Burials and cemeteries

Even before the Gallipoli landings, five Australian deaths had occurred on Lemnos, their bodies laid to rest there. Infectious diseases were common and antibiotics still three decades away.

The East Mudros Military Cemetery operated from April 1915. Its 885 burials of individuals from Commonwealth countries include 98 Australians.

In July, Old Square Tower Military Cemetery was established south-west of Turks Head Peninsula, near the road to Tsimandria. A month later it was closed. Five British and four Australian soldiers were later reinterred at Portianos.

From August 1915, Portianos Military Cemetery operated until August 1920. It holds 347 Commonwealth graves, including 50 Australian, 29 New Zealand and 262 British graves. Three men from the Egyptian Labour Corps, one Turkish officer and two Canadian nurses are also buried there. More than half of the Australians in this cemetery lost their lives in the two months following the August offensive at Gallipoli.

Some 170 men of the Egyptian Labour Corps and 56 Turkish prisoners of war are buried at a Muslim cemetery in West Mudros.

An estimated 1,000 Australian soldiers were buried at sea in the waters off Lemnos and Gallipoli. This includes Private Harold Gard and Private James Martin. At just 14 years of age, Martin is believed to have been the youngest Australian soldier to serve at Gallipoli; he died of typhoid.