Thursday, 30 May 2024

Battle of Crete commemoration

Lee TARLAMIS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (09:52): Recently we commemorated the 83rd anniversary of the Battle of Crete, which took place in May 1941. The Battle of Crete saw the culmination of the Greek campaign, in which many Victorians served with distinction as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force. It was my pleasure to take part in a number of these events organised by Melbourne’s Cretan organisations, including a wreath-laying service at Melbourne’s iconic Shine of Remembrance.

The significance of the Battle of Crete for both Australia and Greece was underscored by the attendance of a high-level Hellenic military delegation from Greece. The delegation was led by deputy chief of the Hellenic defence general staff Vice Admiral Christos Sasiakos and included Lieutenant Commander Stylianos Mitsiotis, Captain Pavlos Angelopoulos and Colonel Ioannis Fasianos, the defence attaché of the embassy of Greece in Australia. It was my pleasure to welcome them to the Parliament of Victoria on behalf the Victorian Parliamentary Friends of Greece along with co-chairs and other members of Parliament. The delegation was accompanied by the Consul-General of the Hellenic Republic in Melbourne Emmanuel Kakavelakis and local representatives from Melbourne’s Cretan community.

The delegation discussed our enduring bonds and the opportunities to strengthen them further and toured the Parliament, beginning with a visit to the Hellenic memorial in the parliamentary gardens unveiled in 2017, a memorial featuring a thriving olive tree and commemorative plaque, which I had the honour of helping to establish. The memorial commemorates the solidarity forged between the Greek and Australian people from Lemnos in 1915 to the Greek campaign of 1941 and the waves of postwar migration. The classical Greek quotation on the memorial was selected by my good friend the historian Jim Claven OAM and says:

They gave their shining youth and raised thereby Valour’s own monument which cannot die.

It is a fitting reflection of this connection between Australia and Greece.