writer | 1914 - 1915 |
Materials paper, ink
Classification diaries
Registration Number CA000316/002/0008
Is part of
Collection of World War One EphemeraDuring World War I (1914-1918), New Zealander Captain E P Cox kept this diary, which was contrary to army regulations. On 25 April 1915 when his troops - the Wellington Infantry Battalion - landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, he recorded the message that England's King George V had sent to hearten the troops before battle. Then on 6 May 1915 he wrote: 'The people of N.Z. will realize (if never before) the other side (the horrors of war) when they read the casualty lists of the past few days. The men however have risen to the occasion they are playing a real soldier's part & those who have fallen have done so in a glorious cause.'
Chunuk Bair
Captain Cox wrote his diary until 5 August 1915, three days before he was wounded in fierce fighting on Chunuk Bair, the highest point of the Gallipoli Peninsula. During that encounter his battalion was almost wiped out.
Lest we forget
Captain Cox survived and returned home. Two years later, when there was an interest in building a war history collection, he donated his diary to the Dominion Museum (Te Papa's predecessor).
Each page of the piary has been digitised and transcribed by the NEw Zeaalnd Electronic Text Centre and is available at: http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-CoxDiar.html