Lieutenant Duncan ChapmanPrint Page

The life-sized bronze statue commemorates Lieutenant Duncan Chapman who is believed to be the first man ashore at Gallipoli. The memorial display contains stones and sand from Gallipoli and depicts the first man ashore gazing towards the high cliffs the moment the first shot rang out. 

The statue was unveiled at 4.28am on April 25, 2015 – 100 years to the minute Lieutenant Chapman stepped ashore. Funding has now been donated to help with the second stage – sculptures depicting the landing boats, the cliffs of Gallipoli and the battle of Pozieres, where Duncan Chapman was killed in 1916. 

In The Great War, Les Carlyon, writing about the Battle of Pozieres in August, 1916, wrote: “The (45th) battalion lost 345 men, among them Major Duncan Chapman of Brisbane (where he enlisted), who many believed was the first Australian to land at Gallipoli.’’

In a letter to his brother Charles, Lieutenant Chapman described the landing. “To me was given the extreme honour of being actually the first man to put foot ashore on this peninsula,’’ he wrote.

Location

Address:	Sussex Street, Queens Park , Maryborough, 4650
State:	QLD
Area:	AUS
GPS Coordinates:	Lat: -25.536205 Long: 152.703906 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.

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Details

Monument Type:	Statue
Monument Theme:	People
Sub-Theme:	Military

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:	Saturday 25th April, 2015

Source: MA