As a tradition since 2007 in Tahiti, Anzac
day has been celebrated because two
soldiers from WWI were buried in Tahiti:
an Australian soldier (Robert William
Fuhrstrom) and
a new Zealander soldier (Corporal Roy John Leslie).
Private Fuhrstrom fought in France where he
caught the trench pneumonia; after several stays in hospitals in Scotland, he
was sent back to Australia and passed away on board “The Marathon” in Papeete
on May 29th, 1918.
Corporal Leslie survived Gallipoli then was sent to France
where he was wounded; on his way back to New Zealand he died on board “The
Maheno” on September 5th, 1917.
The French governor in Tahiti offered to bury
them in Papeete, promising the graves will be looked after by the locals.
In April, the 100 years of Gallipoli were
commemorated in a very special way.
Beside a very impressive dawn service held on
April 25th at Uranie cemetery (Papeete)
by the Australian honorary
consulate in partnership with the New Zealand
honorary consulate and the army, other events for general public and
schools were organised from April 20-30th in Papeete.
The Australian honorary consulate and the
Rotary club Papeete Tahiti co organized
four events.
- 1- Finding descendants of the two soldiers and
having them come to Tahiti to attend the commemorations. After more than 5 years of research, families
were found and both soldiers’descendants attended: Anne Crozier, her husband
Dave and their 3 children representing Roy Leslie, and Colleen Van Hees and her
husband Martin (William Fuhrstrom) The ceremonies were fairly emotional.
A great exhibition opening and cocktail for one
hundred guests and the media.
One viewing/debate for schools and another film
viewing and bilingual debate in the evening for general public. It was followed
by a cocktail. The debates were conducted by WW1 historians (JC Shigetomi, Y
Babin and C Raybaud).
- 4- The dawn service was held on April 25th at Uranie cemetery (Papeete) by the Australian honorary consulate in partnership with the
New Zealand honorary consulate and the
French military. A lot of emotions during
speaches, pupils choir, the three national anthems sung by Charles
Atger Choir.
The
organisation and the success were based on the strong involvement of the
two organizers Virginie Kiou (Australian
Honorary Consul assistant) and Cathy Gourbault-Lawrence (Rotary Club Papeete-Tahiti), and the total
support of Marc Siu (Australian Honorary Consul).
The
presence of Glenda Price, representing the General Consul of Australia, Murray
Taylor Australian federal Police officer
and the descendants of our two soldiers gave a special dimension to the 100 th
Gallipoli commemorations.
These ambitious projects became reality thanks
to partners (ONAC, Papeete Township, New Zealand Honorary Consulate, Pacific
Films, Air Tahiti Nui, Avis, Manava suite resort), and thanks to generous
sponsors (Michelin, QBE and Rotary).
Without their precious supports, these events
would not have been so successful.
The
Anzac day tributes in Tahiti were granted with the official approval by
Australia, New Zealand and France to use the international WW1 centenary
emblems.
In Tahiti, there was a huge media coverage (2
full pages in Newspaper and some other
small articles in newspaper, (2 radio interviews (Radio 1 and Tiare FM),
(5 reports on TV news (TNTV and
Polynésie 1ère). A media saturation for 10 days ! Great for the Rotary image
The 100 Gallipoli year celebrations in Tahiti honoured the Anzac role
which have highly contributed to the close relationships between French
Polynesia, Australia and New Zealand.
Anzac day & Papeete WW1 Memories was a
great project which paid a beautiful
tribute to Anzac soldiers and honor their sacrifices.
Lest we forget
Cathy Gourbault-Lawrence
Anzac Day & Papeete 2015 project co
organizer Rotary
Club Papeete- Tahiti
