St John the Theologian Church, on Wallcliffe Road at the entrance to the township, is a little piece of Greece on the Western Australian coast.
It was built by Geoffrey Edwards as a permanent reminder of the debt of gratitude owed to the Cretan people by the Allied soldiers who fought on Crete during the war. The church was completed in 1979. There is a plaque on the building which explains: ‘This symbolic Greek Orthodox chapel was given to the Greek people by Geoff and Beryl Edwards who founded the adjoining village and named it Prevelly as a token of gratitude to the Prevelly Monastry and surrounding villages on Crete, where after the Battle of Crete in 1941 the founder and hundreds of Australian and New Zealand and British soldiers were sheltered, hidden and helped to escape to the free world.’
In August 1941, Geoffrey Edwards of Armadale, Western Australia, was evacuated from Crete on the HMS Thrasher, and vowed never to forget the Greek people and, in particular, the monks of the Holy Monastery of Preveli for saving his and other Allied troops lives from the 2/11th Infantry Battalion during the Battle of Crete.
The monastery was a rallying point at the time for British, New Zealand and Australian soldiers who escaped from prisoner of war camps. After Edwards escaped capture, a shepherd led him to the safety of the Preveli cloisters, which overlooked the Libyan Sea, from where he was later liberated.
Determined to memorialise his experiences in Crete, he began construction on the Saint John the Theologian chapel at Prevelly Park over 35 years after his escape, dedicating it to the Greek people as a token of his gratitude, especially Agathangelos Lagouvardos, the head monk of the Preveli Monastery and the many villagers from surrounding areas who did so much for Allied servicemen during that time. It stands as a permanent monument to remind those who visit, regardless of ethnic background, of the debt and gratitude owed to the Cretan people by the allied soldiers who fought during the Battle of Crete.