Supporting our Campaign - Melbourne's Nurses Memorial Centre

Australia's WW2 nurses march through Melbourne at the end of the war. In the collection of the Melbourne Nurses Memorial.

Yesterday members of the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee were invited to make a presentation to Melbourne's Nurses Memorial Centre.

The Nurses Memorial Centre was establised after the Second World War to commemorate the service of Australia's nurses in that conflict and to support Australian nurses into the future.The forecourt near the Centre contains Melbourne's major commemorative memorial to our Australian nurses who served in the Second World War.

Two tragedies inspired the establishment of the Memorial - the sinking of the Hospital Ship Centaur on 14th May 1943 with the loss of 11 Australian Army Nursing Service nurses and the Banka Island massacre of 21Australian Nurses in 1942. Only one nurse survived this massacre, Sister Vivian Bulwinkle. Vivian, along with Sister Betty Jeffrey - another Australian nurse who survived the horrors of Japanese POW camps, played a large role in the establishment of the Centre and Memorial.

The Centre's Ms Arlene Bennett at the Nurses Memorial.

Today, in addition to providing a place for nurses to meet and commemorate nurses' war service, one of the major activities of the Centre is to provide important higher education scholarships for nurses.
The Centre's Ms Arlene Bennett has already sold many of our Committee's commemorative badges in support of our new Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial.
The Centre is keen to work together with us to ensure that the nurses story on Lemnos in WW1 is not forgotten and is given due recognition in the Centenary of Anzac next year.

The Centre is located on St Kilda Rd, near Toorak Road, with easy access to public transport and the Melbourne CBD. It's facilities include an auditorium or large meeting room, with podium and multimedia facilities, as well as areas for wall hanging displays. Kitchen facilities are also available.The Centre could be a great function local for our fundraising and promotional activities in the future.

It is great that this important Melbourne nursing institution has approached us to assist in achieving our aims. We agreed to work together to identify how we can cooperate to promote the Lemnos Gallipoli link.
Watch this space.
Thanks to Ms Arlene Bennett, Ms Karla Freer and the Nurses Memorial Centre.

Jim Claven
secretary
Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee

Lemnos Gallipoli 2014 AGM - A successful year and more ahead

Our president, Lee Tarlamis MP addressing our Memorial Project launch at Parliament House.

Last week the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee held its Annual General Meeting.
The review of the past year recounted the various successes that we have achieved. Some of these are:

• Major grants confirmed with Federal, State and Local government and other organizations and individual supporting our memorial state project
• Planning application for our memorial site is underway
• Assistance with the Victorian Premiers Anzac Students Prize Winners Tour of Lemnos in March 2014 - and this will now be an annual event
• Lemnos Friends of Anzac formed in 2013
• Assistance with WA MP's tour of Lemnos and NZ Nurses tour group organisers (April-May 2014).
• Publicity continues with many media reports in Neos Kosmos, Ta Nea, Victorian regional newspapers, 26,000 hits on our weblog and Facebook page
• Confirmed activities on Lemnos for 2015 -  Gallipoli 2015 with 600 onboard will be at Lemnos for one night on 20 April; the HMAS Anzac and Young Endeavour will be moored in Moudros Bay from 19-23 April 2015;   the new Australian Ambassador to Greece wants official events to occur during the ships visit;  the nurses ship visit will be for 2 nights in the first few days of Sept 2015;  the Commonwealth War Graves has renewed grave stones at Mudros and Portianos War Cemetaries

At our AGM, our new Executive Committee was elected.
Our re-elected President, Lee Tarlamis MP has issued the following statement:
"I would like to thank all those who attended the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee Annual General Meeting last night. I am honored to have been re-elected as the President and I would like to congratulate other members who were elected: Marlene Varvaras (Vice-President), Jim Claven (Secretary), Terry Paule (Treasurer) and Committee Members Steve Kyritsis, Nikolaos Kydas, Christina Despoteris, Chris Podaridis and Terry Kanellos. 
I would like to thank the outgoing members of the committee as well as all those who have worked with or assisted us throughout the year. Over the past year we have achieved so much and developed many new partnerships as we have strived to create awareness about Lemnos' connection to the Anzac story, acknowledge the critical role of the Australian nurses as well as educating people about the enduring links between Lemnos, Greece and Australia. 
We are making real progress in restoring Lemnos' rightful place in history. As we approach the Centenary of ANZAC next year you will hear a lot more about our activities and events as well as our progress with the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Memorial. 
In the mean time please visit lemnosgallipolicc.blogspot.com.au to find out more. Thanks again to everyone who has supported us."
The next twelve months will bring to fruition a range of our projects - especially the erection of our major new commemorative memorial in Melbourne, a major commemorative publication and a range of events to be held on Lemnos and in Australia.

Jim Claven
Secretary
Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee

Victorian Premiers Anzac Student Prize Winners on Lemnos - More Publicity

More stories have appeared this week publicising the Lemnos link to Anzac - in the UK and throughout the Victorian returned services community.
These concern the recent successful tour of Lemnos by the Victorian Premier's Anzac Student Prize Winners.
In the United Kingdom, the journal of the major association concerning those interested in the Gallopoli campaign - The Gallipolian - has recently published our story on this Tour.
Click on the links below to read my report on the Tour:
Victorian students tour story - The Gallipolian UK Autumn 2014 pg 1
Victorian students tour story - The Gallipolian UK Autumn 2014 pg 2
Victorian students tour story - The Gallipolian UK Aurumn 2014 pg 3
Thanks again to Foster Summerson, Editor of The Gallipolian magazine for communicating our stories in the United Kingdom.

In another development, the recent edition of Mufti, the journal of the RSL Victorian Branch, contained three stories on the students tour. One of these stories was by Michael Manoussakis and concerning his experiences of Lemnos. Michael's story re-inforces the effect commemorative visits to Lemnos have on those who walk its Anzac trail.
Pilgrimage to Lemnos - RSL Mufti Sept 2014 pg 44

Jim Claven
Secretary
Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee

Lemnos Gallipoli Pontiaki Estia Fundraiser A Success - Neos Kosmos Reports

Below you can read the reports of the above from this weeks Neos Kosmos. Thanks to Neos Kosmos for running the story and John Rerakis for the images.
Jim Claven
Secretary
Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee

Moreland Greek Club Address - Kosmas Rekaris report in Neos Kosmos

Recently the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee was welcomed by the Moreland Greek Community Club and invited to make an address.
Myself, Lee Tarlamis MP (President) and the Hon John Pandazopoulos MP attended this lovely Greek community club in Melbourne's northern suburbs.
As usual, we enjoyed great food, beverages and company - and good music.
Myself and John made presentations explaining the work of our Committee and our memorial project.
We are glad to announce that the Club has donated $500 towards our memorial project.
Thanks to Savvas Athanasiadis and the committee and members of  the Moreland Greek Community Club.
The links below will take you to a lovely article, published in Neos Kosmos and written by Kosmas Rekaris about the dinner and our address.
Lemnos stole the show by Kosmas Rekaris p1 Neos Kosmos 28th August 2014
Lemnos stole the show by Kosmas Rekaris p2 Neos Kosmos 28th August 2014
Jim Claven
Secretary
Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee

Pontiaki Estia - Lemnos Gallipoli Event A Success

The Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee would like to thank the Committee and Members of Melbourne's Pontiaki Estia Club in Brunswick for their very successful fundraising event on behalf of the Lemnos Gallipoli cause.
Organised on their own initiative, the event was held last Friday, 29th August, was well attended and provided a night of amazing musical entertainment, traditional dancing, food and enjoyment.
The night was held to promote the link between Lemnos and Australia's Gallipoli story and to help raise funds for our memorial statue and book projects. It was particularly appropriate to hold this event and to recall the memory of Private Peter Rados, a digger from Asia Minor, who sadly was killed during the Gallipoli campaign and is buried at Anzac Cove.
The night also featured amazing music - including pontian and cretan traditional music. Special thanks to Joseph Tsombanopoulos and his fellow musicians for their great performance.
In addition, in recognition of Staff Sergeant Archibald Monk who piped the nurses onto Lemnos in August 1915 - 99 years ago - Bagpiper Allan Leggett performed some scottish highland pipe music, including that from the western isles of Scotland -the home of Piper Monk. listening to Allan and Joseph playing both Scottish and Pontian traditional bagpipes was an amazing experience, demonstrating these deep cultural links across generations.

A total of $4,100 was raised at the event, in addition to hundreds of dollars from the sale of our Committee's commemorative badges and posters. Well done!
Thank you to all the wonderful musicians who volunteered their time and performances to our fundraiser.
Below is a selection of photographs from this great evening.
We would express our heartfelt thanks to Litsa, Nick and the rest of the Committee for holding this great event.
Efharisto poli!

Jim Claven
Secretary 
Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee

A big thank you to the Pontiaki Estia from the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee.

Members of the great band at the function - who donated their time to our great cause.

More members of the Pontian band.

Joseph Tsombanopoulos and his traditional pontian pipes.

Lee Tarlamis MP, Jenny Mikakos MP, John Rerakis of Philhellene Restaurant fame and myself.

Alan Leggett performing his medley of scottish folk songs.

Myself and Alan Leggett, bagpiper.

Myself, Angelo Yannacaros and Lee Tarlamis MP.

From Asia Minor to Anzac - The Odyssey of Peter Rados, Neos Kosmos

Private Peter Rados and his battalion, the 3rd Battalion AIF, on the Turks Head peninsula, Lemnos, 1915. AWM

Neos Kosmos recently published my article on Private Peter Rados - the only WW1 Anzac of Hellenic descent to fight and be killed at Gallipoli.
Research has revealed that he was from Artake (modern day Erdek), on the south coast of the Propontus or the Sea of Marmara. He is buried at Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli peninsula - not too far from his home in Asia Minor.
The publication of this story is also timely given the fundraiser dinner dance being held at the Pontiaki Estia, Sydney Road, Brunswick, this Friday evening. Funds raised will help fund our memorial statue project. Details for the fundraiser can be found by clicking here.
To see, read and download the Neos Kosmos article, please click on the links below:
From Asia Minor to Anzac - The Odyssey of Peter Rados, Neos Kosmos, 9 August 2014 p. 1
From Asia Minor to Anzac - The Odyssey of Peter Rados, Neos Kosmos, 9 August 2014, p. 2
Jim Claven
Secretary 
Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee