“The tourist sites and monuments in Greece and Australia are promoted by the Community Association of Australians and Greek-Australians projecting the National Holiday of ANZACS Day, a day of memory and honor for the sacrifice of the Australian and New Zealand troops, who on April 1915 in Kallipolis (it is situated in Turkey) struggled hard despite their young age to conquer the peninsula allowing ,therefore, Russia to gain access to Dardanelles”, highlighted in an interview to “In-On” magazine the chairman-organizer of the Community Association of Australian, Mr. Lee Tarlamis.
Our goal is –he continued– to reinforce the infrastructure of suitable monuments as well as thoroughly upgrade the sites between the island of Lemnos where the Australian troops had landed and Kallipolis the place of sacrifice of thousands Australian and New Zealand troops.
It has to be noted that this year –he stressed– was the 97th national holiday of ANZACS Day and a memorial service was realized on the spot of sacrifice in the cemetery of Lone Pine in Kallipolis.
The committee’s priority projects in order to project the historic facts follow:
-The ANZAC a hundred-year celebration is scheduled for 2015 including the contribution of the island of Lemnos to the history of Kallipolis. For example, the harbor of Lemnos is going to be included in the celebration whereas the funding regarding the sites of the island on behalf of the Greek and the Australian Governments is absolutely necessary.
-Projection of materials and files regarding Lemnos and Kallipolis. This has to do with relative letters, photographs as well as other written materials which will be demonstrated in the celebrations by the Memory Committee.
-Promotion and acknowledgment of the role the island of Lemnos played in the mission of Kallipolis through the creation of a suitable monument in Melbourne, Sydney as well as in other relative locations in Australia and New Zealand.
-Promotion of the twinning between the city of Lemnos and the city of Port Philip.
-Promotion of the role of the female nurses during the war as a core factor in the celebrations in Lemnos and Kallipolis with the participation of the Australian Nursing Federation and the Australian Red Cross.
-Promotion of the celebrations in the mass media in Greece and Australia.
– Reinforcement of the celebrations with Parliamentary Friendship Groups.
Beyond the above basic projects, the Committee is engaged to spot other pieces of work so as to celebrate the historic and military link between Australia and Greece in a wider sense. Using the model of celebration of the Battle of Crete, the Committee will highlight the historical facts:
– The participation of Australia in the mission that was realized in Thessaloniki.
– The assistance given by Australia in the post-war allocation of the Greek refuges from Asia Minor in 1922.
It is interesting to mention that the Committee has the primary goal to fund these works through giving money to appropriate bodies or people so as to establish the original historic path of Anzac in Greece, which will cover this historic era. This could –according to the Committee– include cemeteries, battle sites, preparation sites for aircraft landing, boarding and evacuation, various sites, hospitals, airports, harbors and naval areas, military camps as well as other areas and routes that show the troops’ care behind the lines of the enemy.
The battle of Kallipolis
Kallipollis (purist: Kallipolis, -leos), the current city of Gelimbolou (Turkish Gelibolu), is a city situated in the north-west Turkey. It is located on the Kallipolis peninsula (Gelibolu Yarimadasi), having the Aegean Sea on the west and Dardanelles on the east. (In ancient times the Kallipolis peninsula was known as the Thracian peninsula).The peninsula was mainly inhabited by Greeks till the onset of World War II.
The mission constituted an attempt to advance through Dardanelles and seize Constantinopole. On April 15th 1915, a part of the allied forces of British and French troops as well as the Australian and New Zealand forces (ANZAC) landed on a small bay on the western edge of the peninsula which is officially called today Anzac Cove. The whole mission failed and the Anzac forces departed on December 19th, 1915. There were about 180.000 allied casualties along with 220.000 Turkish casualties. This mission has become a legend for both Australia and New Zealand and ANZAC Day is still celebrated as a national holiday in both countries. There are a lot of mementos from the battle of Kallipolis in the Australian War Memorial Museum in Canberra and in Auckland War Memorial Museum in Auckland, New Zealand.
CURRICULUM VITAE
The Greek abroad Lee Tarlamis was born in 1975 and was elected member of the Parliament and member of the South-Eastern Metropolitan Region in the Legislative Council of the Victorian Parliament, on November 27th, 2010.
Today, he is in the Presidency of the Legislative Council responsible for the electoral matters of the Parliamentary Committee of Environment and Planning.
Moreover, Lee Tarlamis is a magistrate, member of the World Hellenic Inter-Parliamentary Association, member of Noble Park and for 15 years he has been a member of Springvale Charity Association which helps vulnerable people from the surrounding areas. Lee has been a member of the Australian Labor Party since 1993 holding various posts including state and national conference delegate as well as electorate officer.