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Post date: May 1, 2013 8:39:13 AM
Jerry Guirguis interview His Excellency, Australia’s Ambassador to Egypt, Dr. Ralph King, live-to-air via phone hook-up on 96.5FM studios [ Monday 28th April 2014 Melbourne Australia 6:30pm = 10:30am Cairo Egypt ].
Australian War Memorial [ Treloar Crescent , Campbell ACT 2612, phone : 02 6243 4211
www.cwgc.org [ Commonwealth War Graves Commission phone : 02 6289 6477
Returned & Services League of Australia
www.rslvic.com.au [ ANZAC House – RSL Victorian Branch – 4 Collins Street Melbourne phone : 03 9655 5555
New Zealand Embassy Cairo [ phone : +20 2 2461 6000
www.anzac.govt.nz
The AIF [ Australian Imperial Force ] departed Australia in November 1914 and headed for Egypt, the 1st Division moved to Camp Mena, near Cairo where they were initially used to defend the Suez Canal against the Turks who had declared War on 29th October 1914.
Battle of Romani
The Battle of Romani took place near the Egyptian town of Romani which lies 23 miles (37 km) east of the Suez Canal from 3–5 August 1916. The goal of Turkish army was to control or destroy the Suez Canal, thereby denying the use of the waterway to the Allies and in doing so aiding the Central Powers. The Anzac Mounted Division, under General Harry Chauvel saw considerable action during the battle. The Turks initially pushed the Australian 1st Light Horse Brigade back to Wellington Ridge, but by dawn the next day had forced the Australians from this position also. The Turks were eventually pushed back by the heavy artillery of the British 52nd (Lowland) Division and other units of the Anzac Mounted Division. The battle cost the Allies 1,130 casualties of which 202 were killed, of these 935 were Australians and New Zealanders.[73]
Most of the light horse units remained in the Middle East until the end of the war, carrying out further operations against the Turks in Egypt and Palestine
Soldiers of 11th Battalion, AIF, posing on the Great Pyramid of Giza on 10 January 1915, before the landing at Gallipoli
This year [ 25th April 2014 ] i'm reflecting on two of our own Australian Soldiers;
Private Ernest Meredith McGregor age 19, died 11th Oct 1915 Suez War Memorial Cemetery
8th Battalion from Williamstown Victoria
A 19 year old boilermaker prior to enlisting on 5 July 1915, he had previously served with the Citizens' Forces, was a holder of their Silver Badge and was Senior Cadet Compact in 1913-14.
On 15 September 1915 he embarked for overseas with the 9th Reinforcements from Melbourne aboard SS Makarini
Arthur Noel Meadmore age 21 died 22nd Dec 1941 Cairo War Memorial Cemetery.
Rank: Sergeant
Regiment: 1st Battalion, Australian Infantry
Place of Enlistment: Beecroft, NSW
Relationships: Son of Clement and Frances Amy Meadmore, of Copeland Rd., Beecroft, NSW
Civil Employment: Analytical Chemist
Other: Died of pneumonia
Arthur Meadmore, one of the first recruits from Beecroft, was the son of the well-known director of local musicals, Clement Meadmore. The Meadmore family lived in ‘St Elmo’, Beecroft.
Egypt and Palestine
After the Gallipoli Campaign, Australian troops returned to Egypt and the AIF underwent a major expansion, which involved the raising of another three infantry divisions—the 3rd, 4th and 5th—and the establishment of the Anzac Mounted Division.[56] In March 1916 the infantry began to move to France while the cavalry units stayed in the area and fought Turkish troops and the Senussi Arab tribes that were threatening British control of Egypt.[65][66] Mounted troops were particularly important in the defence of Egypt and Australian troops of the Anzac Mounted Division saw action in all the major battles of the campaign, first seeing combat in the Battle of Romani.[67] Apart from the horsemen, the mounted troops included the 1st Imperial Camel Corps Brigade. This was organised as a mounted infantry brigade. Of its four battalions, the 1st and 3rd were composed of Australians, the 2nd was British, and the 4th was half Australian and half New Zealand.[68] The cameliers participated in most of the fighting in Egypt and Palestine until the brigade was disbanded in July 1918. The Australian and New Zealand components then traded their camels for horses and became the 5th Light Horse Brigade.[69]
In late November 1915 in response to the growing threat from a pro-Turkish Islamic Arab sect known as the Senussi, a composite British force—the "Western Frontier Force"—under the command of the British Indian Army officer Major General Alexander Wallace, was sent into the Libyan Desert to Mersa Matruh
Final offensive
Final offensive
During the final offensive in September 1918, the two divisions of Australian mounted troops, as well as the 1st Light Car Patrol and No. 1 Squadron AFC, took part in Battle of Megiddo on 28 September 1918, a decisive British victory in which 70,000 Turkish soldiers were taken prisoner. The Desert Mounted Corps attacked across the Golan Heights, cutting off the north and north-west exits to Damascus on 29 September. On 30 September, the head of a column of 20,000 Turkish and German troops was annihilated by the Australian light horsemen as it attempted to withdraw west through the Barada Gorge. Australian troops were the first to enter Damascus, which fell on 1 October. Following an advance of 300 kilometres (190 mi), Aleppo was captured on 25 October. The Turkish government signed an armistice on 28 October 1918 and surrendered outright two days later.[88]
Following the armistice, the Australian Mounted Division went into camp at Tripoli while the Anzac Mounted Division, having borne the brunt of the entire campaign, suffered heavily from malaria and influenza in the Jordan Valley.[89] Australia's role in the Sinai and Palestine campaign was later acknowledged by Field Marshal Edmund Allenby, who had been commander-in-chief of the Allied forces in the Middle East, as having been considerable.[88]
Western Front
In March 1916, the infantry units of the AIF were transferred from Egypt to Europe for service on the Western Front, completing by in June 1916
When the 1st Division arrived, it was reunited with its mechanical transport. In September 1914, the Army had decided to supply mechanical transport for the 1st Division and formed a company in New South Wales and one in Victoria. These were the first ever mechanical transport units in the Australian Army. Nearly 200 vehicles were purchased and the two units departed Melbourne for Egypt on 22 December 1914. Unfortunately, vehicles over 5 long tons (5.1 t) were prohibited in Cairo as most bridges could not hold their weight, whereas they possessed vehicles weighing up to 7 long tons (7.1 t).
The Human Rights Grants Scheme 2013–2014
Direct Aid Program (DAP) 2013-2014
Australia-Africa Community Grants Scheme (AACGS) 2013-2014
6:30pm – our 2nd special guest tonight is, His Excellency, Dr Ralph King, Australia’s Ambassador to Egypt, telling us about ANZAC Day Dawn service 2014 in Cairo Egypt [ 99th year anniversary ] .
Australian Embassy Egypt
11th Floor, World Trade Center,1191 Corniche El-Nil, Boulak, Cairo,
Tel +20 2 2770 6600
http://www.egypt.embassy.gov.au Australians travelling to Egypt / overseas are advised to visit the smartraveller website [ www.smartraveller.gov.au ]
Dr King is a career diplomat with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He was until recently Director, Afghanistan Domestic Section, a position he held since July 2010. Overseas, Dr King served as Australian Ambassador to Kuwait from 2004 until 2007 and Deputy Head of Mission in Hanoi from 2002 until 2004, with earlier postings to Beirut and Damascus. Prior to joining the Department, Dr King was Middle East Analyst at the Office of National Assessments.
Dr King holds a BA (Hons) degree in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Melbourne, International Relations from the University of Oxford and a PhD in International Relations from the Australian National University. He and his wife Jennifer have two children. He speaks Arabic.
ANZAC Day is a significant national day of commemoration for Australians and New Zealanders. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) during the First World War. On 25 April 1915, the ANZACs landed at Gallipoli and began seven months of intense combat that marked the arrival of two young nations on the world stage.
This year’s commemorations are being hosted by the Embassy of Australia in Cairo. The Australian Ambassador to Egypt, HE Dr Ralph King, warmly invites Australian and New Zealand residents, family and friends to the official ANZAC Day commemorative service and wreath laying ceremony.
Date: Friday 25 April 2014
Time: 4.45am for a 5.00am start
Place: Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery
Nabil El-Wakkad Street
Heliopolis
Cairo
Following the service, guests will be invited to the
J.W. Marriott Hotel (Ring Road, Mirage City, Heliopolis) for breakfast.
Hi & Welcome …, can we start with
1] How did the ANZAC day Dawn service 2014 commemoration in Cairo go ?
Australia Day 26th January
ANZAC Day 25th April
Remembrance Day 11th November
I’ve got a challenge for you this ANZAC Day, visit the Shrine of Remembrance, it is one of Melbourne’s architectural icons, have a good look at the design, because the layout & design is based on the Great Pyramids of Egypt in Giza.
The Australian and New Zealand forces in Egypt got together and formed the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) under the command of Lieutenant General William Birdwood
The structure was built as a memorial to commemorate the men and women of the state of Victoria who served in World War I.
19,000 died as a result of the war. Constructions of the Shrine started on 1928 and was completed by 1934 [ 6 years ].
Shrine of Remembrance
Birdwood Ave, Melbourne VIC 3004
(03) 9661 8100 ()
On the point of Design & similarity between Melbourne’s Shrine and the Great Pyramid of Giza;
Soldier, engineer and administrator Sir John Monash was a driving force behind the creation of the Shrine. He is remembered, amongst other things, for his considerable intellectual talents. He was particularly interested in mathematics. Sir John died in October 1931.
It is demonstrated that the overriding influence on the layout of the Shrine is the shape and known features of the Great Pyramid in Egypt, notably the numbers associated with its height, 280 ancient Egyptian royal cubits (280 = 7 x 40), and its base measure, 440 royal cubits (440 = 11 x 40).
The numbers 7 and 11 are prime numbers and can only be divided by themselves or the number one. Their most notable manifestation is in the fraction 22/7 used to represent pi, a transcendental number. Pi, is the mathematical relationship between the diameter of a circle and the circle’s circumference.
David Syme Tomb, An Egyptian temple in an Australian Melbourne cemetery.
Place : [ Boroondara Cemetery, Kew ] , Walter Butler, 1908.
David Syme, proprietor of the Age and its editor since 1860, when he died in February 1908, his Will contained the following clause:
I direct the executors and trustees of this my will to expend out of my estate a sum or sums not exceeding in the aggregate the sum of £700 in the construction of a
family vault in or over my grave in the form of a Doric temple……
Winged Orb used universally in this way over all doorways in Egyptian monumental architecture, to secure the complete repose of the dead.
Butler’s description of the tomb focussed on three elements that together made it a fitting monument to Syme. These were its connections with the god Osiris,
with the island of Philae and with Egyptian mortuary symbolism. He wrote: The structure known as “Pharaohs Bed” as is well known, was not a tomb any more
than it was a “bed”. It was a part, the most beautiful part, of a temple – the temple of Isis. Here for many centuries the worship of “Isis” and “Osiris” was carried on with
all the pomp and mystery that belongs to the religion of Old Egypt, and the most important part of the tradition connected with it was the care of the souls of the dead
that was always supposed to be the special charge of “Osiris” who was referred to “as he who sleeps in Philae”.
E Wallis Budge in his 1904 book The Gods of the Egyptians:
Osiris, being now become king of Egypt, applied himself towards civilizing his countrymen, by turning them from their former indigent and barbarous course of
life; he moreover taught them how to cultivate and improve the fruits of the earth; he gave them a body of laws to regulate their conduct by, and instructed them in
that reverence and worship, which they were to pay to the gods; with the same good disposition he afterwards travelled over the rest of the world,
The analogies of the story of Isis and Osiris with Christian belief were clear to his contemporaries. Isis had for a long time been considered
as a type for Mary, and the death and resurrection of Osiris had obvious Christian overtones. The myth of Osiris was a way to link Egyptian notions of the afterlife
In Lower Egypt followers of Abydos. In the Ptolemaic period, the cult centre of Isis was on the island of Philae, “the most famous beauty spot in Egypt”. As Egyptologist and novelist Amelia Edwards wrote in 1877: “It is one of the world’s famous landscapes, and it deserves its fame. Every sketcher sketches it, every traveller describes it”.
Philae was in Upper Egypt, just south of the first cataract and Aswan ……the dams covered them completely.
Jerry Guirguis
Presenter
96.5FM – Egyptian radio show
+61 400 718 817
studio : +61 3 9457 1718
CD copy of this interview can be requested by email to: [ Jerry.Guirguis@gmail.com ]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 29th April 2013 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
6:30pm – our special guest tonight is, His Excellency, Dr Ralph King, Australia’s Ambassador to Egypt, talking about how Australian and New Zealand visitors to Egypt and residents commemorated ANZAC Day 2013 in Cairo.
Australian Embassy Egypt
11th Floor, World Trade Center,1191 Corniche El-Nil, Boulak, Cairo,
Tel +20 2 2770 6600
www.egypt.embassy.gov.au/caro Australians travelling to Egypt / overseas are advised to visit the smartraveller website [ www.smartraveller.gov.au ]
Dr King is a career diplomat with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He was until recently Director, Afghanistan Domestic Section, a position he held since July 2010. Overseas, Dr King served as Australian Ambassador to Kuwait from 2004 until 2007 and Deputy Head of Mission in Hanoi from 2002 until 2004, with earlier postings to Beirut and Damascus. Prior to joining the Department, Dr King was Middle East Analyst at the Office of National Assessments.
Dr King holds a BA (Hons) degree in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Melbourne, an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford and a PhD in International Relations from the Australian National University. He and his wife Jennifer have two children. He speaks Arabic.
The Human Rights Grants Scheme 2012–2013
Direct Aid Program (DAP) 2012-2013
Australia-Africa Community Grants Scheme (AACGS) 2012-2013
Hi & Welcome …, can we start with questions about our Australian Ambassador in Egypt ? ……..
1] How long have you been Australia's Ambassador to Egypt ?
2] You speak Arabic, your last post as Australia's Ambassador to Kuwait [ 2004 - 2007 ],
your lifelong passion and certainly diplomat career has been in the Middle-East,
Why ? ………… ………………. What changes would you like to see in Egypt during your post?
4] How did the ANZAC day 2013 commemoration in Cairo go ?
How many WW1 Australian soldiers buried in Egypt ?
This year, 2013 ANZAC commemorations were hosted by the Embassy of New Zealand in Cairo. The New Zealand Ambassador to Egypt, HE Mr David Strachan, warmly invited New Zealand and Australian residents, family and friends to the official ANZAC Day commemorative service and wreath laying ceremony.
Date: Thursday 25 April 2013 Time: 4.45am for a 5.00am start
Place: Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery, Nabil El-Wakkad Street, Heliopolis, Cairo www.cwgc.org [ Commonwealth War Graves Commission ]
Following the service, guests were invited for breakfast at the Sonesta Hotel, 3 Tayaran Street, Nasr City
New Zealand Embassy Cairo
+20 2 2461 6000
1517 - The Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517
1801 - Muhammad Ali Pasha
Muhammad Ali seized power, overthrowing the Mamelukes, and declaring himself ruler of Egypt. Following the defeat of Napoleon I's forces in 1801
Muhammad Ali implemented a rapid modernization and militarization program, and expanded Egypt's borders south into Sudan and north into Sham. Eventually he waged war on the Ottoman Empire with the intention of overthrowing the ruling Osman Dynasty and replacing it with his own. Intervention of the Great Powers prevented Muhammad Ali , obliging Egypt to remain technically part of the Ottoman Empire.
1863 – Ismail 1, Muhammad Ali's grandson, acceded to the Egyptian throne in 1863
1869 – Opening of Suez Canal
Ismail expanded Egypt's borders in Africa, and the Ottoman Empire continued to decay, Ismail believed he was close to realizing formal Egyptian independence, and even contemplated using the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 to declare himself Sultan of Egypt.
1879 – Tewfik , Ismail’s son was in charge of Egypt,
pressured by the European and Ottoman, forced Ismail removal in 1879 and replacement by his son Tewfik.
1882 – Tewfik invites Great Briton to invade Egypt,
Under occupation, corrupt, misgoverned and in a state of financial ruin. Huge debts rung up by his father Isma'il Pasha, Egypt could no longer repay and under pressure from the European banks that held the debt, the country's finances were being controlled by representatives of France and Britain , Great Britain invaded Egypt in 1882 on the invitation of Tewfik.
From 1882 onwards, Egypt's status became deeply convoluted: officially a province of the Ottoman Empire, semi-officially a virtually independent state with its own monarchy, armed forces, and territorial possessions in Sudan, and for practical purposes a British puppet.
1914 - The Ottoman Empire joins Central Powers in World War 1
[ the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, on 28 June 1914 by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo triggered a diplomatic crisis when Austria-Hungary subsequently delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia.[10][11] Several alliances formed over the previous decades were invoked. Within weeks, the major powers were at war and, via their colonies, the conflict soon spread around the world.
The Central Powers were composed of the following nations:[1]
· Austro-Hungarian Empire: entered the war on 28 July 1914
· German Empire (including German colonial forces): 1 August 1914
· Ottoman Empire: secretly 2 August 1914; openly 29 October 1914
· Kingdom of Bulgaria: 14 October 1915
The legal fiction of Ottoman sovereignty in Egypt was finally ended in 1914 when the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in First World War.
Alarmed that the anti-British Khedive Abbas II would side with the Ottomans, the British deposed him in favor of his uncle Hussein Kamel and declared Egypt a British protectorate.
1914 – Hussein Kamel is in charge of Egypt under the British.
Nov 1914 – The Australian Imperial Force [ AIF ] arrive in Egypt................[ ANZAC was formed in Egypt
1917 – Sultan Fuad 1, Hussein Kamel’s brother is in charge of Egypt
Symbolizing the official end of Ottoman rule, Hussein Kamel took the title Sultan as did his brother 1917 Fuad I who succeeded Hussein Kamelhim in 1917, though in reality Egypt remained under British domination.
Both Hussein Kamel and Fuad maintained Egypt's claim to Sudan, with Egyptian nationalists declaring both in turn to be the "Sultan of Egypt and Sudan".
1922 – Egyptian gains it’s Independence.
Rising nationalist anger at the continued British occupation forced Britain to formally recognize Egyptian independence, in 1922.
1952 – Egyptian Revolution,
Upon overthrowing Fuad's son, King Farouk I, in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, the Free Officers briefly considered declaring his infant son Sultan to reinforce Egypt's sovereignty over Sudan and demonstrate their rejection of British occupation. However, since the revolutionaries had already decided to abolish the Egyptian monarchy after a brief period of consolidating their hold on power, they determined that it would be an idle gesture and Farouk's son was duly declared King Fuad II.
18 June 1953, the revolutionary government officially abolished the monarchy and Egypt became a Republic.
Jerry Guirguis
Presenter
96.5FM – Egyptian radio show
+61 [ 0 ] 400 718 817
CD copy of this interview can be requested by email to: [ Jerry.Guirguis@gmail.com ]
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