Help us promote Lemnos' link to Anzac - Make a donation now

Our Committee is raising funds to create a lasting legacy telling the story of Lemnos' link to Gallipoli and Australia's Anzac story. Our projects include the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial in Albert Park, the publication of a major new historical and pictorial publication and more. To make a donation you can also deposit directly by direct debit into the Committee's bank account: Account Name: Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee Inc; Bank: Bendigo Bank; Account No: 188010037; BSB No: 633000; Include your surname in the reference section. For further information on our legacy projects or to make a donation please contact either Lee Tarlamis 0411553009 or Jim Claven 0409402388M

Tuesday, 24 December 2013

Festive Greetings from the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee!

The Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee wishes all of our supporters a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
We have achieved a lot since we began our work in 2011.As we approach the end of 2013 it is important to reflect on some of the things we have achieved together:
  • Officially launched the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Memorial at our successful Parliament House Launch;
  • Produced a working model of the Memorial;
  • Developed our new logo;
  • Launched our Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Badge (and already sold around 300 of them);
  • Successfully forged new relationships with other organisations;
  • Had a number of articles and stories published; and
  • Secured around $75,000 in pledges for the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Memorial.
Thanks for all the work that you have done supporting our cause over the last 12 months and we look forward to working together with you all in the New Year to advance the commemoration and awareness of Lemnos' vital role in Australia's Anzac story in 2015.

Hronia Polla!


 Christmas on Lemnos - 1915
 While we enjoy our Christmas, think back to December in 1915 on Lemnos. The Anzacs had been evacuated from the Gallipoli peninsula, after the horrors of the 9 month campaign. Many of their comrades had died or were wounded. They arrived back on the northern Aegean Island from whence they had sailed to Anzac Cove. And they enjoyed their Christmas out of harms way in the Rest Camps at Sarpi. They received special "Christmas Billies" from Australia - decorated with a kangaroo! - and many of the other comforts of the Island. They would soon leave Lemnos for Egypt and the battlefields of Western France and the Middle East.

Six Australian soldiers opening their special Christmas Billes from Australia at their camp at Sarpi, Lemnos, December 1915. AWM P01296.002
Members of C Section, 7th Australian Field Ambulance, unpacking their Christmas billies outside their tent lines at Lemnos Island. Each billy has a kangaroo symbol on the side. Identified, left to right: 3809 Private (Pte) Joseph Henry Williams, Pte W G Lake, 3776 Lance Corporal Crosby Hurburgh. AWM CO2432
Lemnos, Greece. c. 1915-12. Informal outdoors group portrait of members of the 1st Australian Divisional Signal Company opening Christmas billies and reading letters or messages from home soon after the evacuation from Gallipoli. Left to right: 123 Sapper (Spr) Oswald Adelburt (Ossie) Thiele, a despatch rider; Spr ? Ernest Ray (Roy) Yelland; 115 Spr Robert Wilfrid (Bill) Riches; Spr Ernest Wilfred Eccles Burton, accidentally killed 1918-04-04; Dick Ellis; 125 Spr Arthur George Wade, later MM; 118 Spr Arthur Raymond (Ray) McConchie, later MM; 36 Spr John Thomas (Jock) Nicholls. The Christmas billies, some of which the men are holding and some of which are lying on the ground in front of them, bear a kangaroo symbol on their side. Also lying on the ground in front of the men are boxes labelled 'Mutual Store Melbourne'.
A Lemnos sunset. Photograph Jim Claven 2013
Jim Claven
Secretary
Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee




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