Announcement - 2023 Gallipoli Commemorative Services on Lemnos

 

The authorities on Lemnos have announced that this years annual Gallipoli campaign commemorative services may take place in May rather than the usual date prior to Anzac Day.

The Committee received this information from the Sub-Prefect's Office of the Regional Unit of Lemnos today. 

No definite date has been confirmed, however this is likely to take place between 3rd and 9th May 2023.

When we receive further information regarding the events on Lemnos we will publicize it through further blog posts and social media.

Regards

Lee Tarlamis OAM MP President & Jim Claven, Secretary

Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial Repaired

 

A message to all of our members, supporters and friends - the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial has been repaired! Above and below are some photographs of the repaired Memorial taken today by the Secretary, Jim Claven.

Last week our Committee was alerted to damage inflicted on the Memorial by a vandal. The nurse component of the Memorial had been sprayed painted. This is the second time since its unveiling in 2015 that the Memorial has been defaced with paint. Local resident, urban historian and former Mayor and Councillor Janet Bolitho let is know.

Sadly our sculptor - Peter Corlett OAM - on being informed about the damaged, lamented that this is not uncommon on public sculptures. 

The Committee would like to express its thanks to all at the City of Port Phillip who acted so swiftly to repair the damage. We would particularly like to thank Justin Gayner, the Programming & Curatorial Lead at the City of Port Phillip - and of course the restoration workers who completed the repairs. Well done. Thanks to the Council's Sandra Khazam too for her on-going support. The community thanks you for your efforts.

It is important that graffiti or other attention seeking acts like this are removed quickly to limit the "5 minutes of fame" of the perpetrator. They obviously have no appreciation of the work and funds that have gone in to create such a work, all by community volunteers.

As a mark of appreciation for her diligence in alerting us to the damage last week, the Committee has presented Janet Bolitho with a complementary copy of our book - Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed. It is only through local people like Janet that our Memorial can be monitored. Thank you Janet.

And thank you to all our friends and supporters who contacted us to offer assistance and express disgust at the damage to one of the few Memorials in Melbourne to feature a sculpture of a woman.

The Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial again stands proud and ready to host this years commemorative event in August. 

Lee Tarlamis OAM MP, President & Jim Claven, Secretary

Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial Vandalised - Again

 

It is with great sadness that we report that our beautiful Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial at Lemnos Square in Albert Park has again been vandalized with paint.

The vandalism occurred last week. It was brought to the attention of the President by local resident, urban historian and former Mayor & Councillor Janet Bolitho with the City of Port Philip. She supplied us with the above photograph revealing the damage.

It appears that the damage is similar - though more extensive - to the previous graffiti vandalism which the Memorial was subject to in 2020. At that time local residents intervened to minimize the damage and alerted the Committee.

The Secretary has alerted the authorities at the City of Port Philip who will be taking remedial action as soon as possible. The Secretary advised the Council that the sculptor -  Peter Corlett OAM - is willing to assist in the remedial action as he has offered in the past. Sadly Peter stated that such vandalism is not uncommon with statues and memorials.

We have also suggested that the Council might consider enhancing security at Lemnos Square to deter any further attacks on the Memorial (such as the deployment of cameras).

The vandalism is particular disgusting given that the vandal has chosen to interfere with one of the few statues honouring women in Melbourne and this has taken place close to the celebration of Greek Independence Day (25 March).

We look forward to the restoration of our beautiful Memorial in coming days or weeks back to the condition we all love (photo below by Jim Claven, 2018).

On behalf of the Committee we thank Janet for alerting us to this damage.

Jim Claven, Secretary & Lee Tarlamis, OAM MP, President

Wishing all our supporters and friends a Merry Xmas and Happy New Year

 

Dear all

This year has seen us emerge from the trails of the COVID19 pandemic.

We were able to again hold our Armistice of Mudros commemorative service this year at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne in October, as well as discussions held regarding WW2 Anzac commemorative activities in Kalamata with Greek municipal authorities on their visit to Melbourne. On 9 August we were able to hold a small service at the landing site of the Australian nurses on Lemnos' Turks Head Peninsula. This was held on the anniversary of their landing in 1915. It was the first such commemorative service held at this important location on Lemnos - hopefully the first of many. 

We look forward to a return to our full program of activities in the coming year. A program of our activities will be posted soon.

The photograph on this years Committee Xmas Card was taken by Albert Savage of the 3rd Australian General Hospital and captures a local Greek Orthodox priest with some of his parishioners in a village. The photograph is from the Fryer Library Collection in the University of Queensland. It is evocative of the meetings between Australians (and other Allied service personnel) and Greeks on Lemnos during the Gallipoli campaign, of how they came together in the villages surrounding the Allied camps. We hope you enjoy our choice of image for this years card.

On behalf of our Committee, we wish all of our supporters and friends across the globe, a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year. We wish you all a great festive season and look forward to working with you all again soon.

Yours sincerely

Lee Tarlamis OAM MP, President

Jim Claven, Secretary

Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed - Now Available at Sydney's Bilingual Bookshop

 

For all our supporters in Sydney - good news! 

Sydney's magnificent Bilingual Bookshop is now stocking copies of our Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed - A Pictorial History of the Anzacs in the Aegean 1915-16.

So if you are in Sydney and would like a copy, pop down to the Bilingual Bookshop at 180 Unwins Bridge Road, St Peters, NSW, 2044. You can also call an order a copy on 0400436079.

By purchasing the book you will not only be supporting our Committee's commemorative work but also this lovely local bookshop.

PS You can also get a copy of my Grecian Adventure - about the Greek campaign of 1941.

Click here to find out more.

Jim Claven, LGCC Secretary

Armistice of Mudros Commemorative Service - Shrine of Remembrance - 31 October 2022 - All Welcome

The Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee's annual service commemorating the Armistice of Mudros will be held on Monday 31st October 2022.

The service will be held in the Sanctuary of Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance.

The service will commence at 11.45am and conclude at 12.15pm. 

Attendees are requested to be present at the Sanctuary by 11.30am.

Members and supporters of the Committee will assemble at 11.15am at the Lemnos Tree and Plaque near the Shrine (near the main flagpoles on the Birdwood Avenue side of the Shrine forecourt) before proceeding to the Sanctuary.

A single symbolic wreath will be laid, with attendees invited to lay a poppies that will be provided. 

All are welcome to attend the service.

The service commemorates the coming into effect of the Armistice of Mudros which was signed on 30th October 1918 in Lemnos' Mudros Bay aboard the HMS Agamemnon (pictured above). The Armistice came into effect at 12noon the following day, 31st October 1918.

The Armistice brought to end the war between the Entente Powers and the Ottoman Empire, a war that had begun on 11th November 1914, ranging over the Middle East, Eastern Mediterranean and Greece. For Australia, the war that had in many respects begun with the arrival of Australian troops at Lemnos' Mudros Bay had now ended there.

The Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee has held this service at the Shrine since 2019. This is the first physical service since the recent COVID pandemic.

Jim Claven, Secretary, Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee

Historic commemoration of WWI Australian nurses held on Lemnos

 

The author delivers his presentation to the assembly at the Australian nurses North Pier commemorative service, Turks Head Peninsula, Lemnos, 8^th August 2022. Photograph Pat Miner 2022

This month saw a unique event held on the northern Aegean Island of Lemnos. For the first time the landing of the Australian nurses on Lemnos during the Gallipoli campaign in 1915-16 was commemorated at the location where the nurses came ashore on 8^th August 1915.

Australian records and first-hand accounts have revealed that the first contingent of Australian nurses landed at what was referred to as the North Pier, a new pier erected by the Allied forces at the time to assist in the landing of service personnel and supplies during the campaign. 

The North Pier where the Australian Nurses landed is the pier in the middle distance of this photograph by Albert Savage. “Sunrise – Lemnos”. Albert Savage Collection, Fryer Library, University of Queensland.

While the pier itself no longer exists, maps from the time held in London’s Imperial War Museum reveal that this pier was located on the edge of a small bay, near the causeway leading to the Church of Aghios Nickolaos, on the northern shore of the Turks Head Peninsula (commonly known as Pounda today). One photograph from the time, taken by the 3^rd Australian General Hospital’s orderly and unofficial photographer Private Albert Savage, depicts the North Pier at sunset (see above). A number of other archival photographs also depict the North Pier and the surrounding area.

The site of the North Pier today, with the site of the 3^rd Australian General Hospital on the rise in the distance. Photograph Jim Claven 2022

The 8^th August is the date chosen by the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee to hold its annual commemorative service at the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial at Lemnos Square, Albert Park. However this years’ service was held in connection with Anzac Day in April to coincide with the visit of the Evzones of the Hellenic Presidential Guard.

With the visit to Lemnos this August by members of the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee (including myself as Secretary of the Committee) the opportunity was taken to hold an informal service at the site of the arrival of the Australian nurses. With the support of the Lemnos Municipality, a gathering was organised for 10am on Monday, 8^th August.

Through Lemnos’ Australian “bush telegraph” a large group of Australian’s of Lemnian origin came together to commemorate this important event. The Koutsaplis sisters from Tsimandria – Liza, Angeliki and Haroula – played a large part in the organising and communicating the event. I thank them for their help. One of the attendees was Mark Menere, a relative of a Gallipoli veteran buried at East Mudros Military Cemetery. Those present include a number Melbourne’s Lemnian Community, including Bill and Aggie Georgantis.

The crowd gathered on the windswept site on the Turks Head Peninsula – exposed to the famous northern Aegean winds – as the nurses were in 1915. The service commenced with a short address by myself, explaining the historical background and significance of the event. 

The assembly at the Australian nurses North Pier commemorative service, Turks Head Peninsula, Lemnos, 8^th August 2022. Photograph Pat Miner 2022

The nurses who landed were part of the 3^rd Australian General Hospital, with their compliment of staff drawn from across Australia. They had departed Australia on the SS Mooltan and arrived in Egypt, their intended destination being the United Kingdom. However the mounting and unforeseen casualties at Gallipoli and the impending new offensives being planned for August, saw these plans altered and the nurses and their Hospital re-directed to first Egypt and then on to Lemnos.

They sailed into Lemnos’ great Mudros Bay on 5^th August, anchoring amongst the large flotilla of military and other vessels associated with the campaign. Meanwhile the orderlies attached to the hospital had come ashore and began preparing the ground for the establishment of a field hospital, clearing the rocky and exposed ground on the hillside of the Turks Head Peninsula.

The writings of the nurses at anchor on their transport reveal their eagerness to come ashore. Trained as professional nurses and having volunteered for military service, the nurses were keen to get to work treating the injured and wounded soldiers that they had enlisted to help.

The Matron of the 3^rd Australian General Hospital – Brisbane’s 35 year old Grace Wilson - wrote in her personal diary of the whole Bay being “beautifully lit up – all the boats and all the camps ashore.” She noted that the Island did not look as barren as they had expected, with patches of green here and there, with some trees. She also noted to the villages on the shore, with the soldiers camps stretching “for miles”. One nurse from Adelaide – 31 year old Staff Nurse Lucy Daw – wrote in her diary of the amazing scene that confronted the nurses in Mudros Bay – the many ships of all types, large and small, warships and transports, all jostling for space in the crammed harbour. Matron Wilson thought the hospital ships looked beautiful, “like a beautiful emerald bracelet with a ruby centre.”

Finally in the early evening of the 8^th August the order was given for the nurses to come ashore. The records reveal that they did so at the North Pier, transferring from their transport to smaller vessels which brought them to the pier. These first nurses to land, including Matron Wilson, would be joined over subsequent days and weeks with more Australian nurses, until they totally around 130 nurses. They would serve alongside medical officers and the hundreds of male orderlies required to keep the hospital functioning.

From here the nurses proceeded across the small bay to the west and up the rise to the location of the Hospital. It was during this journey that the nurses were also famously photographed by Private Albert Savage. We see them formed up into marching formation, Matron Wilson at the front, all led by the Hospital’s Scottish piper, Warrant Officer Archibald Monk from Island of Benbecula in the West of Scotland. Beyond the tents behind them, we can see some of the ships in Mudros Bay. It is this iconic photograph, capturing the Australian nurses as they arrived on Lemnos that the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee has gifted to a number of institutions – including the RSL Headquarters in Melbourne and the Oakleigh-Carnegie RSL Sub Branch to name a few – and which are on display to build awareness of the role of Lemnos in the Gallipoli campaign.

The Australian nurses arrive on the Turks Head Peninsula, Lemnos 1915. Albert Savage Collection, State Library of NSW.

We know that their evocative arrival was soon overwhelmed with the flood of casualties from Gallipoli. Their medical equipment and supplies having been sent elsewhere on another ship, the nurses at the hospital struggled to treat their patients. Yet the medical conditions slowly improved, the hospital achieving a remarkable success rate.

The commemorative service concluded with the laying of a symbolic bouquet of flowers at the site in recognition of the Australian nurse’s service on Lemnos, followed by an exploration of the site of the North Pier and the surrounding area.

There is no commemorative memorial or marker at this site. A few years ago the descendants of one the Australian medical staff who served on Lemnos presented the Lemnos authorities with a commemorative plaque dedicated to the presence of the 3^rd Australian General Hospital. This has been installed further inland from the site where the Hospital nurses landed. It is hoped that a commemorative marker or memorial will be erected at the former North Pier site to assist commemorative visitors to Lemnos.

The Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee thanked the Lemnos Municipality for their support of this inaugural event as well as all who attended the service. 

Jim Claven is a trained historian, freelance writer, published author and Secretary of the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee. For those seeking more information on the North Pier and the arrival of the Australian nurses on Lemnos are referred to his pictorial history of Lemnos and the Gallipoli campaign, Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed, published in 2019. He thanks all those Australians of Lemnian heritage who took part in the commemorative service, the Koutsaplis sisters of Tsimandria for their help in organising the event and photographer Pat Miner for his photographs of the service. He can be contacted via email – jimclaven@yahoo.com.au

This report was also published in Neos Kosmos, click here.