The Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia, Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC, re-dedicated the Australian Corps Memorial at Le Hamel Memorial in northern France, on Saturday 8th November, 2008. The new memorial replaces the original Australian Corps Memorial dedicated on 4th July 1998.
Photo: The Re-dedication of the Australian Corps Memorial, Le Hamel. [www.gg.gov.au]
During the ceremony, Her Excellency addressed those present:
I am privileged, as a symbol and voice for my countrymen and women, to come to this place, this sacred shrine, to thank and to honour, to rejoice and to dream – with, for, and in their stead – those fine Australian men who fought the Battle of Le Hamel.
This place
where conflict raged,
tears and blood were shed;
lives, lost and saved;
courage reigned, no matter triumph or defeat;
nationhood, affirmed;
brothers and sisters, sure and proud.
This place
where history is recorded;
stories, told;
lessons, written;
precious memories, preserved and fading;
the past observed, in present wisdom and future light………..
To read the Governor General’s speech click here.
For more photos of the Re-dedication from the Governor General web-site click here.
To read The Sydney Morning Herald’s report on the Governor General’s visit to the Western Front, click here. You can also follow the links to Foreign field, forever Australia and Finally, one soldier’s family finds a sense of peace.
To read The Melbourne Age’s report, click here.
The Governor General also visited Fromelles while on the Western Front. To read the ABC ‘s report on the visit to the Fromelles village church, The Cobber’s Statue, V.C. Corner and Pheasant Wood click here. While on the ABC page you can view the news footage of the visit by clicking on ‘Video’.
The Australian’s report of the Governor General’s visit – Sarkozy thanks Quentin Bryce for Diggers’ sacrifice in France – includes a photo gallery of the visit. To read the report click here. To view the photo gallery click here.
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The Families and Friends of the First AIF thanks the Australian, UK and French governments for affording Australian and British soldiers – presently buried in mass graves at Pheasant Wood – dignified individual reburials in a new CWGC cemetery at Fromelles, and urge those responsible to ensure all necessary scientific and other means are employed to properly identify each soldier.