item details
Overview
During World War I (1914-1918), New Zealander Major E P Cox kept this diary, which was contrary to army regulations. On 25 April 1915 when his troops of 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.
On 6 May 1915 he wrote: 'The people of N.Z. will realise (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, one of the highest points of the Sari Bair Range on 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).
Diary donated to the National Collections by Major Cox in 1920 (see file reference MU000001/0020/0002 - other number 12/1/50 - letter dated 24th March 1920 from Department of Internal Affairs).