Recently Melbourne’s Greek Consul Dimitra Georgantzoglou met with the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee (LGCC) to discuss commemorative developments on Lemnos, in particular the Australian Government-funded Lemnos Remembrance Trail. The Committee was represented by President Lee Tarlamis and Secretary Jim Claven.
Tarlamis explained how the LGCC had begun advocating for a Lemnos commemorative trail in 2018 with the inauguration of the new Australian Pier Memorial, located north of Mudros, with the then Australian Ambassador taking part in the ceremony. Claven’s research had identified how this pier had originally been built by Australian soldiers and engineers in March 1915 as part of the build up for the Gallipoli campaign. The new Memorial was supported by both the Victorian Government and the Lemnos. This memorial is now part of the annual Gallipoli campaign commemorations on the Island. It was in the context of the installation of the new Memorial that the LGCC, along with the local Lemnos authorities, called for the creation of a Lemnos commemorative trail.
The LGCC followed up this project with two more memorials – that commemorating the Royal Australian Navy at Lemnos and the service of Lemnian Anzac Sapper Demetri Basil Passa. The former was recently installed by the Lemnos Municipality on the navigational beacon on the Turks Head Peninsula with the assistance of LGCC representative Peter Sotiropoulos, with the latter plaque planned to be installed soon in the village of Kontopouli, Demetri’s birthplace.
Tarlamis explained how this joint LGCC-Lemnos proposal was followed by the announcement by the Australian Government in 2019 of funding for a scoping study into the establishment of “a commemorative site on the Island of Lemnos Greece”. This was followed by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Australian Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) and the Hellenic Ministry of National Defence in September 2019 paving “the way for the potential creation of a commemorative site on Lemnos that will recognise in perpetuity the contribution of Australian nurses and doctors during the First World War and the willing and unstinted support offered by the people of Lemnos to the Anzacs.”
The Lemnos Commemorative Scoping Study commenced in 2019 and tendered its report to the Australian Government in 2020. The LGCC’s historian Jim Claven was engaged as consultant historian to the project, with his book Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed a major research resource. A community consultation process was also undertaken, with the Committee proposing an extensive trail, not limited to the role of Australian medical facilities, encompassing the full extent of the role of the Island in the campaign and the interaction the Anzacs with the Island.
In 2022 the then Australian Government responded to the Study recommendations by announcing the provision of $4.9 million to construct the Lemnos Remembrance Trail, “in recognition of the Australian doctors, nurses and other service personnel who served there during the First World War.” Underlining the politically bipartisan nature of the Trail project, the new Australian Government committed in 2023 to implement the Lemnos Remembrance Trail project as a joint commitment by the Australian and Greek Governments, stating that the Trail would consist of more than a dozen significant sites on Lemnos will be publicly accessible, giving visitors’ insight into the experiences of the soldiers and medical staff on the island. The announcement stated that Hellenic Ministry of National Defence has agreed to own, manage and maintain the physical trail in perpetuity. In May 2023 the Australian Governor-General visited Lemnos and the Australian Pier Memorial to inaugurate the project on the Island, assisted by the then President of the Hellenic Republic along with government, military and local authority representatives.
Since the announcement of the commitment of the Australian Government to the Lemnos Remembrance Trail in 2022, the Australian DVA has been working with the relevant Hellenic authorities to advance the creation of the Trail, finalising designs for construction and working to gain all relevant planning approvals. In May 2025 DVA launched the Trail website as an online support for the Trail, including information and maps. Tarlamis stated that he was hopeful the new Trail would be completed and dedicated in 2027.
Claven explained that the recent announcement by the Lemnos authorities of the inauguration of the new twice-weekly sea link between Lemnos and nearby Chanakale will further enhance the opportunity for commemorative visitation provided by the new Trail. This swift catamaran journey is scheduled to operate from July to September this year. Should this be a successful tourism operation and continue into the new year, this will provide a great opportunity for visitors to the commemorative sites on the Gallipoli Peninsula to extend their journey with a tour of Lemnos’ important Gallipoli campaign sites assisted by the new Trail.
The Australian Pier Memorial unveiled in 2018. Photo: Jim Claven
Tarlamis took the opportunity to explain the formation and history of the Committee from its formation in 2011. He outlined some of its key highlights and achievements. These included the creation of the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial at Albert Park, the publication of Jim Claven’s Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed, the Lemnos tree and memorial at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance, the Hellenic Anzac Memorial in the grounds of Victorian Parliament and the creation of the Lemnos Gallipoli exhibition. He also highlighted our work with the Victorian Government’s Anzac Student Prize, including assisting them on their tours of Lemnos. The LGCC has also played a major role assisting commemorative activities on Lemnos itself. Apart from the memorials mentioned above, the Committee successfully lobbied for the Royal Australian Navy to take part in the Anzac Centenary events on Lemnos in 2015, has conducted tours of Lemnos (and Greece) led by historian Jim Claven OAM, conducted a commemorative service at the site on Lemnos where Australia’s nurses landed in2022 and has participated in many of the annual commemorative services on the Island.
He went on to explain that the LGCC’s charter extended beyond Lemnos, its work dedicated to enhancing awareness of the Hellenic link to Anzac across both world wars. In this the LGCC – and especially its historian Jim Claven– has worked with other Greek Australian community organizations to install numerous WW2 commemorative plaques at Corinth, Kalamata, Pylos, Methone and most recently at Trahila in Mani. Claven explained how these could form an Anzac commemorative trail across Greece, commemorating sites connected to both the WW1 Salonika campaign and 1941 Greek campaign, with the Lemnos Remembrance Trail forming an excellent model. The LGCC also completed a feature length documentary on the Anzacs in the 1941 Greek campaign, drawing on Dr Peter Ewer’s extensive veteran interview archive, which has been screened across Australia and Greece. The Committee supported the work of the Pontiaki Estia to create the memorial in Ballarat to the refugee work of Major George Treloar. Claven has also undertaken archival and field research on the Anzac connections in the Salonika campaign as well as on Imbros and Tenedos.
Ms Georgantzoglou thanked the Committee for the briefing and congratulated the Committee on its commemorative work. She had been impressed by the Committee’s the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial and was proud to have taken part in the Committee’s annual service there. She said that the completion of the new Lemnos Remembrance Trail will advance the strong connections between Australia and Greece through our shared history. She looked forward to news of its coming completion. In concluding the meeting, Mr Tarlamis presented the Consul with some complementary copies of the book Lemnos & Gallipoli Revealed for presentation to visiting dignitaries by the Consul.
The Committee’s annual commemorative service will be held at the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial in Albert Park on Saturday 8th August commencing at 11am. All welcome. Readers seeking more information should contact Jim Claven OAM via email – jimclaven@yahoo.com.au.
The DVA Lemnos Remembrance Trail website can be accessed via the Lemnos Remembrance Trail.
