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

 

Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee’s 2021 Commemoration Event Cancelled - Statement from the President

This year’s annual Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial commemoration has been cancelled. Under normal circumstances this year’s event would have been held on Saturday, 14th August 2021 at the Memorial at Lemnos Square, Albert Park, however due to the uncertainty associated with the current pandemic we have held off scheduling it.

Unfortunately, this is now the second year since the unveiling of the Memorial in August 2015, that we have not held our annual service. We do so with a heavy heart but in recognition of the current COVID-19 restrictions it’s the responsible thing to do.

Now is the time for all of us to take care of each other by wearing a mask, following all the restrictions, getting tested if we have even the mildest of symptoms and getting vaccinated. This is the only pathway through this.

At the earliest opportunity that restrictions allow, representatives from our Committee will attend the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial and lay a floral tribute in honour and memory of the service of those Australian men and women who came to Lemnos during the Gallipoli campaign, as well as those local Lemnians who assisted them. The medical staff - doctors, nurses and orderlies - on Lemnos in 1915-16 cared for thousands of wounded and sick soldiers in trying circumstances, under the heat of summer and the wind and rains of winter - like medical officer Stanley Argyle, Matron Grace Wilson, Staff Nurses Evelyn Hutt and Lucy Daw, dispenser and orderly Henry Gissing and hundred's more. This care saw the vast majority of those they cared for survive the ravages of war.

In holding our annual service, we honour the service of these medical staff. As such, this is an appropriate time to also think of all our health care workers who have been and are continuing to work so hard to keep us all safe as well as those who, while caring for those in our community, have contracted Covid-19. We all owe them a debt of respect and gratitude for doing their important work at this difficult time.

Our Committee will be working towards the return of our annual service on 13th August 2022 which we envisage will be bigger and better than ever.

We are hopeful that our annual Armistice of Mudros commemorative service at the Shrine of Remembrance will be able to proceed as scheduled on 31st October 2021. However, this will depend on what restrictions are in place at that time. We will advise further closer to this event.

In the meantime, our Committee continues to work to advance the commemoration of the Hellenic link to Australia's Anzac story. Current projects include the installation of our two new commemorative memorials on Lemnos that are part of our Lemnos Gallipoli Heritage Trail, the inauguration of our new commemorative service at the Shrine honouring those Australians who served in the Salonika campaign, the donation of George Petrou's impressive painting of Grace Wilson to one of Melbourne's major health facilities associated with Grace and our on-going Sister Schools program linking schools on Lemnos and in Australia.

Lee Tarlamis OAM MP
President, Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee

106th Anniversary of the Battle of Lone Pine

Above: Lone Pine Cemetery, Photograph Jim Claven 2015

Today, the 6th August, marks the 106th anniversary of the Battle of Lone Pine, the opening of the August Offensive. Below is the media release from the Minister for Veteran's Affairs.

The planning for and execution of this Offensive was one of the main reasons for the expansion of medical services on Lemnos, which included the arrival of Australia's (and Canada's) nurses on the Island. 

 

Many of the wounded from the Offensive would be brought to Lemnos for care and some would succumb and be buried in Lemnos' military cemeteries.

Lest we forget.

Jim Claven

Secretary, Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee

 MEDIA RELEASE

6 August 2021

ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF LONE PINE, GALLIPOLI 

 

Today marks the 106th anniversary of the start of the four-day Battle of Lone Pine, one of the deadliest battles of the Gallipoli campaign during the First World War.

Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel Andrew Gee said the Battle of Lone Pine demonstrated the courage, skills and determination of our Australian soldiers.

“The Battle of Lone Pine in 1915 came just months after the Australian landings on Gallipoli. In just a few days our forces suffered more than 2000 killed or wounded,” Minister Gee said.

“Part of a series of battles known as the August Offensive, Lone Pine was planned as a diversion to keep the Turkish reserve forces from supporting their lines where the main Allied attack was occurring.

“The objective was to take and hold the Turkish line, and draw the Turkish reserves away from the action occurring higher up on the heights of Chunuk Bair and Hill 971.

“At 4.30pm on 6 August 1915, the attack began. As the sun was setting, the Australians rose from their trenches and charged into no man’s land to attack the heavily fortified Turkish trenches.”

Within twenty minutes of the attack, Australian soldiers had seized the first of the Turkish trenches. Over the next three days a fierce and intense battle was fought with the Australian troops ultimately claiming victory in the battle. However, Australia’s losses were heavy.

“From the actions at Lone Pine, seven Australians received the Victoria Cross – the most ever awarded to Australians from one battle,” Minister Gee said.

“One of those awarded a Victoria Cross was John Patrick Hamilton who has a special connection to the Central West of New South Wales. Born in Orange, Hamilton was working as a butcher in Lithgow before enlisting into the Australian Imperial Force. Orange has not forgotten Hamilton. A statue of him stands on Anson Street.

“News of the battle and the extraordinary courage displayed there reached Australians on the home front. Lone Pine was to become synonymous with the ANZAC name and legend.

“The anniversary of Lone Pine is an opportunity for us all to reflect on the selfless service and courage of the Australians who served in the First World War and we must always remember them.”

For more information on the Battle of Lone Pine visit the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Anzac Portal.

 

Minister Gee office: 0459 966 944

DVA Media: 02 6289 6466