First, Beersheba wasn't forgotten - in Australia, it's one of the better-known Australian battles of WW1. While it's eclipsed in fame by the Gallipoli landings, it's better known than most of the individual battles at Gallipoli.

Second, comparing the Battle of Beersheba, a one day battle, with the entire Gallipoli campaign lasting over 10 months is very much a case of apples and oranges.

Third, a major driver of the continuing awareness of Gallipoli is Anzac Day. Some of the Australian states (and in some cases, cities if not states) declared various "Anzac Day" public holidays in 1915, and in 1916, 25th April became the official nation-wide date - the 25th of April being the date of the ANZAC landings at Anzac Cove. This was over a year before Beersheba.

It has been suggested by various people that we (i.e., Australians) should celebrate the victory at Beersheba rather than the defeat at Gallipoli, and move Anzac Day. While the meaning and purpose of Anzac Day has changed since the original 1915 and the later wartime commemorations on 26th April, it has for many decades been a commemoration of service and sacrifice. It is, for Australia, functionally our Remembrance Day with a strong sense of the forging of a true national identity, and has largely displaced Remembrance Day, 11th November, in our national consciousness (compare also the US Memorial Day). That "national identity" part has long made it the most important "national" holiday, and it still appears to be so, despite the attempts of various governments to push that national identity function onto the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet, 26th January, Australia Day AKA Invasion Day to many indigenous Australians (the true birthdate of the nation, 1st January, Federation Day, never gets much support to become our day of national identity).

Even in its current form as a solemn commemoration of service and sacrifice, Anzac Day has attracted criticism due to its supposed glorification of war. There is very little political or public support for the commemoration of the Battle of Beersheba in the form of major public celebration of a glorious military victory. Thus, Anzac Day ensures that Beersheba remains in the shadow of Gallipoli (along with other battles of WW1 such as Pozières, Villers-Bretonneux, and more). Nonetheless, it has not disappeared from memory, sustained by movies such as The Lighthorsemen (1987), and is still remembered as a significant Australia victory (popular memory largely ignoring the British forces involved), alongside others such as Long Tan (which both sides claimed as a victory) and Kokoda.

Hi there! You’ve asked a question along the lines of ‘why didn’t I learn about X’. We’re happy to let this question stand, but there are a variety of reasons why you may find it hard to get a good answer to this question on /r/AskHistorians.

Firstly, school curricula and how they are taught vary strongly between different countries and even even different states. Additionally, how they are taught is often influenced by teachers having to compromise on how much time they can spend on any given topic. More information on your location and level of education might be helpful to answer this question.

Secondly, we have noticed that these questions are often phrased to be about people's individual experience but what they are really about is why a certain event is more prominent in popular narratives of history than others.

Instead of asking "Why haven't I learned about event ...", consider asking "What importance do scholars assign to event ... in the context of such and such history?" The latter question is often closer to what to what people actually want to know and is more likely to get a good answer from an expert. If you intend to ask the 'What importance do scholars assign to event X' question instead, let us know and we'll remove this question.

Thank you!