CEMETERY SITE CHOSEN FOR WWI SOLDIERS’ REBURIAL

Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, the Hon Warren Snowdon MP, and his British counterpart, Minister for Veterans and Under-Secretary for Defence, the Hon Derek Twigg, today announced that up to 400 First World War soldiers buried in mass graves at Pheasant Wood, Fromelles, would be recovered and re-interred in a new cemetery.

Mr Snowdon said that in consultation with the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, the Hon Alan Griffin MP, the recommendation made by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission that the current burial site at Pheasant Wood is unsuitable for a cemetery due to water-logging was accepted.

The decision is the culmination of discussions since June this year when a preliminary excavation at Pheasant Wood confirmed the presence of WWI Australian and British soldiers.

Mr Snowdon met this week with the Mayor of Fromelles, Mr Hubert Huchette and with the French Secretary of State for Defence and Veterans Affairs, Jean-Marie Bockel in Paris.

“The preferred site chosen and agreed to for the new cemetery is diagonally opposite the village church at Fromelles, overlooking the battlefield to the west and within line of sight of the original burial ground at Pheasant Wood,” said Mr Snowdon.

“The new cemetery will be a place of remembrance, of commemoration and of pilgrimage for all Australians and was chosen with the approval of the French Government and the local community at Fromelles.”

Responsibility for the planning, design and construction lies with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

The tender for the exhumation of the remains at Pheasant Wood will also be the responsibility of the Commission acting on behalf of the Australian and British Governments.

“We anticipate that the work on the new cemetery will commence by mid-year 2009,” said Mr Twigg.

“It is also planned that the original burial ground, generously donated by Madame Demassiet earlier this year, will bear a memorial in perpetuity.”

An image of the burial ground is available on the Defence website here:

www.defence.gov.au/fromelles/images/gallery/20081004/20081002adf00000_001.jpg

The Australian Army will continue to keep the public updated through its dedicated website www.defence.gov.au/fromelles and will alert users to the release of tender documents via this channel.

Media contacts:

Kate Sieper (Warren Snowdon):           02 6277 7620 or 0488 484 689

Defence Media Liaison:                         02 6265 3343 or 0408 498 664