Um discurso do Dr Carlos Lemos, o grande Cônsul de Portugal em Melbourne, a quem se deve uma iniciativa inédita no mundo das Comunidades Portuguesas. Em poucas palavras, descrição do percurso com que se fez muita História
Talk at the Portuguese Festival
Warrnambool, 23February 2020
We celebrate today 30 years of the Portuguese Festival and it gives me great pleasure to stand again on this spot after so many years.
I think that it is time to recall the reason why Warrnambool means so much to the Portuguese living in Australia and Portugal.
It all goes back to the shipwreck sighted on the coastal sand dunes somewhere between here in Warrnambool and Port Fairy in the 19th Century. Many believe that this shipwreck was the wreck of a Portuguese caravel.
But the person who gave most credibility to this legend was Kenneth McIntryre, in his book The secret discovery of Australia: Portuguese ventures 250 years before Captain Cook, published in1977.
I first came to Warrnambool in 1978, with Kenneth McIntyre, when he showed me the area where the wreck of the ship was found. And it was at that time that the idea of building a monument to celebrate this discovery came to my mind.
The book published by McIntyre generated a great deal of interest. The book was prescribed reading in some schools and the possibility of Portugal having discovered Australia gained some momentum.
The big issue then was to find the remnants of the wreck to prove the theory.
The first major attempt to find proof of the wreck took place in 1981 and was led by Dick Smith, who sponsored the search, with the assistance of Ian McKiggan and Army technicians. Coinciding with the search I organised an excursion to Warrnambool, with more than 300 people from Melbourne and Geelong participating.
We were received by the Mayor John Lindsay and members of the Warrnambool City Council. McIntyre made a speech from a boat anchored at the Flagstaff museum, to the large audience on the quay, which I translated as he spoke. Dick Smith also arrived in his helicopter and filmed the scene with the large gathering on the quay listening to McIntyre speaking, which he added to the documentary he produced, shown later on national TV. But no trace of the missing shipwreck was found.
But the issue was not forgotten. John Lindsay and the Mahogony Ship Committee led by the Chairman Pat Connelly organised various seminars and the discussions carried on.
On our side, my idea of a monument gained momentum and I convinced the Portuguese Government to send a replica of the Padrão, which was erected and inaugurated here in Warrnambool in 1990. Those who are present today will remember that the 25 of February 1990 was perhaps the most significant day marking the presence of the Portuguese in Australia, and particularly in Victoria.
The Padrão was inaugurated by the Governor of Victoria, Davis McCaughey with the Ambassador of Portugal, José Luis Gomes, attending the event, and it was estimated that more than 500 Portuguese came to Warrnambool for the occasion. The event had great media coverage and I was interviewed by radio and television. The local newspaper, the Standard, also gave good coverage of the event.
Another boost to the possibility of finding the wreck of the caravel came about in 1992 when the State government of Victoria offered a reward of 250,000 dollars for the discovery of the wreck. It was Steve Crabb, then Minister for Tourism, who announced the reward, and this gesture gave Warrnambool and Portugal extensive exposure in the media, not only in Australia but also overseas, including the New York Times who reported the event. The reward attracted many search teams, using modern technology, but, sadly, the elusive caravel was not found.
McIntyre’s theory, however, the most plausible of all others, was and is in the minds of many, and in 1997, two years before Macau was incorporated into China, the Governor of Macau, General Rocha Viera, visited Melbourne and I had the opportunity to brief him about the legend of the Mahogany Ship, the Padrão and the Portuguese presence in Warrnambool. I suggested to him that it would be a great contribution if Macau, under his leadership, could provide the busts of Vasco da Gama and Prince Henry the Navigator to erect next to the Padrão. He accepted the request and commissioned a well-know sculptor in Portugal to execute the request. The busts arrived, the Warrnambool City Council agreed to erect them, and here they are today, to enhance this little Portuguese enclave in Warrnambool.
Although the search for the Mahogany Ship has slowed down, the link between Warrnambool and Portugal endures. In 2011 I negotiated an Accord of Cooperation between the cities of Warrnambool and Lagos in Algarve. The reason is that the cities have a lot in common in terms of location, population and history. Many caravels departed from the port of Lagos in the 15th and 16th centuries and it would be likely that the caravel found in Warrnambool would have left Portugal originally from Lagos. The former CEO of the City of Warrnambool visited Lagos and was received by the Mayor and is familiar with the city. One thing that was suggested was an exchange of students, with students from Lagos travelling to Australia to attend schools in Warrnambool, and students from Warrnambool travelling to Portugal to attend schools in Lagos. This is an idea that could still be pursued.
In conclusion I must say that nothing could have been achieved without the support of the city and its personalities, and particularly Comendador John Lindsay and Comendador Vern Robson, who were the Mayor and the Chief Executive Officer of Warrnambool at the time. They were instrumental in getting the support of Council for the establishment of the Padrão and the idea of the annual Portuguese festival in Warrnambool, and were also supportive of McIntyre’s theory that the Mahogany ship was of Portuguese origin and marked the early discovery of Australia by the Portuguese. We also had the support of succeeding Mayors and the recently retired Chief Executive Officer Bruce Anson. To those mentioned and many others I am grateful for their support. We also appreciate the continuing coverage by the Warrnambool Standard newspaper of the Portuguese connection and the Portuguese Festival in Warrnambool.
This is, most likely, my last presence in Warrnambool. But I hope that the Council will keep supporting the Portuguese connection, and I also hope that one day evidence of the wrecked caravel will be found, and that the new generation of Portuguese in Victoria will continue the connection with Warrnambool and the historical link between Warrnambool and Portugal.
My thanks to all of you.
Carlos de Lemos OAM.
Comendador
Note: I would like to let you know that my memoir, published in Portugal in 2016, is now being translated into English, and I hope that it will be published in Australia soon. In my book I wrote extensively about the Portuguese connection with Warrnamboo
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