Upon arrival to the war zone, Murdoch was introduced to a number of war correspondents, including Charles Bean, and Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett. It was Ashmead-Bartlett who advised Murdoch of the dire circumstances the soldiers on the peninsular found themselves in, and of the inability to report the truths of the battle. Due to the nature of the battle, and the serious setbacks, General Hamilton strictly censored all outgoing correspondence. This allowed absolutely no criticism of the conduct of the operation, no suggestion of set-backs or delays, and no mention of casualty figures. Both Murdoch and Ashmead-Bartlett agreed that their best course of action would be to send a letter to British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith detailing exactly what was going on, and what Hamilton was not disclosing. It was Ashmead-Bartlett who wrote the original letter to Asquith and Murdoch set out to…show more content… A place where Australia suffered approximately 28,000, over 8700 of which, were fatalities. A campaign that in the end, would have very little impact on the outcome of the war. That Turkey would have capitulated if the Allied naval forces had threatened Constantinople, is a question that will never been answered. It must be remembered that during this era, there was no television or radio, so that all news on the home front came in the form of letters from loved ones, or from the press. Thanks to the writings of men like Bean, Ashmead-Bartlett, and Murdoch, the idea of the Anzac legend, with its supposedly Australian virtues, was conceived, and allowed to bury its way into the Australian psyche. Even today, authors write of Gallipoli, emphasizing traits that soldiers in most nations embrace, though with a distinct Australian twist. An example of this can be seen in use of the word “mateship”, as used by Macintyre
