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Mention the words "heroism" and "Gallipoli" and various time-honoured examples spring to mind.

The courage of the first Anzacs in those first few hours on April 25, 1915, the bravery of the Australians and Turks in the Battle of Lone Pine, the resoluteness of the Light Horse soldiers leaping to certain death at The Nek.

Less well known are the exploits of Private Albert Jacka on the morning of May 19.

His gallantry that day almost certainly prevented a disastrous rout of the Anzac frontline and earned him Australia's first Victoria Cross of the war.

Like so many of his generation, Jacka, a 21-year-old forestry worker from Victoria, could not wait to sign up.

"He was one of the first people among 300,000 plus Australians to volunteer," noted Jacka's biographer Michael Lawriwsky.

"It was just that adventurous spirit he had."

A private in the 14th Battalion, Jacka landed at Anzac Cove late in the day on April 25 and was soon on his way to the frontline.

In Jacka's case this turned out to be Courtney's Post, about a kilometre inland from the beach and one of the most dangerous spots on the peninsula.

He thought if you got a VC you had to stick with the men. You couldn't just rest on your laurels and go away. You had to stick it out and take the same chances as everybody else.
Michael Lawriwsky, biographer

Named after the battalion's commander, Courtney's Post was a series of trenches on the lip of Monash Gully.

Australian soldiers were perched precariously just metres from the Turks and under almost constant shelling.

Both sides recognised the strategic importance of this ridgeline; the Anzacs knew if they conquered these commanding heights victory would not be far away.

Equally, the Turks were determined to dislodge the Anzacs from their delicate foothold and on May 19 they launched a major offensive to drive the Australians back into the sea.

More than 40,000 Turks charged the Australian lines that day and while most of the attack was repelled, a section of the forward trench at Courtney's Post was overrun in bitter hand-to-hand fighting.
Video: The story of the 'Australian Achilles', Albert Jacka (Michael Rowland)

Jacka found himself alone at the other end of the trench and held the Turks at bay until reinforcements arrived.

After a failed attempt to tackle the Turks head-on, Jacka devised the plan which would see him win this small battle and go down in the annals of Australian military history.

As his fellow diggers threw diversionary bombs, Jacka skirted around the rear trenches before coming back to the forward trench, leaping over the parapet into No Man's Land and surprising the Turks from behind.

He shot five Turks and bayoneted two as the others hastily retreated.

As the smoke cleared, Jacka was approached by a clearly awed Lieutenant Keith Crabbe, his first officer.

"I managed to get the beggars Sir," Jacka is reputed to have said as he puffed on a cigarette.

The laconic Victorian became the first Australian in the war to receive the Victoria Cross, the Empire's highest military honour, and in doing so became an instant national celebrity.
A colourful WWI recruitment poster urging sporting men to join up
Photo: Recruitment drives targeted those who both loved sport and were impressed by Jacka. (AWM: ARTV00026)

"He was a hero. Everybody in Australia knew his name," Lawriwsky said.

"Boys would think of him as the Australian Achilles."

Jacka's image was used on recruiting posters to drum up volunteers but the newly promoted lance-corporal fiercely resisted efforts to bring him home to personally spruik the war effort.

"He thought if you got a VC you had to stick with the men," Lawriwsky said.

"You couldn't just rest on your laurels and go away.

"You had to stick it out and take the same chances as everybody else."

One hundred years on, Jacka's Gallipoli bravery is still the source of immense pride for his descendants.

Niece Josephine Eastoe has a wall in her Melbourne home dedicated to photos and memorabilia of her decorated uncle.

"Really, I could weep buckets when I read some of the some of the stuff he did," she said.

"It is very emotional for me. He was fearless."

However, Jacka's heroics did not end at Gallipoli.

In August 1916, at Pozieres in France, he led a charge on a section of the German line, retaking it and capturing 50 enemy soldiers in the process.

His gallantry on the Western Front earned Jacka two more decorations, including the Military Cross.

Many war historians believe Jacka's actions in France should have won him two more VCs.

"He was an amazing frontline tactician who knew exactly what to do", Lawriwsky said.

"He also provided huge inspiration for his fellow soldiers."
Sepia photo of man sitting on bench with little girl
Photo: Jacka and his wife Frances adopted a daughter, Betty. (Image supplied)

Jacka finally received that long overdue hero's reception when a cheering crowd greeted his arrival back in Melbourne in October 1919.

He went on to establish an electrical goods business with two former members of the 14th Battalion but the business collapsed during the Great Depression in 1931.

In 1921, Jacka married Frances Carey and the couple adopted a daughter, Betty.

Jacka was elected mayor of St Kilda in 1930, devoting his energies to helping returned diggers and the unemployed.

In January 1932, this fearless war hero who had survived bullets and hand grenades was stricken by kidney disease and admitted to hospital, seriously ill.

Ms Eastoe, then aged 10, clearly recalled visiting her uncle in his sickbed.

"He gave me a penny and I thought 'fancy him thinking what a great thing a penny did for a kid'," she said.

"I couldn't get to the lolly shop quickly enough the next morning to spend that penny."

On January 17, 1932, one week after his 39th birthday, Albert Jacka died.

Nearly 6,000 people filed past his body as it lay in state and 50,000 people came out for his funeral on a sweltering summer's day.

Every January, on the anniversary of his death, a commemorative service is held at Jacka's grave in St Kilda cemetery.

Lawriwsky, who devoted years of his life telling the Albert Jacka story, hopes the Gallipoli centenary will see more of his countrymen learning about this quintessentially Australian hero.

"Albert Jacka is the exemplar of the Australian character that was the foundation of today's Australian character," he said.

"It was a volunteer society, selfless with the values of mateship.

"We should not forget a person like Albert Jacka."