T-bar post : Quinn's Post, Gallipoli

Steel T-bar post with bullet and shrapnel holes along its length.

This post was found at Quinn's Post (or Bomba Sirt [Bomb Spur], as the Turks called it), on 10 January 1919 by members of the Australian War Records Section (AWRS). The small party of AWRS staff, led by Lieutenant William Hopkin James, worked on Gallipoli from December 1918 to March 1919, taking photographs and collecting items for the National Collection. Note the perforated nature of this steel post, an indication of the intense fire that this post was subjected to.

Quinn's Post was the most advanced post of the ANZAC line. Located on the northern edge of the main ANZAC line, together with Pope's Hill, it was one of the keys to the Monash and Shrapnel valleys. If it had fallen the Turks could have broken into the heart of the ANZAC position.

Quinn's Post was first formed in the days following the 25 April landing by small parties of several Australian and New Zealand units, and later the British Royal Marines. It was named after Major Hugh Quinn of the 15th Battalion, who was killed leading a charge against Turks who had gained a foothold in the Post on 29 May. For the campaign's first two months Quinn's was mainly garrisoned by the 13th, 15th and 16th Battalions and then the 1st Light Horse Brigade. In June 1915 the New Zealand Infantry Brigade replaced them, and from September it was held exclusively by the 17th Battalion.