ANZAC memorial to be erected on Lemnos

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.

He pointed to the support from the local Greek community, both from organisations and individuals.

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.