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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

Saturday 5 January 2019

Medical Officers on Lemnos - An Albert Savage Photograph Identified


It is always nice to find a photograph of the soldiers and nurses one is researching for the role of Lemnos in the Gallipoli Campaign. This photo is one taken by the 3rd AGH's resident photograph Sergeant Albert Savage, one of many he took during the Gallipoli campaign and after, depicting the life of the hospital during the First World War.
Who were these medical officers?Thanks to a post on the National Archives of Australia website the medical staff in the photograph can be identified - with many if not all of them having served on Lemnos in 1915-16.
The photograph was published in an Australian newspaper - probably the Sydney Mail which published many of Albert's photographs. The title for the newspaper clipping lists the medical officers as follows:
“Medical Staff of the 3rd AGH Abbassia.” This was subsequently published in the Australian press (possibly the Sydney Mail) with the following title: “Officers of the 3rd AGH at Abbassia, Egypt. The hospital was formerly at Lemnos, but after the evacuation of Gallipoli it was removed to Abbassia. No. 1 and No. 2 hospitals are in France. Back row (left to right): Captain Lawton (Melbourne), Captain Mathews (Sydney), Capain Kellaway (Melbourne), Captain Eberle, Lieut Glen, Captain Macleod, Liuet Hill (NSW), Captain Lowe (Sydney), Captain Anderson (Western Australia). Second Row: Liuet. Marshall (Sydney) Major Reid (Sydney), Captain Steuart (Melbourne), Major Stewart, Major Morton (Sydney), Major Wassell, Lieut Hazlitt (Sydney), Captain Markham. Bottom Row: Major Gibson (Brisbane), Lieut.-Colonel Martin (of the Lister Instutute, London, and formerly of Sydney University), Liuet.- Colonel Stawell (Melbourne), Colonel Newmarch GMG OC (Sydney), Lieut.-Colonel Mcknight, Major Trethowan (Western Australia),Major Smith (Sydney).”
Along with the other medical staff at the 3rd AGH, many of these officers played an important and vital role in providing medical care on Lemnos under first Colonel Fiaschi and then Colonel de Crespigny - such as Major Stewart, Major Morton, Major Gibson, Major Trethowan and Lieutenant-Colonel Stawell - amongst others.
One of these officers - Captain Anderson - photographed his time on Lemnos, his archive is now in the State Library of Victoria.
Thanks to "blacksmith" for posting the image of the newspaper article on the NAA website.

Jim Claven
Secretary, Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee 

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