This famous image of diggers and nurses in Greece during the First World War is emblematic of the experience of the Anzacs in Greece. Over 50,000 Australians came to Greece in the war, the vast majority serving on Lemnos (and the nearby then-Greek held Islands of Imbros and Tenedos), with others serving on the Salonika Front, centred around modern day Thessaloniki.
The image features on Professor Bruce Scates' great novel about the Gallipoli campaign - On Dangerous Ground:
However the official title of this image is however wrong. The Australian War Memorial records that it was taken in "Salonika" and depicts:
"View of the 60th British General Hospital. Note the large Red Cross in the centreground. This is the centre image in a three part panorama."
The first thing to say about this is that this is not a view of the 60th British General Hospital and there is no Red Cross in the centre ground. Also there were very few diggers on the Salonika front, and these only for a few weeks around late 1915 and early 1916.
The AWM archive states that the image is part of a three part panorama - and indeed two other images connected to it are of the 60th British General Hospital at Salonika (A02205A and A02205C). But sadly the third photo (A02205B) has been misplaced and this photo archived incorrectly.
It is in fact clearly the view from near the Australian hospitals on Lemnos' Turks Head peninsula, looking across the small cove to the west in the foreground, with the causeway leading to the small Greek Orthodox church - Agios Nikolaos (if I am not mistaken) - jutting into Mudros Bay - a causeway and the church that stand to this day.
Below is one of my photos of the church and causeway, taken in the centenary year of 2015, when I took the descendants of Brisbane's Matron Grace Wilson, on a personal tour of the area. The photo below was taken from a position not far from that wear the diggers and nurses sat in 1915.
Jim Claven
Secretary
Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee
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