This week the Victorian Minister for Veterans, the Hon Shaun Leane MP, led a delegation of Victorian MP’s to visit the George Treloar Memorial in Ballarat. He was accompanied by local MP Juliana Addison, MP for Wendouree, and Mr Lee Tarlamis, MP for the South Eastern Metropolitan Province. The delegation lay a floral tribute at the memorial.
Ballarat-born George Treloar served in the British Army in the First World War and after the war went on to work with the League of Nations as its Refugee Commissioner in northern Greece. In this capacity George assisted in the resettlement of an estimated 100,000 Christian refugees fleeing Anatolia (modern Turkey) in the wake of the Asia Minor catastrophe in 1922-23.
Minister Leane said that he was visiting the George Treloar’s Memorial to honour this great local veteran and refugee worker.
“George Treloar demonstrated great courage on the field of battle and as an advocate for civilians suffering the consequence of war. His dedication to helping these refugees played a vital role in not only saving tens of thousands of lives but in assisting in the re-building of Greece,” he said.
His life and work is another example of the Hellenic Australian connection which we are celebrating in this the bicentennial years of the establishment of modern Greece, Minister Leane added.
READ MORE: Minister honours George Treloar and the Greek-Australian Legacy
“Australia’s connection to Greece stretches back to the earliest migrants who arrived in Australia – some of whom came to the Ballarat goldfields – through the service of Australian men and women in Greece across both world wars to the vibrancy of Victoria’s strong Greek-Australian community today.”
“My colleague Lee Tarlamis commented recently in the Victorian Parliament on the influence of Hellenic culture on Australian life – from its influence on our architecture and the arts, on our democracy and scientific endeavours – as well as our link through the service of our veterans. George Treloar and his work is part of that cultural link, connecting Greece and Australia, Vale George Treloar,” Minister Leane stated.
The Minister congratulated the community for their erection of this impoetant commemorative memorial which will stand as a legacy for future generations to the work of George Treloar, veteran and refugee worker.
The George Treloar Memorial in Ballarat was erected in 2019 by the GT Memorial Committee with the support of a number of Greek Australian community organizations and individuals. The Memorial was installed by Ballarat City Council in its “Avenue of Statues” in Sturt Street. It is the first of these many statues to have been designed and created by a female artist.
Jim Claven is a historian, freelance writer and author of Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed: a Pictorial History of the Anzacs in the Aegean 1915-16. He is a member of the George Treloar Memorial Committee as well as Secretary of the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee.
