This year’s commemorative service at the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial in Albert Park’s Lemnos Square was held on Saturday 10th August and was blessed with sunny weather.
The service has been held annually since the unveiling of the impressive Memorial in August 2015. The Memorial was commissioned by the Melbourne-based Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee and designed and created by one of Australia’s most famous commemorative sculptors, Peter Corlett OAM.
The Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial symbolises the connection between the northern Aegean island of Lemnos and Australia through the ANZAC story. It was the first major memorial dedicated to commemorating the Hellenic link to ANZAC through the role of Lemnos in the Gallipoli campaign. The service is held on the second Saturday of August each year in recognition of the arrival of the Australian nurses to Lemnos in August 1915.
The main feature is two larger than life size statues – one of an Australian nurse and the other a sick or lightly wounded Australian soldier. The nurse is inspired by the iconic photograph of Matron Grace Wilson on Lemnos during the Gallipoli campaign. The two stand and sit upon the sandstone plinth, inspired by the golden colour of the stones of Lemnos’ ancient amphitheatre at Ifestia. The words Lemnos and Gallipoli, as well as the names of the island’s villages where the ANZACs walked, are etched into the stone in both Greek and English. Drawing on his research into Ancient Greece’s sculpture, Mr Corlett placed the face of the Goddess Artemis on the nurse.
The Memorial was created as a result of a massive fundraising campaign which garnered the support of Federal, State and Local government as well as trade unions, community organisations and many individuals, including descendants of those young Australians who served on Lemnos and those Lemnians who welcomed them.
Over 80 people gathered at the Memorial to take part in the service. They included many dignitaries and descendants of Lemnos veterans, as well as representatives of many service, commemorative and Hellenic community organisations. The latter included representatives from the Pammessinian Brotherhood, Kalamata Society, the Dodecanese Federation, the Imvrian Society, the Kytherian Association, AHEPA Victoria, the Hellenic RSL Sub-Branch, the Australian Hellenic Memorial Foundation, the Battle of Crete and Greece Commemorative Council and the George Treloar Memorial Committee – along with many of Lemnian heritage – to name a few. The Greek Community of Melbourne Board was represented by Vice-President Dr Jim Bossinakis and Dr Spridoula Demetriou. Most importantly, the attendees included many descendants of Lemnos veterans.
As the attendees arrived, they were welcomed by the sound of the bagpipes, played by the Committee’s piper Stacey Harris. The bagpipes are played at each service in honour of Scottish Anzac Warrant Officer Archibald Monk who led the Australian nurses to the 3rd Australian General Hospital camp while playing his bagpipes. This was especially auspicious in that amongst the attendees this year were descendants of Archibald Monk, many of who had travelled from New South Wales for the service. They were joined by descendants of one of the Australian nurses who was welcomed by Archibald all those years ago – Nurse Evelyn Hutt.
The service was conducted by Master of Ceremonies Lee Tarlamis OAM MP who began by welcoming all to the event and reading a message from the Mayor of Lemnos, Eleonora George. In her note, she expressed the commitment of Lemnos and its people to continue to honour this important connection and joint heritage that links Australia and the island. Lemnos looked forward to the completion of the Lemnos Remembrance Trail and continuing to work with the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee to commemorate the joint history.
A number of addresses were made, including by the Greek Consul in Melbourne Emmanuel Kakavelakis who was attending the annual service for the last time as he will be taking up a new diplomatic post in the New Year. Mr Tarlamis thanked Emmanuel for his active support of the Committee’s commemorative work over many years and wished him well for the future.
Other addresses included those by the Mayor of Port Phillip Cr Heather Cunsolo, Josh Burns Federal MP for Macnamara on behalf of the Federal Minister for Veteran’s Affairs, Nick Staikos MP for Bentleigh on behalf of the Victorian State Government, and David Davis MP on behalf of the Victorian State Opposition.
A feature of the service is the involvement of local school students. Students from Albert Park College and Oakleigh Grammar were again in attendance, with Albert Park’s School Captain Agnes McCallum and House Captain James Keating performing a reading of Vera Brittain’s poignant war poem – The Sisters Buried at Lemnos by Vera Brittain, written in reference to the two Canadian nurses buried on Lemnos. Oakleigh Grammar was represented by Middle School Captain’s John Aivaliotis and Connie Lekkas as well as Year 11 SRC members Michaela Millar and Eleni Koutsandonis.
The keynote address at this year’s service was delivered by Captain Ryan Curtis of the Australian Army. A descendant of Archibald Monk, Captain Curtis outlined the Gallipoli campaign and Lemnos’ role in it, emphasising the key medical role made by the various military medical units that were based there. One of these units was the 3rd Australian General Hospital where Archibald served as an orderly and were Evelyn Hutt served as a nurse. He described the conditions at Gallipoli and on Lemnos and said that despite these, the medical units achieved outstanding results. He pointed out that thankfully Archibald survived the war and eventually returned to Sydney where he established his family.
The service then proceeded to the wreath laying, with some taking up the Committee’s suggestion of laying a copy of historian Jim Claven’s book Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed, which can then be gifted to a school or other such organisation to further spread awareness of the role of Lemnos in Gallipoli. This was followed by the reading of The Ode by Prue Cox, Vice-President of the Returned Nurses Victorian RSL Sub Branch and the playing of the Last Post.
Mr Tarlamis concluded the service outlining some of the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee’s achievements such as our pictorial exhibition on Lemnos and in Athens as part of the Anzac Centenary in 2015, the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial and naming of Lemnos Square, the Australian Pier Memorial on Lemnos, the publication of Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed and Mr Claven’s work with the Lemnos Remembrance Trail project as Secretary of the Committee.
Mr Tarlamis encouraged all to attend the coming screenings at the Greek Film Festival in October of the Committee’s latest project, the creation of the new 90-minute documentary called ANZAC: The Greek Chapter by filmmakers Dr Peter Ewer and John Irwin.
Mr Tarlamis thanked everyone for taking the time to attend the service.
“We all live busy lives and time is precious. But by your attendance today, you have played a part in keeping alive the memory of the service of all those young Australians who came to Lemnos over 100 years ago. Some would not leave, remaining on the island in its war graves. And we remember the local Lemnians who welcomed these young men and women, creating the bond between Australians and Greeks that continues to this day. Lest we forget,” Mr Tarlamis said.
The Committee’s new documentary project – ANZAC The Greek Chapter – is scheduled to be shown at the Greek Film Festival in Melbourne and Sydney in October, with other screenings planned for other states and community venues. Watch this space. For information contact Committee Secretary Jim Claven OAM – jimclaven@yahoo.com.au.
