Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee Inc: Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial Unveiling Announced - 11am 8th August 2015 Foote Street Square Albert Park

Our Lemnos Gallipoli nurses face. Photograph Jim Claven 2015

The Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee today announced the details for its forthcoming unveiling of Australia’s newest Gallipoli memorial – The Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial.
• The event will take place at 11.00 am on Saturday, 8th August 2015 – one hundred years to the day that Australia’s nurses arrived on Lemnos to care for the sick and wounded from the terrible fighting across the Aegean at Gallipoli.
• The event will take place at the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial site – Foote Street Square, Albert Park. The location is diagonally opposite both Albert Park Secondary College and the Gasworks Arts Village Precinct.
• The Memorial Statue will be unveiling in the presence of a number of descendents of nurses and diggers who served on Lemnos in 1915
• The unveiling is a public event and all members of the public are welcome to attend.

Peter Corlett's signature on our Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial. Photograph Jim Claven 2015

The Memorial has been created by Australia’s pre-eminent commemorative sculptor, Mr Peter Corlett, OAM. Mr Corlett has created some of Australia’s most endearing and moving commemorative sculptures, such as Weary Dunlop in Melbourne’s Domain gardens, Cobbers at Fromelles in France, the Bullecourt Digger in France, Simpson and his Donkey 1915 in Canberra and the Australian Light Horse Memorial at Beersheeba, Israel. Information on these works is contained on Peter’s website - http://petercorlett.com/memorial.html

Memorial sculptor Peter Corlett OAM, with Lee Tarlamis, LGCC President, at the foundry with our scuplture. Photograph Jim Claven 2015

The Memorial Sculpture consists of two statues - one of a nurse and one of a sick or wounded digger – standing and resting on a stone plinth, that has been etched with the names of the villages on Lemnos visited by the Anzacs in 1915 as well as Lemnos and Gallipoli, in Greek and in English. The Memorial statue site is complemented by an information board and flagpoles, the latter for commemorative events.

Our Lemnos Gallipoli diggers face. Photograph Jim Claven 2015

A detail from the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial's stone plinth. Photograph Jim Claven 2015

In designing the Memorial Sculpture, Mr Corlett has been informed by his passion for classical sculpture and the story of Lemnos and Anzac, assisted by historian Jim Claven, Secretary of the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee.
The Committee has today announced that the creation of the Memorial Statue is now on schedule for unveiling as planned on the 8th August 2015. Photographs of the bronze statues in development and details of the plinth are reproduced here and below. The sculptures are in the final stages of production.

A detail from our Lemnos Gallipoli nurse. Photograph Jim Claven 2015

Mr Lee Tarlamis, President of the Committee, said that this was a proud moment not only for the Committee but all interested in the further recognition of the role of Lemnos in the Gallipoli story and specifically the role of Australia’s nurses.
“For too long this aspect of Australia’s Gallipoli story has been either ignored or lightly treated.
The vital role played by Lemnos as the forward base for the Gallipoli campaign, the care of Australia’s nurses and other medical staff for the wounded brought to the Island in great numbers from the peninsula and the support of the local population for the Anzacs and other Allied soldiers, has deserved better recognition.
Our new Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial Statue will form a long overdue lasting tribute to this service and the sacrifice of those 148 Australian soldiers who remain buried on Lemnos in its two Commonwealth War Grave Cemeteries.”

Another detail of our Lemnos Gallipoli diggers face. Photograph Jim Claven 2015

Mr Jim Claven, Secretary of the Committee, said that it was fitting that the Memorial was being erected in Albert Park.
“Nearby Princes Pier witnessed the departure of the thousands of nurses and diggers for Gallipoli one hundred years ago. Its location near the waters of Port Phillip Bay resonates with the nurses and soldiers who served and were cared for on the shores of Lemnos’ great Moudros Bay.
And Nurses like Matron Grace Wilson and Nurse Clarice Daley who both served on Lemnos in 1915 have strong connections to the local area. Clarice returned to live in Elwood after the war with her husband Sergeant Ernest Lawrence, to whom she was married while on Lemnos. Corporal Albert Jacka, Australia’s first VC winner, served on Lemnos and returned from the war to serve as Mayor of nearby St Kilda.
Some associations are not so happy. Corporal George Knight, a local electrician, and Driver Ralph Berryman, a South Melbourne-born warehouseman, both of whom departed from this area only to sadly die and be buried on Lemnos.”

Our Lemnos Gallipoli digger's slouch hat detail. Photograph Jim Claven 2015

Mr Claven added that the Committee was particularly glad to welcome the descendents of a number of nurses and diggers who served on Lemnos in 1915, including those of Matron Grace Wilson, Nurse Daley and Sergeant Lawrence – amongst others.

A detail from the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial stone plinth. Photograph Jim Claven 2015

In proposing and completing the Memorial, the Committee has received the financial support of the Australian Government, the Victorian Government and the City of Port Phillip, as well as a range of other organisations and many individuals. The Committee is particularly grateful for the support its has received from the City of Port Phillip.

Many of our Committee and supporters reviewing an earlier stage of the creation of our Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial. Photograph Jim Claven 205

The Committee
The Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee is a not-for-profit community organisation founded in 2011 that has been working to raise awareness of the role played by the Greek Island of Lemnos in the Gallipoli campaign and its connection to Australia’s Anzac story. It has representation from Australia’s services community, historians, the Greek community, nursing organisations, political representatives and the general community.
Further Information
To download a copy of our media release, click here.
For further information on the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee, the Memorial project, Lemnos’ connection to Anzac or for high resolution images of the photographs for this media release, please contact the Committee secretary, Jim Claven – E jimclaven@yahoo.com.au or 0409402388.
For further information regarding the Memorial Statue unveiling event on 8th August 2015, please contact Committee Executive member, Ms Christina Despoteris – E: christinad25@live.com