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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, 3 November 2018

A Victorian Soccer Player on Lemnos – The William Dalton Lycett Story

Lance Corporal William Dalton Lycett, AIF. Photo NAA
Today we honour William Dalton Lycett who served with the 4th Australian Field Ambulance at Gallipoli and on Lemnos, as well as other fronts in the First World War.
Born in County Durham in England, 24 year old William had immigrated with his family to Australia before the war. A boilermaker by trade, William had worked at the Railway Workshops in Middlesborough. After arriving in Melbourne, he was living in Flemington with his father Harry when he enlisted into the AIF.
One of the interesting things about William is that he was a keen soccer player and was selected to play for the Victorian Soccer Team before the war. He kept a diary documenting his war time experiences, including the days after the evacuation of the Gallipoli peninsula where he enjoyed watching the soccer games that were played between the various units on Lemnos in December 1915.
Soccer game played on Lemnos between Allied troops. Photo AWM
He also rowed on the waters of Mudros Bay, visited Mudros Town, had a hot bath and meal at the hot springs baths at Therma and visited other villages on the Island.
William survived the war, retuned to Australia, married Daisy Hill and raised a family in the Essendon area – in Jacka Street, named after one of William’s fellow Gallipoli veterans. He worked at Newport Railway Workshops, was deeply involved in Freemasonry, had a wide circle of friends and took part in Church and musical activities – as well as joining the local Melbourne Robert Burns Society.
HMAS Success and Hellenic Army soccer teams at Kontias, Lemnos, April 2015. Photo Jim Claven 2015
HMAS Success and Hellenic Army soccer teams at Kontias, Lemnos, April 2015. Photo Jim Claven 2015
For the Centenary of Anzac commemorations on Lemnos in April 1915 it was my pleasure to have successfully argued for the recreation of these soccer games on Lemnos as part of the commemorations. And so the sailors of HMAS Success played the Hellenic Army on Lemnos a hundred years after William watched his comrades play on this same earth.
I look forward to the day when Victoria's soccer community - and maybe even Australia's - honour the story of soccer on Lemnos as part of their fraternal Anzac heritage. 
Vale William Dalton Lycett

Jim Claven
Secretary
Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee
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1 comment:

  1. Ange Kenos4 November 2018 at 16:08

    His record is indeed impressive and it would be a wonderful idea if our soccer community were to recognise him in some manner

    ReplyDelete

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