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Lemnos Gallipoli Photographic Exhibition

GallipoliThe Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee will be holding a major new fundraising event – the Lemnos Gallipoli Photographic Exhibition. The exhibition showcases forty of the most important images from the photographic record of Lemnos’ role in the Anzac story.

This photographic archive is located in collections across the globe, including many in Australia’s war memorials, state libraries and private collections. It consists of literally thousands of images detailing the experience of Anzac forces and the Allies on this vital island in the Aegean.

Historian and Secretary of the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee Jim Claven has selected these images based on his extensive research of the Lemnos link to Anzac and placed them in historical context in the exhibition’s accompanying booklet.

Those selected have been sourced from various collections in Australia and overseas, and feature photographs taken by the Anzac forces themselves as well as by other famous Allied official photographers. Among others, it features the work of AW Savage, an Australian soldier with the 3rd Australian General Hospital, Philip Schuler, one of Australia’s war correspondents at Gallipoli and Ernest Brookes, the British official war photographer.

All images are in the highest resolution and beautifully framed.

This is an important exhibition for everyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of Australia’s Centenary of Anzac and its Hellenic links.

The images tell the story of Lemnos’ role in Gallipoli in a vivid way. The base for the campaign, the place of assembly and practice prior to the landings on April 25, the location of the Australian hospitals and their 130 nurses, where the great Anzac Rest camp was built as a place of recuperation, recreation and interaction between the young Australians and the local Greek population – an interaction which continued to the waves of post-war migration to Australia.

The latter photographs are particularly poignant, revealing Australian soldiers and nurses visiting local churches and spas, villages and cafes – and having their photos taken with local villagers. They show local villagers helping the Allies and being tended at the Australian hospitals on the island.

“A key aim of our putting this exhibition together is to spread the word of Lemnos’ role in Anzac. There’s no better way to do this than by showing these photographs from 1915. These pictures tell a thousand words. Anyone who sees them will be surprised that they have rarely, if ever, been reproduced before. And the Exhibition will reinforce the need to recognize the role of Lemnos in the Centenary and beyond, in our own public discourse on Anzac,” Claven said.

The exhibition’s launch will be held at 6pm on Sunday, March 22, 2015, at the Thessaloniki Association Hall, 439 High Street Northcote in Melbourne.

All Exhibition attendees will receive an accompanying booklet, telling the story of Lemnos and Gallipoli, and containing reproductions of the selected images themselves, as a memento of their attendance.

This is the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee’s major fundraiser for the year. A number of items will be available for sale – including the Committee’s attractive commemorative badges as well as original paintings by Melbourne commemorative artist George Petrou.

All proceeds will go toward the realization of the Committee’s commemorative projects, including the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial, which we are working to complete by August 2015 in Albert Park and the associated commemorative publication that is hoped to be released in early 2016.

The commemorative publication will showcase the Lemnos Gallipoli photographic archive, reproducing many of the images for the first time, marrying them with the story of Lemnos’ role in Anzac and including many of the words of the soldiers and nurses themselves. The publication will be lavishly illustrated and will be a prized addition to everyone interested in the Anzac story and specifically the Lemnos link to Anzac.

After the launch event, the photographic exhibition will be on display at various schools and community locations. If an organization, library or school is interested in hosting the Exhibition, they should contact Committee Secretary Jim Claven.

Tickets are limited and the event is expected to sell out. Those interested in attending are urged to contact either Jim Claven or Lee Tarlamis JP.

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