THOUSANDS of people from Australia, New Zealand and Turkey gathered yesterday on the shores of Gallipoli for dawn services commemorating the 100th anniversary of one of the bloodiest battles of World War One.

The campaign on Turkey's Gallipoli peninsula has resonated through generations, which have mourned thousands of soldiers from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) cut down by machine gun and artillery fire as they struggled ashore on a narrow beach.

The fighting would eventually claim more than 130,000 lives, 87,000 of them on the Ottoman side.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told the crowd, many of whom spent the cold night in their sleeping bags to secure a spot at the crowded grounds, about the lives lost during the campaign, which helped forge Australia's identity.

He said: "Like every generation since, we are here on Gallipoli, because we believe that the Anzacs represented Australians at our best."