A woman's touch for ANZAC event

The Reverend Ali Wurm who will officiate at the 2008 ANZAC Light on the Water commemoration on the Port River is the Parish Priest of a Semaphore church that was built 35 years before the Gallipoli campaign.

There is an unusual link to the Gallipoli lifeboats landing because many parishioners say the wooden ceiling of St Bede’s reminds them of being in a boat.

School students and families will launch several hundred candle-lit cardboard lifeboats from the Queens Wharf pontoons in a moving tribute to the merchant seamen who rowed our troops ashore in ship’s lifeboats on April 25 in 1915.

St Bede’s is active and engaged in the local area and strives to make a difference.

“We relate as a lively, nurturing and supportive community of faith, Rev Wurm says.

ANZAC Light on the Water information kits and cardboard templates will be distributed to schools in March so students can make their own lifeboats for the commemoration on the evening of Thursday April 24.

Some students at Our Lady of Visitation are already looking at some of their own designs for replica lifeboats and we encourage such individual efforts.

Our photo shows Semaphore and Port Adelaide families along with others from as far away as Leigh Creek at the inaugural ANZAC Light on the Water last April 24.


WE ASK YOU JUST TO REMEMBER US


No cross marks the place where now we lie
What happened is known but to us
You asked, and we gave our lives to protect
Our land from the enemy curse
No Flanders Field where poppies blow;
No Gleaming Crosses, row on row;
No Unnamed Tomb for all to see
And pause—and wonder who we might be
The Sailors’ Valhalla is where we lie
On the ocean bed, watching ships pass by
Sailing in safety now through the waves
Often right over our sea-locked graves
We ask you just to remember us.

Pipes and drums for ANZAC Eve

To mark the start of ANZAC Light on the Water 2008 the South Australian Pipes and Drums band will present a one-hour concert in Lighthouse Square Port Adelaide at 6 pm on April 24.

Without a doubt they are South Australia’s most versatile and sought after pipe band.

The South Australian Pipes and Drums came into being in April 2003 in response to an invitation from the Director of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo to perform at the Tattoo in August of that year.

The band was formed from very experienced pipers and drummers who accepted the invitation and embarked on the rather daunting challenge of training and equipping for the task ahead.

As a brand new band with no uniforms, the opportunity was taken to design a new tartan that incorporated the colours of the State of South Australia.

This has been registered as The South Australian Pipes and Drums Tartan and the band’s kilts and plaids are made of this distinctive design.

After a hectic period of fund raising, the South Australian Pipes and Drums, with some borrowed equipment, appeared at the 2003 Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

The band recently made a successful visit to Moscow for public performances.

The band has been in constant demand to perform at concerts and street parades with their distinctive style of ceilidh music that they performed in November at the Semaphore Street Fair.

ANZAC Light on the Water 2008

More schools and families from across Adelaide and as far away as Leigh Creek are expected to participate in a poignant and moving event on the Port River on ANZAC Eve.

Thanks to a $3000 grant from Port Adelaide Enfield Council to the Merchant Navy Association South Australia, the Gallipoli tribute ANZAC Light on the Water will be staged at the Queens Wharf pontoons on the night of April 24.

The success of ANZAC Light on the Water last year has led to it becoming an annual ANZAC event.

Additional funding is being sought from the State Government to enable more South Australian schools to take part.

With special emphasis on the merchant seamen who rowed the troops ashore for the 1915 Gallipoli landing, the event involves school students and families in making paper and cardboard lifeboats.

The paper and cardboard lifeboats containing lit candles are launched on the Port River as a symbolic tribute to all who have served in wars down the ages.

More than 500 paper and cardboard lifeboats were launched from the Queens Wharf pontoons by Surf Lifesavers, who manned the pontoons in the inaugural event, and many of them had the names of those who had served at Gallipoli on the sides of them.

Most of the lifeboats were made by students at Peninsular schools, but one of the main contributions was from Pinnaroo Primary School students.

The Port River was one of the main departure ports for merchant navy troopships during World Wars I and II.

Families whose loved ones were lost at Gallipoli brought family albums and other mementos to the first ANZAC Light on the Water to share with other families.

Information kits will shortly be provided for distribution to South Australian schools and they will contain instructions, templates for making cardboard lifeboats and supplies of tea light candles.

Also involved in promoting the ANZAC Eve event are The Merchant Navy Association, Semaphore Port Adelaide RSL, the Vindicatrix Association, Port Adelaide Enfield Council, Education Department, Port Adelaide Visitor Information Centre, Port Adelaide Sailing Club, Maritime Museum, Port Centre Co-ordination Group, Land Management Council and Navy South Australia.

Anzac Light on the Water

The special tribute to the Merchant Navy, ANZAC Light on the Water will be staged on ANZAC Eve April 24 2008.

Port Adelaide Enfield Council has given a grant of $3000 towards the costs of staging ANZAC Light on the Water next year. Organiser John Williams, Vice President Merchant Navy SA, said the success of ANZAC Light on the Water on April 24 had led to it becoming an annual Anzac event.
An application had also been lodged by Merchant Navy Association SA with the Australian Department of Veterans Affairs for an additional $3000 so that the event could be expanded to include more South Australian schools.
The event focuses special emphasis on the men who rowed the men ashore for the 1915 Gallipoli landing and involves families in making paper lifeboats.
The paper lifeboats containing lit candles are launched on the Port River as a moving and symbolic personal tribute to merchant seamen who have participated in wars down the ages.
More than 500 paper lifeboats were launched from the Queens Wharf pontoons by Surf Lifesavers, who manned the pontoons in the inaugural event, and many of them had the names of those who had served at Gallipoli on the sides of them.
Port Adelaide was one of the main departure ports for merchant navy troopships during World War One and Two.
Members of families whose loved ones were lost at Gallipoli brought family albums and other mementos to Light on the Water to share with other Port Adelaide families.
Families are asked to give their support for the 2008 event by encouraging their local school to participate.
Information kits will be provided for distribution to schools and will contain
instructions for making paper lifeboats and supplies of tea light candles.
John would appreciate any support for the 2008 event from other Australian and overseas communities and can be contacted by email at johnwilliams@cobbers.com

People came from as far away as Leigh Creek, the desert town 567 kilometres north of Adelaide, to see the first ever Anzac Eve tribute to the merchant navy. Many of those who were there launched paper lifeboats with the name of their great grandfather or grandfather who served in World War One or World War Two.

Anzac Eve Photographs by Sama Reid, Publications Officer, Port Adelaide Enfield.

Port Adelaide schools are getting involved in our ANZAC Eve commemoration and the media are beginning to take notice. Here's the coverage from The Advertiser, Adelaide's daily newspaper.

Tribute of candles in the wind

Miniature Navy: North Haven Schools students Meghan and, clockwise from front, David, Thomas, Cheyanne and Chloe with their boats.

Photograph of school students: Sarah Reed The Advertiser

By Callie Watson The Advertiser

His great-grandfather fought in World War I and North Haven Schools student Chris plans to remember him in spectacular style.The 12-year-old is one of hundreds of students in the Port Adelaide area constructing paper boats to commemorate the merchant navy's role at Gallipoli.

A fleet of 1000 paper boats holding candles to represent Australians involved in the famous battle will be launched into the Port River on April 24. It is part of the Light on the Water event at the biennial Port Festival. Chris will write his great-grandfather's name on the side of his boat. "I think it's a good way to remember him and what he did," he said.Merchant Navy Association of SA vice-president John Williams helped more than 300 students at North Haven Schools to make the boats yesterday."The students are very excited and interested in the history behind the paper boats and what they represent," he said.Year 1 student Meghan, 6, is looking forward to seeing her boat sail as part of the stunning display. "I think it will be fun," she said.

WHAT IS THE MERCHANT NAVY?
As a Merchant Navy veteran, I addressed High School and Primary school students on “What is the Merchant Navy” last year and became aware of a lack of knowledge of elementary facts about maritime matters.

We in Australia and New Zealand commemorate April 25 as ANZAC Day, setting aside the day to remember and to pay homage to our fallen comrades.

This day was born out of Gallipoli, but how many of us are aware of the involvement of the Merchant Navy in that campaign? Australian merchant ships took all of our troops from Australian ports to Gallipoli, and in many cases landed our troops on the beach at ANZAC Cove in the ships’ lifeboats. These were manned by merchant seamen, who also came under the deadly fire from the Turkish guns.

The great majority of wounded at Gallipoli were taken in the ships’ lifeboats with merchant seamen again manning the oars to hospital ships waiting offshore.

The same merchant ships evacuated most of our troops from Gallipoli to Alexandria, Lemnos and Cyprus and then transported the wounded home to Australia.

http://www.anzacday.org.au/

TROOPS LEAVE FROM PORT ADELAIDE

Many of 134 troopships that transported Australians to the battlefields of World War One embarked from Port Adelaide.
Troop transports were requisitioned by the Australian Government for transporting the AIF overseas but in addition to carrying troops, horses and military stores they also carried wool, metals, meat, flour and other foodstuffs, mainly for Britain and France. The fleet consisted mainly of British steamers and a few captured enemy ships.

MERCHANT NAVY LOSSES

It is not widely known that about 6.5 per cent of all Merchant Navy personnel died on Second World War service, a higher percentage than any other Service, and that during the Allied recapture of the Philippine Islands there were more Merchant Navy casualties than those of all other Services combined.Of the seventy six merchant ships lost in Australian waters to mines, torpedoes, shelling and bombing, twenty-nine were Australian. The number of Australian merchant seamen lost on all the oceans will probably never be known.
There are no war graves to mark the passing of most of them.

http://www.merchant-navy-ships.com/

GALLIPOLI LIFEBOATS
A unique event marking a major chapter in the history of Port Adelaide South Australia will be staged on Anzac Eve April 24 on the Port River during Port Festival 2007.

Gallipoli Lifeboats involves the making by school students, veterans and families of individual paper boats which when launched on the Port River near Lighthouse Square will each contain a lighted candle symbolising the Gallipoli landing.

Lighthouse Square at 7 pm: Commentary on the Paper Boats event and its significance and a welcome by the Mayor of Port Adelaide Enfield, Gary Johanson. Introduction of Merchant Navy veterans and dignitaries.

7.30 pm: Local schoolchildren, veterans and familes launch a fleet of paper boats bearing lighted candles on the Port River from the Queens Wharf pontoons. The candles will represent all who served at Gallipoli.

A short prayer and blessing of the paper boats by the Rev David Ingleton from the Uniting Church will follow and the event will conclude with a lament by lone piper Don MacAuley. The Port Adelaide Sailing Club will retrieve all the paper lifeboats after the event to comply with EPA regulations.
Gallipoli lifeboats is being organised and staged by the Merchant Navy Association SA, Vindicatrix Association SA and the Semaphore Port Adelaide RSL with support from the
Caledonian Society and the Port Adelaide Sailing Club.

Port Adelaide South Australia:

http://www.portenf.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm