On 25 April 1915 Australian soldiers landed at what is now called Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula. For the vast majority of the 16,000 Australians and New Zealanders who landed on that day, it was their first experience of combat. By that evening, 2,000 of them had been killed or wounded. This commemorative site was built with the permission of the Turkish Government by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission with funding from the Australian and New Zealand Governments. The first Dawn Service held at the Anzac Commemorative site was on 25 April 2000.