The painting depicts the landing at Anzac Cove by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps on 25 April 1915 during the Gallipoli Campaign during World War I.

[2] Onwards and upwards you scan the picture as you follow the path of the men: on the skyline there is a scurry of small figures running across open ground.

[...] the artist has also managed to create the impression of an endlessly repeating film loop, as more men land, climb the slopes and run into the distance at the top right.The painting has a viewing arc of around 240°, greater than the human eye can see in a single glance.

Lambert also took artistic licence in other matters, notably showing all Australian troops in slouch hats rather than portraying some in caps, which were worn on the day.

[1] [V]isitors to the Museum ... complain there is a lack of fire, a lack of action and of the terror of war, but on the facts ... we must accept that men equipped as these men were, moving upwards on this particular place, without any idea of where the enemy was, what they had to do, would look just like this small swarm of ants climbing, no matter how rapidly, climbing painfully and laboriously upward through the uneven ground and spiky uncomfortable shrubsPainter and critic Alexander Colquhoun in a contemporary review stated Lambert's work showed "rare dramatic and artistic skill" and "speaks ... of a declaration of sacrifice and achievement in a way that no other war picture has done".