The ANZAC Experience in Malta

their personal battles are buried. The ANZAC Tours may be followed in one of two ways: circu- larly, ending where they begin, or in a linear fash- experience in Malta ion. The walking man (_) and car (%) pictograms denote travel directions on foot or by The ANZAC experience in Malta is a set of four car, whilst the reading man (R) indicates infor- self-guided tours to the principal sites associated mation about the locale and provides historical with the personnel of the Australian and New insights. A map is recommended for car tours, Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) during, mainly, the otherwise one is not necessary. First World War. The tours also highlight points of interest on the These tours will show you where wounded An- islands – places where recovering servicemen zacs where hospitalised, convalesced, were enter- and off duty personnel may have visited, and so tained, and the locations where those who lost can you. Tour 4 - Departure building was Modern Maltese the Istituto grammar dictates Santa Venera, Balzan, Ta’ Tecnico Vin- that two consecu- Qali, Mtarfa, Ghajn Tuffieha, cenzo Bugeia, tive vowels be sep- Mellieha Bay and Marfa Point built in 1912 to arated by the train orphaned letter j. In 1903 Mode: Linear, by car children in in- what became Ham- Start: Bugeja Institute at 469 dustrial crafts. run Hospital was Triq Il-Kbira San Guzepp, Santa “Though the Istituto Vin- Venera splendidly built cenzo Bugeia, Distance: 31.2kms and tiled today it is the Duration: approx 3hrs, exclud- throughout, Bugeja Institute. ing palace garden and museum much engineer As always, there visits work was nec- are exceptions to essary, as the rule. The starting point is the Bugeja there were few Moreover, before Institute on Triq Il-Kbira San sanitary con- English became an Guzepp (35°53’22”N, veniences official language 14°28’34”E). Parking in this owing to its in Malta, Italian area may prove somewhat normal use”, was the country’s tricky; then again it is not really Mirabelli Terence writes Dr second language. necessary to stop here as you Hamrun was a first class hospital on a “hot George Bruce can only see the façade of the and dusty car track” two miles from Floriana in his history of military hospitals in Malta1. “Baths, sinks, ward annexes, a hot water sys- former Hamrun Hospital. tem, a kitchen with lift to din- 1 Bugeja Institute R 2.76kms With the need for hospital ing-room, and electric lighting 2 San Anton Palace beds ever increasing by mid- had hastily to be provided. 5.45kms spring of 1915, the authorities Eventually, when all the work 3 Malta Aviation Museum looked at suitable buildings that was complete, a first class hos- 760m could be requisitioned and con- pital, though small, was pro- 4 Imtarfa Military Cemetery verted into hospitals. One such duced”. 2.12kms 5 Kullegg San Nikola 10.8kms 6 Ghajn Tuffieha 1.81kms 7 Church of St Joseph, Manikata 5.02kms 8 Mellieha Bay 2.47kms See page 2 for map of northern area 9 Marfa Point Background map - Apple Inc map - Apple Background The ANZAC experience in Malta - Departure • 1 Renamed Hamrun Hospital, it June – “every bed being filled in other 11 beds were added. was equipped with 106 beds and less than an hour”, reports Dr The Rev Albert MacKinnon2 received its first patients on 10 Bruce. A short while later an- was also passionate about Ham- run Hospital. He writes that it was “two miles farther out” from Floriana, on a “hot dusty car track” yet “well worth the annoyance of getting there. It must be a delight to a doctor’s heart. “It recalls to mind the story of a bride”, writes the Rev MacK- innon. “She was being congratu- lated by her friends, and they all used the same adjective about her husband calling him a model man. In her curiosity to learn the exact meaning of the word she consulted a dictionary and discovered that model was a ‘small imitation of the real ar- ticle’. “Hamrun is small, but a model. Of course, it is quite new, and, therefore, might be expected to have all the latest improve- ments. It exhales an atmosphere of up-to-dateness. Here all eye cases are being sent”. Clearly, not all eye cases were brought here. One patient was Captain Clement Atlee of the 6th South Lancashire Regiment, during 1 Bugeja Institute the Second World War he was 2.76kms Winston Churchill’s deputy and 2 San Anton Palace from 1945 to 1951 was prime 5.45kms minister of the United Kingdom. 3 Malta Aviation Museum 760m In August 1915 he had collapsed 4 Imtarfa Military Cemetery from dysentery on the beach at 2.12kms Suvla Bay, where he had landed 5 Kullegg San Nikola with his unit. He was evacuated 10.8kms unconscious to the hospital ship 6 Ghajn Tuffieha Devanah, which was bound for 1.81kms England. However, he recovered 7 Church of St Joseph, at sea and “protesting at being Manikata taken away, insisted on being 5.02kms landed at Malta”. Atlee was 8 Mellieha Bay brought to Hamrun Hospital 2.47kms 9 Marfa Point and discharged in November, he then returned to Suvla “and was the last but one to leave at the final evacuation on 20 De- cember”3. At first Hamrun Hospital came See page 1 for map of southern area Background map - Apple Inc map - Apple Background The ANZAC experience in Malta - Departure • 2 under the aegis of the British Red Cross Society, which paid for its maintenance “and provided drugs and dressings”. The Number 1 Mediterranean Nurs- ing Unit, a voluntary body of ladies, provided nurses whilst an officer of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was in charge. “The hospital was a success from the very beginning and, later in November 1915, was entirely converted into an officers’ hospital with 80 beds, for which it was eminently suitable”, Dr Bruce reports. In the same month Hamrun came entirely under the military authorities. It was closed on 5 July 1917. Mirabelli Terence Today the Istituto Tecnico Vin- As a rest home for nurses, San Anton Palace must have been popular with all ranks of cenzo Bugeia houses several servicemen; and moonlight trysts a regular occurrence government departments that deal with social welfare. Meanwhile, the arches you see dens, the only way to reach the servicemen needed a rest home, opposite the former Hamrun palace. and San Anton Palace was con- Hospital are the Wignacourt R In early 1916, the palace that verted into one. In January Aqueduct. Built between 1610 had once been the seat of 1916 it became a rest home for and 1614 it carried drinking Malta’s National Assembly, be- 60 nurses from the military water from springs in Rabat came a rest home. hospitals and from the Royal and Dingli to Valletta. More The French knight Antoine de Naval Hospital Bighi. “It pro- than 15 kilometres long, the Paule built San Anton as a hunt- vided the over worked nurses aqueduct ran mostly under- ing lodge, albeit a rather large with a well deserved and much ground. Inaugurated on 21 one, before becoming Grand needed respite”. April 1615, it remained in use Master of the Order of St John “The restful atmosphere of San until the early 20th Century. It in 1623. He named it Sainte An- Anton was appreciated by the is named after Alof de Wigna- toine in honour of his patron nursing staff, many of whom court, the Grand Master of the saint, Anthony of Padua. were thoroughly run down, Order of St John who financed The lodge was large and could after the exhausting work of the its building. accommodate guests plus a size- past seven or eight months”, re- % The next stop is San Anton able domestic retinue that in- ports Dr Bruce. Palace, official residence of cluded cooks, food tasters, San Anton must have been a Malta’s presidents pantry boys, torch bearers, wig magnet for recovering young (35°53’39”N, 14°26’59”E), just makers, a clock winder, physi- Anzacs, and it is not implausible under three kilometres from cians, as well as a baker to to believe some romancing and the Bugeja Institute. make black bread for de Paule’s kissing and…may have taken Take the second exit at the hunting dogs. place in the more private parts roundabout, at the end of Triq Successive grand masters used of the garden. Il-Kbira San Guzepp, and drive San Anton as a country resi- No doubt these same service- up Triq Notabile. The aqueduct dence, embellishing and enlarg- men must have been disap- is now on your right; along the ing it over time. In the 19th pointed when the home was way you’ll pass the brewery. At Century it became the residence closed on 19 March 1916. the second set of traffic lights, of British governors and in _ Enjoy the garden, and then turn right for Rabat – sign- 1974 the official residence of walk past the palace’s front posted as ‘ir-Rabat’. Malta’s president. door and down the arched corri- And at the next set of traffic The gardens of San Anton, dor to Triq Sant Antnin. Across lights (the Citroen dealer is on open to the public since 1882, the road is the President’s your left), take the slip road on are laid out in a formal manner Kitchen Garden that forms part the right and turn right into and boast a wide variety of ex- of the palace grounds.

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