The unique photographic exhibition telling the story of Lemnos and its link to Australia’s Anzac story was recently gifted to the Lemnian Community of Victoria.
The exhibition was created in 2015 by Melbourne’s Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee as a means to inform the public of Lemnos and its part in the Gallipoli campaign of 1915-16. It formed part of a suite of activities created in the run-up to the Centenary of Anzac in 2015, the most important of which was the famous Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial erected in August 2015 at Lemnos Square in Melbourne’s Albert Park.
The exhibition showcases over 35 reproductions of some of the most famous photographs of Lemnos taken by Australia’s young soldiers and nurses during their time on the northern Aegean Island, whether in its soldier’s camps, at its field hospitals or on the waters of great Mudros Bay. Curated by myself as the Committee’s Secretary and historian, the photographs reveal the extent and depth of the Australian connection to Lemnos during the campaign.
The exhibition has been taken by the Committee far and wide. It has been displayed during the Centenary of Anzac at Greece’s War Museum in Athens and on Lemnos itself, in the village of Portianou, where the diggers and nurses walked over 100 years ago. It has been shown across Australia, displayed in parliaments, town halls, libraries and schools, including Melbourne’s Alphington Grammar and in the Victorian Parliament’s Queens Hall.
The set of beautiful framed photographs has now been gifted by the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee to Melbourne’s Lemnian community. Recently members of the Committee executive – President Lee Tarlamis OAM MP, Vice President Christina Despoteris and myself – met with the Lemnian community Executive to hand-over the collection for their safe keeping.
On behalf of the Committee, President Lee Tarlamis OAM MP, said how proud he was to finally bring the exhibition home to Melbourne’s Lemnian community.
“The exhibition has been a central part of our educational campaign to build awareness of Lemnos and its role in Gallipoli. The Lemnian community has supported our work and indeed supported the display of the exhibition on Lemnos all those years ago, how appropriate that it is now on display at the community in Melbourne,” Lee said.
Ms Despoteris added that like Lee she was proud of her Lemnian heritage and it was wonderful that the exhibition was now on permanent display in Melbourne’s Lemnian home.
“Our Committee has been keen to find a permanent home for this important display and there can be no better place than here. All who come to the Club, whether of Lemnian heritage or not, will immediately be struck by this visual demonstration of the strong link between our island and Australia forged during the Gallipoli campaign”, she added.
Lemnian Community President Phillip Diamataris spoke of behalf of the community expressing their appreciation of this important gift.
“We have watched, encouraged and supported the great work of the Lemnos Gallipoli Committee for many years now. You have played a great role in finally putting Lemnos on the map so to speak. As they say a photograph tells a thousand words and Jim’s selection and his accompanying explanatory text places all of this in its proper context. Visitors to the club will see and be moved by these sensitive images, showing our island, its villages and its people. The exhibition will also play an important role in our desire to engage with the younger generation, making them aware of this unique link between their own Lemnian and Australian heritage”, he said.
The Lemons Gallipoli Exhibition is now on permanent display at the Lemnian Community of Melbourne’s club rooms in Keysborough. It is intended that a specially open-day public event will be held in coming months, where the Exhibition will be formally opened and displayed. Watch this space.
*Jim Claven is a trained historian, freelance writer and published author. He has written Lemnos and Gallipoli Revealed (2019) and his next book – Grecian Adventure – on the Greek campaign of 1941, will be published soon. He is Secretary of the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee and is currently working with Melbourne’s Imbros community on a photographic display telling the story of that island’s part in Australia’s Gallipoli story. He can be contacted at jimclaven@yahoo.com.au
