LEMNOS AND PORT PHILLIP THE ENDURING LINK WITH AUSTRALIA’S ANZAC LEGEND By Jim Claven1

The location of the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial Statue in the Municipality of Port Phillip would be particular relevant. This Municipality has many enduring links not only with Australia’s Anzac legend but also with Lemnos and its role in the Gallipoli campaign. This short paper explains some of the major aspects of the connection between Port Phillip, Lemnos and Anzac. They are linked by the soldiers from Port Phillip who served on the Island and those who remain buried there (such as Corporal George Knight of Albert Park, Driver Ralph Berryman of South Melbourne and Private Cyril Thomas Leishman of St Kilda). They are linked through Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Wilson, the Doctor from Albert Park and the Port Phillip nurses who served there (such as Staff Nurse Clarice Jessie Daley, of Elwood, and Sister Clara Louisa Potter, of Port Melbourne) and cared for the sick and wounded Anzacs, including those from Port Phillip (like Captain Harold Burke of St Kilda). And through the famous Anzac soldiers and nurses who were there too – like Corporal Albert Jacka VC, a future Mayor of St Kilda and Matron Grace Wilson, of the 3rd AGH and the future of Matron of the Alfred Hospital. It is for all these reasons that the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee is particularly grateful to the Port Phillip City Council for its continuing support for this project and proposes the location of the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial Statue in their city. Port Philip and the First World War – 4,800 serving in the First World War Many residents of the area within the boundaries of the current City of Port Phillip served in the First World War. Over 3,300 Port Phillip -born Victorians enlisted during the war and a further nearly 1,500 enlisted at the local recruitment centres. That’s 4,800 Victorians connected with Port Phillip serving in the First World War. The suburbs they came from are:      

South Melbourne – 1180 born here and a further 375 enlisted here; St Kilda – 830 born here and a further 327 enlisted here; Port Melbourne – 684 born here and a further 122 enlisted here; Albert Park – 379 born here and a further 525 enlisted here; Balaclava – 151 born here and a further 46 enlisted here; Ripponlea – 1 born here and a further 85 enlisted here;

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Jim Claven MA is a trained historian, freelance writer, former senior adviser on veteran’s affairs and Secretary of the Melbourne-based Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee. Jim Claven, Lemnos and Port Philip, September 2013

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Middle Park – 60 born here; Emerald Hill – 16 born here; Montague - 2 born in here; and, Elwood - 2 born here.

The Port of Embarkation Port Melbourne was the Victorian departure point for the troops on their way to Lemnos and Gallipoli. The thousands of Anzac soldiers and nurses from Victoria left Australia from Port Melbourne. 37 of the 130 nurses who served on Lemnos came from Victoria and these would almost certainly have departed from Port Melbourne.2 One of those who departed was Private Jack Bassett3, a reinforcement for the 5th Battalion AIF. He 4 was a 21 year old packer from Bendigo when he enlisted at Melbourne on 30 th April 1915. He embarked on HMT Demosthenes from Port Melbourne on 16th July 1915, arriving on the peninsula 8th November 1915. The Australian War Memorial has a series of images documenting the departure of troops from Port Melbourne aboard the HMT Demosthenes on the 16th, which would include Jack. He was taken on strength with the 5th Battalion at Anzac on 18th November 1915. Barely three weeks later, he was admitted to the 24th Casualty Clearing Station suffering from pneumonia on 8 TH December 1915. He succumbed on 12 December 1915, as the peninsula was being evacuated. He was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War and Victory Medals. He is buried in the East Mudros Military Cemetery on Lemnos (Grave site - III. E. 137). His effects returned to his family included a testament, a pipe, letters, three coins and a photograph.

2

Hedditch’s research identifies 96 nurses at 3rd AGH and 34 at 2nd ASH, totalling 130 Australian nurses on Lemnos. Katrina Hedditch, Lemnos 1915 – A Nursing Odyssey to Gallipoli, Ocean Grove 2011, p, 173, 175-179. 3 http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/file-view.html?b=3055787&s=B2455&c=BASSETT%20J%20F 4 The 5th Battalion was among the first infantry units raised for the AIF during the First World War. Like the 6th, 7th and 8th Battalions it was recruited from Victoria and, together with these battalions, formed the 2nd Brigade. The battalion was raised within a fortnight of the declaration of war in August 1914 and embarked just two months later. After a brief stop in Albany, Western Australia, the battalion proceeded to Egypt, arriving on 2 December. It later took part in the Anzac landing on 25 April 1915, as part of the second wave. It was led by Lieutenant Colonel D. S. Wanliss, the officer who had raised the battalion. Ten days after the landing the 2nd Brigade was transferred from Anzac to Cape Helles to help in the attack on the village of Krithia. The attack captured little ground but cost the brigade almost a third of its strength. The Victorian battalions forming the 2nd Brigade returned to Anzac to help defend the beachhead, and in August the 2nd Brigade fought at the battle of Lone Pine. The battalion served at Anzac until the evacuation in December. http://www.awm.gov.au/units/unit_11192.asp Jim Claven, Lemnos and Port Philip, September 2013

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Private Bassett’s grave, East Mudros Military Cemetery, Lemnos. Photograph: Jim Claven 2013

Another member of the 5th Battalion AIF (in the original enlistment rather than the reinforcements that Private Bassett was part of) who boarded at Port Melbourne was Private 454 Roy Woolcock. Roy was a 21 year old engine cleaner, born in Trentham, when he enlisted at Albert Park Recruitment Centre on 19th August 1914, at the beginning of the war. He embarked on the 21 st October 1914, aboard the HMAT Orvieto (A3). He landed at Anzac on 25th April. He survived nearly eight months on Gallipoli only to be struck down by illness on 22 nd September– first influenza then enteric fever – as so many others were. After treatment at the 2nd Australian Stationary Hospital and the 3rd Australian General Hospital on Lemnos, Roy became “dangerously ill” and died of enteric fever on 22nd November 1915, shortly before the evacuation of the peninsula. His grave is in Portianou Military Cemetery, West Mudros, Lemnos (grave site V. A. 74).5

Grave of Private Roy Woolcock, Portainou Military Cemetery, Lemnos. Photograph: Jim Claven 2013.

Victorian infantry embarking on HMAT Hororata (A20), at the Port Melbourne pier. At left is HMAT Orvieto (A3), the flagship of the convoy. Note the train on the rail tracks beside the troops marching along the pier. Port Melbourne. October 1914. Private Roy Woolcock would have been here on this ship. AWM

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http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/file-view.html?b=3441295&s=B2455&c=WOOLCOCK%20R%20C

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Two images of unidentified troops prior to boarding HMAT Demosthenes (A64), Port Melbourne 16th July 1915. Private Jack Bassett would have been amongst these troops at Port Melbourne. AWM

Unidentified troops boarding HMAT Demosthenes (A64).Port Melbourne, 16th July 1915. AWM.

The troop transport HMAT Demosthenes (A64) having departed from the wharf at Port Melbourne, 16 July 1915. Jack was aboard this ship. AWM

Below are three Australian War Memorial images of AIF Troops and nurses preparing to depart from Port Melbourne – the first is of nurses aboard the HMAT Euripides (A14) on the 8th May 1916 and the second and third are soldiers awaiting to board HMAT Ceramic (A40) on the 23rd November 1915.

Jim Claven, Lemnos and Port Philip, September 2013

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The adventure begins for a group of Australian nurses departing in the troopship HMAT Euripides, Melbourne, 8th May 1916. AWM PB0381

Lemnos and Australia’s First VC Winner of WW1 Corporal Albert Jacka was one of Australia's most famous Anzacs. He was the first to be awarded the Victoria Cross in the First World War for his bravery in the field at Gallipoli. But like almost all Anzacs at Gallipoli, he knew Lemnos, visiting this important rest and hospital base on a number of occasions.

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The Grave of Captain Albert Jacka VC, St Kilda Cemetery, Melbourne, October 2013. Photograph Jim Claven

The 21 year old labourer Albert Jacka enlisted in the AIF on 15 September 1914 as Private 465 in 14th Battalion.6 Albert and his unit departed Port Melbourne aboard the HMAT Ulysses on the 22nd December 1914.7 Following training in Egypt, Jacka arrived at Lemnos’ Mudros harbour before the landings on 25th April. As Albert’s transport ship, the Rangoon trader the SS Seang Chong, entered Mudros’ large harbour on 15th April, it was joining a huge Allied armada that was assembling in the harbour. Albert noted in his diary his awe at the sight of the hundreds of Allied ships collected there. It is also recorded that he secured a lifeboat and used it to visit one of the British fleet’s great new dreadnought battleships, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, preparing for the Gallipoli campaign.

HMS Queen Elizabeth in Mudros Harbour, 1915. AWM image

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http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/file-view.html?b=8334256&s=B2455&c=JACKA%20ALBERT Ian Grant, Jacka VC – Australia’s first Fighting Soldier, Sun, 1989, p. 13.

Jim Claven, Lemnos and Port Philip, September 2013

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Along with his unit, Albert left Mudros for Anzac Cove at 10am on Sunday, 25 th April. 8 Jacka and his unit would be sent to defend the vital Courtney’s Post, as the Ottoman forces desperately tried to throw the Anzacs back into the sea. The 22 year old Albert was awarded the Victoria Cross for his brave actions at Courtney's Post, Gallipoli, on 19 May 1915. This was the first VC to be awarded to the AIF in World War 1 – and would be only the first of Jacka’s military decorations.9

The view to the Turkish lines from Courtney's Post, Gallipoli peninsula. 1915. AWM image

Like many Anzacs, Albert would suffer from one of the main sources of incapacitation at Gallipoli – gastric disorders – and these would bring him to Lemnos and its Australian medical services. His service record shows that on 19th July he was sent to the 2nd Australian Stationary Hospital suffering from diarrhoea.10 Albert returned briefly to Lemnos, being treated at the 24th Casualty Clearing Station at Mudros between 25th and 27th August for gastritis.11

2nd Australian Stationary Hospital, Turks Head Peninsula, Lemnos. 1915. AWM image

8

Ian Grant, Jacka VC – Australia’s first Fighting Soldier, Sun, 1989, p. 16-17, 20. For a description of the action in which Jacka won his Victoria Cross see Ian Grant, Jacka VC – Australia’s first Fighting Soldier, Sun, 1989, p. 24-35. 10 http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/file-view.html?b=8334256&s=B2455&c=JACKA%20ALBERT 11 Ian Grant, Jacka VC – Australia’s first Fighting Soldier, Sun, 1989, p. 45. 9

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When his unit returned to Lemnos for a six-week recuperation on Lemnos on 14th September, Albert was now a celebrity. He was presented, along with Colonel Monash, to the French Naval Commander-in-Chief, who is reported to have embraced Jacka.12 He returned to Lemnos after his units’ evacuation on 18th December and spent Christmas there, until his transport to Alexandria on 16th January. Like many of his comrades, Jacka again suffered from the major ailment of the campaign, dysentery during his final stay on Lemnos. The already famous Jacka was photographed on Lemnos, outside his tent – which is reproduced below.13

After Gallipoli, Jacka went on to serve in France where he was awarded the Military Cross for his action durign the battle of Pozieres in August 1916. To this was added the bar to the Military Cross for his bravery at Bullecourt in April 1917. He was wounded at Messines in July 1917 and badly gassed in May 1918.

HMAT Euripides photograph with signatures of Anzac soldiers who sailed on her back to Australia in 1919, including Albert Jacka. AWM image He returned to Australia aboard the HMAT Euripides. His bravery and awards meant that Jacka was often featured in post war "Peace Loan" posters. The "Peace Loan" were bonds issued to help the Australian Government recoup the costs of the war and to fund the pensions of the the hundreds of thousands of returned soldiers.

12 13

Ian Grant, Jacka VC – Australia’s first Fighting Soldier, Sun, 1989, p. 46-47. http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/P02141.003

Jim Claven, Lemnos and Port Philip, September 2013

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Post war peace bonds poster from South Australia. 1918-19. AWM image. He would become the Mayor of St Kilda and be noted for his actions to provide assistance to the unemployed during the depression.

Drawing of Albert Jacka as Mayor of St Kilda. AWM image. He died in 1932, his coffin being carried by 8 Victoria Cross winners. Albert Jacka is one of the strong links between Melbourne's City of Port Phillip, Lemnos and Anzac. Not only did he depart for Lemnos and Gallipoli from the wharves of Port Melbourne, but when he returned to Australia after the war he would become one of the most memorable civic leaders of the City of St Kilda, a precursor municipality of Port Phillip.

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The Lemnos Wedding Sergeant Ernest Lawrence and Staff Nurse Clarice Jessie Daley, who were famously married on Lemnos during the war, lived in Docker Street Elwood after the war and are buried in St Kilda Cemetery. Their grand-daughter Judith was still alive and living in Port Phillip in 2010. Clarice of No 3 Australian General Hospital and Ernest, of the 1st Light Brigade Headquarters had known each other in Melbourne but their match was not well regarded by Clarice's family who lived in Elwood.14 Ernest enlisted in August 1914 and met Clarice again on Lemnos. Clarice Jessie and Ernest married on 21st October 1915 at the Church Camp, Infantry Base Details (MEF), West Mudros, Lemnos. Photographs of the wedding are below. In February 1916 Clarice returned to Australia, and was discharged in July, presumably because she was now married. Ernest returned to Australia in November 1918 and the two commenced their life together, going on to have four children. Their marriage certificate, which is reproduced below, is held in the Private Records collection of the Australian War Memorial.

The Ordinary Diggers who remain on Lemnos

14

Susanna de Vries, Australian Heroines of World War One, p. 174.

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Driver Ralph Berryman15 was a South Melbourne-born Anzac who enlisted at Albert Park on 17th August 1914. A 22 year old warehouseman residing at 67 Morang Rd Hawthorn, Ralph served with the 6th Battery, 2nd Brigade Australian Field Artillery, having served in the artillery for 3 months prior to the war. He embarked from Port Melbourne on 20th October 1914 aboard the HMAT Shropshire (A9) and served at Gallipoli until 8th June 1915, when he suffered bullet wounds to his back. He died of these wounds on 20 th June 1915. It is touching to read that his last possessions included a tin-box containing his letters, presumably with letters from his family in Melbourne. He is buried at East Mudros Military Cemetery. Below are images of the HMAT Shropshire on which Ralph sailed, his casualty sheet and grave stone from East Mudros (I. A. 11.).16

Starboard side view of HMAT Shropshire (A9) berthed at the wharf. Service personnel, including members of the 1st Division Signal Company, wait to board the ship while their gear is transferred from trucks. Port Melbourne, 11 May 1917. AWM

15 16

http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/file-view.html?b=3076709&s=B2455&c=BERRYMAN%20R http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/625955/BERRYMAN,%20RALPH

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HMAT Shropshire (A9) in fairway at Port Said with French cruiser 'Desaix'. AWM

An old type British torpedo head passing the HMAT Shropshire at Port Said in December 1914. AWM

Jim Claven, Lemnos and Port Philip, September 2013

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Port Phillip was also the residence of Corporal George Finlay Knight,17 of the 5th Battalion AIF, who died at Gallipoli and is buried on Lemnos at East Mudros Military Cemetery. The son of Scottish immigrants, George was a 29 year old electrician. He had lived at 53 Palmerston Crescent Albert Park when he enlisted on 9th March 1915. We do not know if he spent time on Lemnos prior to going to Gallipoli but he may well have – as most other troops did. He arrived at Anzac on 5th August - in time to take part in the bloody battles of Lone Pine. But he would survive the battle only to be taken by dysentry after barely two weeks at Gallipoli on 23rd August 1915, while aboard the HS Arcadian, on its way to Lemnos. His death by illness stands as testimony to the horrendously unhealthy and unsanitary conditions at Gallipoli. George’s story is one of the thousands of young Anzacs who volunteered and served at Gallipoli, only to be struck down by one of the horrors of war – the ravages of illness and disease. Evacuations from the peninsula due to illness far exceeded that for wounds. And these illnesses account for more than half of the diggers buried in Lemnos’ Military Cemeteries - out of the 148 diggers buried on Lemnos, 78 died due to illness. 18 He remains on the northern Aegean Island of Lemnos, where he and his fallen comrades are remembered at the annual Anzac Day services conducted on the Island at East Mudros Military Cemetery. Below is an image of his service record documents, East Mudros Military Cemetery and his grave site (II. G.. 123.).19

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http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/fileview.html?b=7372895&s=B2455&c=KNIGHT%20GEORGE%20FINLAY 18 An analysis of the causes of death of the 148 diggers buried on Lemnos reveals that 78 died due to illness (EMMC 48; PMC 30), 68 having been KIA or dying of wounds, with 2 dying from accidental reasons (EMC – drowning, poisoning). 19 http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/626297/KNIGHT,%20GEORGE%20FINLAY Jim Claven, Lemnos and Port Philip, September 2013

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Private Cyril Thomas Leishman had been born in St Kilda, the son of Mrs Millicent and William Thomas Leishman of 298 Inkerman Street St Kilda. While he enlisted at Liverpool in NSW on 19th March 1915, he listed his address as his parents in St Kilda. His occupation was listed as a station hand. He served as Private 2939 with the C section of the 5 th Australian Field Ambulance, part of the Australian Army Medical Corps. Like George Finlay Knight, he became ill and died of disease – in Cyril’s case diphtheria - on 12th October 1915, having been transferred to Lemnos. He had been treated at the 18th Stationary Hospital at West Mudros. He was aged 20. He is buried at Portianos Military Cemetery.20 Below is an image of his service record documents, Portianos Military Cemetery and his grave site (V. B. 107).21

20 21

http://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/records/291180 http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/626873/LEISHMAN,%20CYRIL%20THOMAS

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One of the many Port Phillip diggers who served at Gallipoli and Lemnos St Kilda-born Captain Harold Burke2223 was the son of George John and Annie Gertrude Burke of 37 Brighton Rd St Kilda. He enlisted in the AIF at Eastern Hill Depot Melbourne at the age of 21 in August 1914. Two months later he embarked for active service overseas with the 5th Battalion, and after a period of training in Egypt, for the Gallipoli Campaign. He landed with his battalion on the 25th April 1915 as part of the second wave. While at Gallipoli, Burke was promoted through the ranks; firstly to Corporal in June, Sergeant in August, then 2nd Lieutenant in September. He is recorded as having been hospitalised on Lemnos at the 2 nd Australian Stationary Hospital in May 1915 suffering phorangitis and then again in October 1915 at the 1 st Canadian Stationary Hospital suffering jaundice. He returned to Lemnos with his unit in December 1915 departing then for Egypt and France. He survived Gallipoli and would go on to serve in France with the 5th Battalion. He was promoted to Lieutenant and then to Captain. In September 1917, Burke was awarded the Military Cross for displaying "sound judgement and good leadership" during operations at Ypres on 20th September 1917. Captain Burke was killed in action on 24 August 1918 at St Martins Wood near Proyart in France, a few weeks prior to the 5th Battalion's disengagement from operations, and is buried at at Cerisy-Gailly Military Cemetery in France. His two brothers also served, Lieutenant Maurice Burke and Major Edmund Louis Burke MC, and a sister, Nursing Sister Lalah Mary Burke of the Australian Army Nursing Service.

22 23

http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/file-view.html?b=3168902&s=B2455&c=BURKE%20H http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P07989.007

Jim Claven, Lemnos and Port Philip, September 2013

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The Doctor from Albert Park Amongst the many medical officers on Lemnos one hailed from Port Phillip. Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Mitchell Wilson24 served along with 36 other doctors with the 3rd Australian General Hospital at West Mudros from August until November 1915. Born in Albert Park, he received his medical qualifications from Melbourne University. Prior to the war Arthur had served as a ship’s doctor, a doctor at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne and commissioned as a Captain as Regimental Medical Officer with the Melbourne University Regiment from March 1913. He sailed from Melbourne with the 3rd Australian General Hospital in May 1915. He became ill with paratyphoid in November and, after being admitted as patient in the 3rd AGH, was invalided from Lemnos to England, rejoining the unit in February 1916 after its evacuation to Egypt. He served on the western Front, rising to the rank of Major and commander of the 7th Field Ambulance. While in France he researched casualty evacuation and became a recognised advocate of providing surgical teams as close to the front as possible to maximise patient survival. He received the Distinguished Service Order and was Mentioned in Despatches twice. In awarding his Mention in Despatches for 1918, the London Gazette stated that he had shown: “conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during an attack while in charge of bearer divisions. He followed close on the heels of the infantry into captured villages, establishing bearer posts, and effected the evacuation of the wounded with remarkable rapidity. He worked splendidly throughout, and by his untiring devotion to duty saved a number of lives.”25 He returned to Australia in 1919 and after the war resumed his obstetrics practice at 144 High Street Prahran and worked as a consultant obstetrician at the Royal Women’s Hospital, while maintaining his links with the Australian Army Medical Corps. He died in 1947.26

24

http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/file-view.html?b=1996234&s=B2455&c=WILSON%20A%20M http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/file-view.html?b=1996234&s=B2455&c=WILSON%20A%20M 26 Lt Col Robert Likeman CSM, Gallipoli Doctors, Slouch Hat Publications, 2010, p. 73-74. 25

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A group of unidentified medical officers at the tent lines of an Australian Hospital on Lemnos, 1916. AWM

Lt Col Arthur Wilson’s 1918 Mention in Despatches, AWM

And many nurses too from Port Phillip also served There were two nurses from Port Phillip who served on Lemnos – Staff Nurse Clarice Jessie Daley and Sister Clara Louisa Potter. 25 year old Staff Nurse Clarice Jessie Daley had been born in Box Hill but lived at “Turriff”, Beach Avenue, Elwood prior to her enlistment with the Australian Army Nursing Service on 10th May 1915. She trained at Melbourne Hospital. She sailed from Port Melbourne aboard the Mooltan on 18th May 1915, serving with the 3rd Australian General Hospital on Lemnos and in Abbassia Egypt, departing for Egypt aboard the Oxfordshire on 27th January 1916. After her marriage on Lemnos on 21st October 1915 (married nurses couldn’t serve in the armed forces), she returned to Australia on 9th February 1916 aboard the HT Nestor, arriving back in Port Melbourne on 13th March 1916. She resided at 52 Docker Street Port Melbourne, her new husband Sergeant Ernest Lawrence joining her after his discharge from the AIF. She was formally discharged from the services on 31st July 1916 and received the British War and Victory Medals.27 Photographs of Staff Nurse Daley at her wedding are reproduced above, as well as another on Lemnos below.

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http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/file-view.html?b=3483176&s=B2455&c=DALEY%20C%20J; Lawrence had been discharged due to alcoholism. Susanna de Vries, Australian Heroines of World War One, pg. 174. Jim Claven, Lemnos and Port Philip, September 2013

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Nurse Daley at the 3rd AGH on Lemnos August 1915. Hedditch, Lemnos 1915, p 122

Clara Louisa Potter was born in Port Melbourne and like Clarice received her nursing training at Melbourne Hospital. She was 32 years old when she enlisted into the Australian Army Nursing service - on the same day as Clarice 10th May 1915 – and departed Australia with her on the Mooltan. She served on Lemnos with the 3rd Australian General Hospital, returning to Egypt in February 1916. She would serve in England (Brighton) and France (Abbeville and Vimreux with the 2nd Australian General Hospital and for a time with 1st S.A. General Hospital). By July 1917, Clara had been transferred from the 3 rd Australian General Hospital to the 2nd Australian General Hospital. On 29 August 1918, Clara left Europe on her return to Australia aboard the transport ship D21 or the A7 (Medic). Her service was terminated on 26th January 1919.28 She began her service as a Staff Nurse and was promoted to Sister in 1917. She was awarded the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal for her service.

Clara Louisa Potter. National Archives of Australia, uploader Faithe Jones

28

NAA Service Record of Sister Clara Potter; AWM Embarkation Lists; http://nurses.ww1anzac.com/po.html

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Clara Louisa Potter’s Australian Army Nursing Service Enlistment Form. National Archives of Australia

Apart from these Port Phillip nurses who served on Lemnos, the area produced another twelve nurses who enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service during the First World War. Three of these served in the Salonika Front in northern Greece (Staff Nurse Ethel Alice Flett Neville of Albert Park, Staff Nurse Ethel Maud Biggs of St Kilda and Staff Nurse Irene Ethel Sueling of Port Melbourne). This became one of the major Allied fronts in the Eastern Mediterranean following the withdrawal from Gallipoli. Details of these nurses are as follows: 

Staff Nurse Ethel Alice Flett Neville29, born in Albert Park and living in Elsternwick, was a 32 year old nurse when she enlisted on 27th August 1917. Trained at the Queen Victoria Hospital, she served with the 19th General Hospital in Alexandria before being sent to the 50th British General Hospital at Salonika from 22 June 1918 until she was sent to the England on 16th February 1919. After serving briefly with a hospital in England, she returned to Australia later in 1919. She received the British War and Victory Medals.

Service Records of Staff Nurse Ethel Neville. NAA

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http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/list-birth.aspx?birth=Albert+Park%2c+VIC%2c+Australia

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Sister Jean Malcolm Simpson30, born in Albert Park, was a 25 year old nurse who had trained at Perth Public Hospital (and with experience of surgery and infectious diseases). Enlisting in Perth on August 1914, she served with the 1st Australian General Hospital from 1st February 1915, the 2nd Australian Auxiliary Hospital in Southall England from 19th October 1916, and then in June 1917 she served in France with the 2nd Australian General Hosptial. She left for Australia in November 1918, and was discharged on 21st September 1919. She received the 1914-15 Star, British War and Victory Medals. Staff Nurse Ethel Maud Biggs31, born in St Kilda, was a 26 year old nurse who had trained at Geelong Hospital, enlisting on 26th May 1917. She embarked from Australia in June 1917. From July 1917 until February 1919 she served on the Salonika Front at the 52nd and 66th British General Hospitals, serving under Matron McHardie White. In February 1919 she was sent to London (where from August to October she was funded by the Army to learn to drive and maintain motor cars) and was promoted to Sister. Her service was such that she was Mentioned in Despatches by Lt General Milne, Commander of British Forces in Salonika, “for her distinguished and gallant services”, thereby receiving the two oak leaves emblem in recognition.32 She was discharged on 5th April 1920 and received the British War and Victory Medals.

Nurse Ethel Biggs service file report of her being mentioned in despatches. NAA

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Sister Lalah Mary Burke3334, born in St Kilda, was a 27 year old nurse trained at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital when she enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) on 20th May 1915. She lived with her mother – Annie Gertrude Burke - at 37 Brighton Rd St Kilda. She served in Egypt and France (serving with the 1st Australian General Hospital, 10th Stationary Hospital and the 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station and was promoted to Sister on 1st October 1917.

30

http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/fileview.html?b=8084324&s=B2455&c=SIMPSON%20JEAN%20MALCOLM 31 http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/file-view.html?b=3081663&s=B2455&c=BIGGS%20E%20M 32 http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/file-view.html?b=3081663&s=B2455&c=BIGGS%20E%20M 33 http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/file-view.html?b=3169025&s=B2455&c=BURKE%20L%20M 34 http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P07989.004 Jim Claven, Lemnos and Port Philip, September 2013

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She departed London for Australia in February and arrived in April 1919, being discharged from the AANS in July 1919. Three of her brothers also served, including Captain Harold Burke, MC, who was killed and Lieutenant Maurice Burke, who was captured and became a POW. Her other brother was Major Edmund Louis Burke, MC. She married Mr Frederick Batchelder several years after the war. She received the 1914-15 Star, British War and Victory Medals.

Studio portraits of Nurse Burke in her AIF nurses uniform. AWM

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Sister Ruby Gertrude D’Arcy35, born in St Kilda, was a 26 year old nursing sister when she enlisted on 13th March 1916 in Cairo Egypt. Serving firstly with the 4th Australian Auxiliary Hospital, she served most of her war service in India at various military hospitals from 1917 to 1919, in Bombay, Lahore, Gharial and Rawalpindi, as well as in Mesopotamia and on hospital ships. She was then transferred to England and returned to Australia in March 1920. She received the 1914-15 Star, British War and Victory Medals. Sister Vera Winifred Smith36, born in St Kilda, was a 26 year old nurse when she enlisted on 25th June 1915 with the 1st Australian General Hospital Reinforcements. She was trained at Perth Public Hospital and served in France throughout the war (serving with the 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station and the 14th British General Hospital), as well as a period after the war in various British military hospitals in India (from October 1918 until October 1919). She returned to Australia in late 1919, following a period of illness. Sister Marjorie Cross Yuille37, born in St Kilda, was a 29 year old nursing sister when she enlisted 5th November 1914. Trained at Melbourne Hospital, she served in France (with the 25th Stationary Hospital at Rouen) and England but due to recurring

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illness was discharged on 6th February 1917. She returned to Australia in 1918, having married Major H H Turnbull, of 1Australian General Hosptial, whilst on service overseas.

Studio Portrait of Sister Yuille. AWM

Yuille and Finlay sewing in Sister Yuille's Brighton home, 1916. AWM

Unidentified AANS nurses bathing off Egypt 1915 - Photographed by Sister Yuille. AWM

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Staff Nurse Lillian Waugh Fraser38, born in Albert Park, was a 30 year old nurse when she enlisted on 14th October 1918. Trained at Bendigo General Hospital, she was sent

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to the 34th Welsh General Hospital at Deolali near Bombay in India to tend to injured soldiers, returning to Australia on 17th November 1919, discharged on 11th April 1920. Sister Elsie May Marsh39, born in South Melbourne, was a 27 year old when she enlisted on 15th August 1914 with the 2nd Australian General Hospital. Trained at Adelaide Public Hospital, she enlisting as a Staff Nurse and was then promoted to Sister on 1st December 1915. She was noted as having rendered “conspicuous services” in connection with war by Lt General Birdwood and the Secretary of State for War, promulgated on 14th July 1914. She received the 1914-15 Star, British War and Victory Medals.

Birdwood commendation for Sister Elsie May Marsh. NAA

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Sister Ethel Tracey Richardson40, born in South Melbourne and living in nearby Toorak, was a 37 year old nurse who had trained at the Austin Hospital and enlisted 3rd November 1914 with 1st Australian General Hospital. She served at Queen Mary’s Hospital in London (as well as the 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital in England) until May 1916. She then left the AIF and returned to in Australia on 22nd April 1916 as Matron-in-Chief on the Staff of the Director General of Medical Services. She was awarded the Red Cross Decoration 1st Class on 25th July 1917. Her brother, Captain Henry Tracey Richardson also served in the AIF.

http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/file-view.html?b=8214999&s=B2455&c=MARSH%20ELSIE%20MAY

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http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/fileview.html?b=8034005&s=B2455&c=RICHARDSON%20ETHEL%20TRACEY; http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/H06179/ Jim Claven, Lemnos and Port Philip, September 2013

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Studio Portrait of Matron Ethel Richardson AANS AWM

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Staff Nurse Irene Ethel Sueling41, born in Port Melbourne, was a 27 year old nurse trained at the Geelong Hospital who enlisted in the Australian Army Medical Corps on 22nd May 1917. She embarked from Melbourne on the Mooltan in June 1917 and served at the Salonika Front (arriving on the Gordon), serving at the 52nd, 66th and 43rd British General Hospitals from 1917 until her departure for England in February 1919. During her time in Salonika she suffered from bouts of influenza in September 1918, being cared for at the 52nd and 43rd British General Hospitals and at the Sisters Convalescence Camp. She was promoted Sister in England on 12th July 1919, returning to Australia in December 1919. She received the 1914-15 Star, British War and Victory Medals. Staff Nurse Lillian Ella Fletcher42, although born in Stanthorpe Queensland, 29 year old Lillian enlisted at Port Melbourne on 5th September 1916. She served in hospitals in India (Bombay, Poona and Simla), Mesopotamia and at sea, from September 1916, being promoted to Charge Nurse on 1st October 1917. She also served in England from April to May 1919, including with the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital. She returned to Australia and was discharged on 10th October 1919. She received the 1914-15 Star, British War and Victory Medals.

While not from Port Phillip, the Matron of the nurses of the 3rd Australian General Hospital at West Mudros on Lemnos, Grace Wilson, returned to Australia after the war and served as the Matron of the Alfred Hospital, the major public hospital serving the current Port Phillip area.43

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Matron Grace Wilson “doing the rounds” of the 3rd AGH on Lemnos, 1915. AWM

The Birth of Australia’s Biggest Greek Community Port Melbourne would also become the arrival point for many of Victoria’s and Australia's Greek community after the Second World War. The Greek community who arrived at Port Melbourne would grow into the biggest in Australia and the largest Greek community outside of Greece.

Post-war European migrants arrive in Melbourne in 1948. 44

The Home of Victoria’s Lemnians Victoria's Lemnian community has strong links to the municipality, as evidenced in the location of Lemnos House. It is estimated that there are some 8-9,000 Victorians are of Lemnian heritage – part of Melbourne’s success as the third largest Hellenic city in the world. This is approximately half of the current total population of Lemnos itself. The Port Phillip area was the centre of the community for many years. 44

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/journeys-of-the-greek-diaspora/story-fn9n8gph1226674383541 Jim Claven, Lemnos and Port Philip, September 2013

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Our Modern Greek Anzacs Port Phillip is also the home of the Hellenic Branch of the Returned Services League.

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The Memorial Statue Proposal As we approach the 2015 Centenary of Anzac, there is one major commemoration which is in need of re-dedication – that of the role of Lemnos and its nurses in the Gallipoli campaign. Sadly there is not a major memorial to the nurses on Lemnos, or even recognition of Lemnos’ role in Gallipoli, in Australia. Apart from their mention as names on memorial plaques in a few places, the nurses of Lemnos and their vital role in the story of Anzac are in danger of being forgotten. The Lemnos Gallipoli Commemorative Committee has been working to establish a major permanent memorial to the role of Lemnos and the nurses since 2011. The memorial project is proposing the erection of a major statue in Port Phillip, near where many of Victoria’s Anzac soldiers and nurses departed. The location of the Lemnos Gallipoli Memorial Statue in the Municipality of Port Phillip is particular relevant. This Municipality has many links not only with Australia’s Anzac legend but also with Lemnos and its role in the Gallipoli campaign. They are linked by the soldiers from Port Phillip who served on the Island and those who remain buried there (such as Corporal George Knight of Albert Park and Driver Ralph Berryman of South Melbourne). They are linked through Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Wilson, the Doctor from Albert Park and the Port Phillip nurse who served there (such as Staff Nurse Clarice Jessie Daley of Elwood) and cared for the sick and wounded Anzacs, including those from Port Phillip (like Captain Harold Burke of St Kilda). And through the famous Anzac soldiers and nurses who were there too – like Corporal Albert Jacka VC, a future Mayor of St Kilda and Matron Grace Wilson, of the 3rd AGH and the future of Matron of the Alfred Hospital. Peter Corlett, OAM, Australia’s celebrated commemorative sculptor has been commissioned to produce this fitting memorial. Its central feature will be of a nurse on Lemnos, protecting an ill Anzac, resting on a rocky base, reflective of the Lemnian earth. It will be a place of pilgrimage, reflection and for commemorative events. A fitting memorial. Help us make our project a reality.

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