Melbourne’s Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee celebrated the end of 2014 with the formal commissioning of its memorial to the role of Lemnos in Australia’s Gallipoli story.
Neos Kosmos recently interviewed committee president Lee Tarlamis, committee secretary Jim Claven and sculptor Peter Corlett to learn of its success.
At their final meeting for the year, Lee Tarlamis, their president, informed the committee that sufficient funds had been raised to commission the memorial.
The committee has raised more than $200,000 towards their memorial project. Further funds are still needed to complete the memorial and its associated projects.
Mr Tarlamis said the committee had been successful in its various funding submissions, and had received funding from all levels of government. The committee had also received significant donations from two trade unions in honour of their former members who fought at Gallipoli.
“It is particularly fitting that the memorial will recognise the service of Corporal George Knight, an electrician from Albert Park, who lies buried on Lemnos. Our memorial will recognise the role of Australia’s nurses and ordinary diggers, like George,” Mr Tarlamis said.
He pointed to the support from the local Greek community, both from organisations and individuals. He especially thanked the Lemnian Community of Victoria, the Hellenic RSL Sub-Branch, the Pontiaki Estia, Coburg’s Marble Centre Exclusive, as well as Terry Paule and Nick and Sophie Kambouris for their support.
He also thanked all those individuals across the Victorian community who have supported the work of the Committee through purchasing its $5 memorial badges, $10 posters and other fundraising products, as well as those who have attended functions and events.
The memorial statue consists of a larger than life-size nurse and injured soldier, on top of a sandstone plinth, on which will be engraved the names of many of the Lemnos villages visited by the Anzacs. The inscriptions will be in Greek and English. The memorial will be completed by the addition of an information board and two flag poles.
The sculptures have been designed by and are being created by Australia’s pre-eminent commemorative sculptor, Peter Corlett, OAM.
Mr Corlett, who has commenced production of the sculptures, has long been inspired by the sculpture of classical Greece and his design will resonate with those familiar with the bronzes of ancient Greece. He said that this would also be reflective of the references to ancient Greece in the writings of many of the Anzacs in 1915.
It is the intention of the committee for the memorial to be unveiled at a major ceremony on Saturday 8th August 2015 – one hundred years to the day since the Australian nurses arrived on Lemnos to help the wounded and sick soldiers.
The committee is also raising funds to publish a major commemorative publication in conjunction with the memorial.
The publication will contain some of the hundreds of images the Anzacs took in 1915; of their arrival at Lemnos’ Mudros Bay, their preparations for the landings in the waters and beaches of Lemnos, the massive soldier’s camp at Sarpi, the hospitals around Mudros and the cemeteries of Portianou and East Mudros. Most importantly, it will tell the story of the interactions between the locals and the Anzacs.
The book is being written by historian and Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee secretary, Mr Jim Claven.
Mr Claven said that there was no existing publication that has focused on reproducing the amazing images from the Lemnos archive and put these in the context of the Lemnos Anzac story, using the words of the soldiers and nurses who were there, including the interaction between the Australians and the local Lemnian villagers.
“For too long the Lemnos story has been all but ignored in the re-telling of the Gallipoli story. Now is the time to tell the Lemnos story – to honour the service of those who served there in 1915 and those that remain buried there,” Mr Claven said.
Significant funding is needed to make this publication a reality and Mr Tarlamis urged the community to support the publication project.
The committee has also been working with the authorities in Lemnos and Athens to confirm arrangements for the commemorative activities that will be held on the island in 2015. Mr Tarlamis urged all those interested in going to Europe to commemorate the Anzac story to come to Lemnos in April 2015.
“The events planned on Lemnos in April will be memorable – involving the Greek and Australian authorities. While details are being finalised, these will be the best Anzac commemorations ever held on the island.”
Mr Claven will be leading commemorative tours of Greece in 2015, including tours of Lemnos’ unique Anzac-related sites in April.
Mr Tarlamis announced that the next fundraising event to be held will be a photographic display of some of the famous images the Anzacs took while on Lemnos.
“These images tell a thousand stories. We are trying to right a historic wrong by giving them a wide viewing, to show them to a new generation who can now appreciate the role of Lemnos in the lives of the Anzacs and this historic connection between Australia and Greece,” he said.
Mr Tarlamis said that the unveiling of the new memorial, the publication of a major new commemorative Lemnos Gallipoli book and the events on Lemnos in April 2015 will be major steps in the well-deserved recognition of Lemnos’ role in the Anzac story.
Mr Claven added that the committee hoped that the activities and events will have a lasting legacy for both Australia, Lemnos and Greece.
“Through the commemoration of the service of those Australian nurses and soldiers who came to Lemnos in 1915, we hope to reinforce the deep bonds between Greece and Australia. And hopefully create a path for many Australians to discover and retrace our Anzac links in Greece,” he said.
Anyone interested in supporting these projects through sponsorship or direct donations or taking part in Mr Claven’s tours of Lemnos and Greece, contact the committee secretary, Mr Jim Claven, by email on jimclaven@yahoo.com.au