Parliament House Canberra ACT 2602
Telephone 02 6277 7820 Facsimile 02 6273 4140
The Hon Alan Griffin MP
Minister for Veterans’ Affairs
VA106
Sunday 9 November 2008
NEW FROMELLES CEMETERY FOR WWI SOLDIERS
In France, the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Alan Griffin, today joined the Governor-General, Ms Quentin
Bryce AC, to lay a wreath at Fromelles, where the remains of up to 400 Australian and British soldiers
were found earlier this year in a group burial near Pheasant Wood.
Mr Griffin also inspected the site of the proposed new cemetery - which 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.
The cemetery, to be built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, will be the first official war
cemetery built for more than fifty years.
"The new cemetery will be a dignified final resting place for the soldiers who fought and died in the
Battle of Fromelles on 19 July 1916 and have been lost to us for more the 90 years. This cemetery,
overlooking the battlefield where they fell, will honour their memory and be a place of pilgrimage," Mr
Griffin said.
"The Battle of Fromelles was a dark day in our wartime history. Australia suffered 5,500 casualties, with
more than 1,900 killed. Another 470 were taken prisoner.
"After the battle, Australian and German officers tried, but failed to negotiate an armistice to collect the
dead and wounded from no-mans land. Subsequently, several Australians slipped out at night to rescue
the wounded, and their efforts are reflected in the 'Cobbers' statue in the Australian Memorial Park at
Fromelles. German forces collected the dead from in and behind their front lines and buried them in
battlefield graves. Pheasant Wood was one of these grave sites.
"The Australians at Pheasant Wood are among more than 18,000 of their countrymen killed on the
Western Front who have no known grave. They made the ultimate sacrifice, and will have a peaceful
resting place, and we will have a place to pay our respects to them," Mr Griffin said.
The original burial ground, which is too water-logged to be a cemetery, and to which access is relatively
difficult, will be commemorated with a community memorial.
Construction of the new cemetery is scheduled to begin next year. The remains are expected to be
exhumed in the European summer of 2009 and reinterred in the summer of 2010.
The Australian Government will be holding a Remembrance Day service at Villers-Bretonneux at
10:15am on Tuesday 11 November 2008. Australians travelling in France are invited to attend.
Media inquiries: Laura Ryan 0437 863 109
The VVCS – Veterans and Veterans Families Counselling Service can be contacted 24 hours a day, seven days a
week on 1800 011 046.
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