End of Year Message from the President

 

Dear Members and Supporters

Well here we are at the end of another year.

The last two years have been particularly challenging for all, including commemorative organisations.

Despite these restrictions we have been able to continue to advance our program of building awareness of the Hellenic link to Anzac in general and the role of Lemnos in the Gallipoli campaign in particular. I thank all members of the Committee for their work at this difficult time.

Whilst we were unable to hold our annual public commemorative service at the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial in Albert Park over the past two years, we were able to hold online services for our annual Armistice of Mudros commemoration at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance. We also were able to hold a small dawn service at the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial on Anzac Day in 2021.

We have continued to maintain our cooperation with the authorities on Lemnos as well as our regular online sessions linking schools in Melbourne and on Lemnos.

We have progressed plans to extend the Anzac Trail on Lemnos, commenced in 2018 with our Australian Pier Memorial. Two new bronze commemorative plagues have been created – commemorating the Royal Australian Navy at Lemnos in 1915 and Lemnian Anzac Sapper Basil Demetri Passa from Kontopouli on Lemnos. These will soon be transported to Lemnos in advance of their installation on the Island, hopefully in 2022.

We have also participated in the Australian Government scoping study for a commemorative site on Lemnos and look forward to its implementation in coming years and assisting where we can.

We were successful in our proposal to Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance for the holding of an annual commemorative service in honour of the Australian’s who served in the Salonika Campaign 1915-18.

And we have continued to publicize the Hellenic link to Anzac through the many media stories we have been successful in having printed. A big thank you to Melbourne’s Neos Kosmos in this regard.

Our recent AGM has seen the election of our new Executive Committee. These are: Lee Tarlamis OAM MP – President; Christina Despoteris – Vice President; Jim Claven – Secretary; Arlene Bennett – Treasurer; General Members – Deb Stewart, Terry Kanelos, Malcolm Macdonald, Vicki Kyritsis and Paul Sougleris. Patrons – Col (Ret) Janice McCarthy ARRC and Lambis Engelzos OAM.

The Committee places on record its appreciation of its outgoing Executive Committee Members – Ange Kenos and Nikolaos Kydas. We look forward to continuing to work with both Ange and Nikolaos in the future.

We look forward to a full program of events and new projects promoting the Hellenic link to Anzac in 2022 and hopefully seeing you all again in 2022.

Finally, wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Lee Tarlamis OAM MP

President, Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee

Melbourne Shrine’s Armistice of Mudros Online Commemorative Service Sunday 31 Oct 2021– All Welcome

HMS Agamemnon. Public Domain.

The Shrine has advised the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee that this year’s Armistice of Mudros commemorative service will be held online.

This service was initiated by the Governors of Melbourne’s iconic Shrine of Remembrance on the proposal of the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee. The first service was held in 2018 and the following year was held in conjunction with the unveiling of the special Lemnos 1915-16 Plaque and Tree dedication in the grounds of the Shrine. It has been held every year since.

Attendees at the Armistice of Mudros commemorative service held in 2019. Photograph Jim Claven 2019.

 

The Lemnos 1915-16 Plaque at the foot of the Lemnos Tree, Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance. Photographed following the 2019 annual Armistice of Mudros service. Photograph Deb Stewart 2019.

The location of the Lemnos 1915-16 Plaque and Tree in the grounds of the Shrine. Photograph Jim Claven 2019.

This service commemorates the 103^rd anniversary of the Armistice of Mudros. Signed on 30 October 1918 and coming into effect at noon on 31 October 1918, the Armistice signalled the end of the First World War across the Eastern Mediterranean, from Syria to northern Greece, and including the Gallipoli campaign of 1915-16 and the Salonika campaign of 1915-1918.

The Armistice was signed by British Admiral Arthur Calthorpe, representing the Entente Powers (as the Allies were then known) and representatives of the Ottoman Empire. The signing took place aboard the Royal Navy warship HMS Agamemnon while anchored in Mudros Bay, Lemnos, amongst the large Allied naval fleet that assembled there for the purpose and to take part in the coming occupation of Constantinople and the Ottoman Empire. Australian and Hellenic warships were part of this fleet.  

Where the Armistice of Mudros was signed 103 years ago this month - Mudros Bay, Lemnos. Photo Jim Claven 2018.

As many readers will know, the Aegean Island of Lemnos played an important role during the First World War. Only 50 kilometres from the Dardanelles, it operated as an advance base during the Gallipoli campaign, with major medical facilities for the treatment of the wounded and sick from the campaign on the Peninsula. Amongst the over 1,300 Allied service personnel buried in Lemnos’ war cemeteries are over 200 Australian and New Zealand war dead.

Shrine staff and the Shrine Guard will perform the symbolic service, including the wreath-laying in the Shrine. The service will begin at 11.45am on 31 October 2021. Members of the public can watch the service at the following link:

https://www.shrine.org.au/remembering-armistice-mudros

There is no need to sign-in for this event.

Committee President, Mr Lee Tarlamis, OAM MP, thanked the Shrine and its staff, including Dale Capron, the Ceremonial Programs Manager, on behalf of the Committee for their dedication in keeping this and the many other commemorative service going during the current pandemic.

“They have thereby ensured that the commemoration of the Armistice and the service and sacrifice of thousands continue to be remembered”, Mr Tarlamis said.

The Committee is hopeful of returning to a publicly-attended commemorative event in October 2022.

Lemnos Committee Secretary and historian Mr Jim Claven proposed the commemoration on behalf of the Committee as a result of his having researched the story of the Armistice of Mudros since 2013. He has had the story of the Armistice featured in publications from Australia to Greece and the UK, including a major feature in Remembrance, the Shrine magazine, as well as making public presentations on the Armistice at both the Shrine and at Mudros Bay on Lemmos in 2018.

Those readers seeking to find out more about the Armistice of Mudros can listen to the podcast of Jim Claven’s presentation at the Shrine in 2018 or read his article in Neos Kosmos, published on 2 October 2018, via the links below:

https://podtail.com/en/podcast/shrine-of-remembrance/armistice-of-mudros-jim-claven/

https://neoskosmos.com/en/2018/10/02/news/greece/melbourne-and-greece-to-commemorate-the-centenary-of-the-armistice-of-mudros/

Jim Claven, Secretary, Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee