Families and Friends of the First AIF

PM REAFFIRMS AUST GOVT FROMELLES COMMITMENT and 7 July Project Update

The archaeological dig at Pheasant Wood Fromelles continues to work towards the exhumation and identification of the missing from the Battle of Fromelles as the 93^rd anniversary of the battle approaches on the 19 July 2009.  The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has added a project update as at 7 July to its remembering Fromelles website.  This indicates that almost 100 soldiers remains have been recovered and almost all have personal items that have helped identify whether they fought with the British or Australian Forces.  The website also includes photographs of some of the artefacts and may be accessed by clicking here.

Photo: Lambis Englezos and David Richardson (CWGC) visit the Pheasant Wood site accompanied by Louise Loe from Oxford Archaeology. [Tim Loveless Oxford Archaeology]

Recent reports in the media questioned the reliability and success of the dig. This included articles in the following newspapers:

The Melbourne Age: Reburial project in crisis. Click here.

The Brisbane Times: Cheap choice derails graves project. Click here. Reburial of WW1 Anzacs in crisis. Click here.

The Prime Minister of Australia, Mr Kevin Rudd responded by committing his Government to making “doubly certain” that the exhumation of Australian soldiers in France is being handled properly and has pledged his support to the project saying that Government officials had told him that precautions are being taken to ensure the diggers’ remains are being treated with respect. Mr Rudd stated that: We’ll now make doubly certain of that in the case of this particular sensitive matter. Every Australian who has lost their life in service of our country must be treated, should be treated, with absolute respect.

Mr Rudd’s commitment was reported on the ABC News website: Fromelles remains safe in our hands: Rudd by ABC’s Online parliamentary correspondent Emma Rodgers. Click here.

Watch news clips of The Prime Minister ‘s interview:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWlo3LPy-24]

Subsequently the Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science and Minister for Veterans’ Affairs jointly released the following statement:

FROMELLES PROJECT – ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION

Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science, and Alan Griffin, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, today corrected the public record in response to media reporting regarding the Fromelles Project archaeological excavation.
“The Government wants to ensure that the recovery of these remains is conducted in a professional and sensitive manner and that the appropriate respect and reverence is paid to these men in all steps of the exhumation and reinterment process,” said Mr Combet.
“The choice to engage Oxford Archaeology to undertake the excavation was an international decision, reached using an open and transparent tender process that was aligned with Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines.”
“Oxford Archaeology’s services represented the best value for money to the Australian and United Kingdom Governments. The Government is advised that the recovery operation is being conducted with the utmost professionalism and reverence for the soldiers buried at Pheasant Wood.”
As one of the largest independent archaeology and heritage practices in Europe, Oxford Archaeology has nearly 400 specialist staff. It also has up to 30 highly experienced specialists including anthropologists and archaeologists on site at all times, and has the capacity to surge additional specialists from within its extensive team to assist the recovery operation at Pheasant Wood as is necessary.
“Oxford Archaeology is also very experienced with post war and post warlike archaeology, having conducting recovery operations from a WWII site in France, as well as from other sites in Iraq, Kosovo, Bosnia and Guatemala,” Mr Combet said.
“A minor delay with the project was caused by very heavy rain in late May this year. However, the project remains on the agreed schedule.”
The Fromelles Management Board has advised the Government that no remains or artefacts were compromised by the weather event and that Oxford Archaeology has strategies and options to mitigate against ground water and toxic waste.
“All possible care is being taken to ensure that the maximum number of individual remains are able to return a positive DNA reading and allow matching with living relatives,” said Mr Combet.
“Also contrary to media reports, Oxford Archaeology has recovered over 60 individual remains from Pheasant Wood. These remains are currently in the on-site temporary mortuary, and only three have not had artefacts found on them that directly associated them with the Army they fought for, either the Australian or British.”
Further, contrary to the media reporting there was no ‘crisis meeting’ held at the site. The meeting referred to in the reports was held on 29 June and is a regular monthly meeting of the Fromelles Management Board to discuss project matters and provide guidance to the project managers, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Minister Griffin said that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission are also overseeing construction of the cemetery which will be the final resting place for those soldiers recovered from Pheasant Wood.
“Construction of the Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery commenced in May, and I am advised that it is on schedule to receive the soldiers’ remains in early 2010.”
“I have recently seen aerial photographs which show the cemetery is taking shape. The classic, simple hexagonal design and grave rows radiating out from the centre are now clearly visible.”
“It is important these soldiers are given a proper burial place and that relatives, and visiting Australians, have somewhere to pay their respects and honour the sacrifice of these men.”
The Fromelles Project is of great importance and remains a priority to Defence and the Australian Government.
The Australian Government will continue to closely monitor the progress of this project and will keep the Australian community advised of developments.
The official Fromelles Project website can be found at the official Defence website, www.army.gov.au/fromelles, and contains regular updates.

The Ministers’ statement is available by clicking here.

The Australian Army FROMELLES Project website posts regular updates, including photographs of finds and details of progress. Click here to view 30 June 2009 update which includes photos of the newly installed site drainage system and well preserved timber cigarette case.

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The Australian Governments response has also been reported in the media:

watoday.com.au: Govt defends Fromelles work. Click here.

livenews.com.au: Rudd denies archaeologists cut corners in Fromelles exhumation. Click here.

ABC: Fromelles stays safe in our hands. 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 buried in mass graves at Pheasant Wood by German soldiers following the Battle of Fromelles on 19/20 July 1916 dignified individual reburials in a new CWGC cemetery at Fromelles, and applauds the joint decision to DNA test the remains at exhumation and use every reasonable method to attempt identification of each soldier.

Australian Archaeologists at Pheasant Wood

The British group Oxford Archaeology (OA) is responsible for the exhumation of the bodies of British and Australian soldiers who died during the Battle of Fromelles on 19 July 1916 and were buried by the German army at Pheasant Wood Fromelles, in northern France.

Photo: Members of the Oxford Archaeology team at work at Pheasant Wood [Carole Laignel]

Oxford Archaeology has gathered together a team of world experts to carry out this historical process. Click here to visit the Oxford Archaeology website.
Amongst the expert team working on the exhumation and identification of the battle casualties are two Australians: Professor Richard Wright from the University of Sydney and osteoarchaeologist Ambika Flavel.

Photo: Richard Wright [Richard Wright]

Richard Wright is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, University of Sydney, Australia. He is the Senior Forensic Adviser to Oxford Archaeology.
Since 1990 he has specialised in applying archaeological methods to the discovery and excavation of mass graves. From 1990 to 1991 he directed the excavation of three mass graves in the former Soviet Union (Ukraine). These graves date from 1942 and contained some 800 bodies. This work was done for the Australian Government’s Special Investigations Unit. This unit had pressed charges against former Soviet citizens who had emigrated to Australia. Richard Wright gave expert testimony in Australian courts on these cases.
Between 1997 to 2000 Richard Wright was Chief Archaeologist for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). In that role he was on-site director of international teams of archaeologists and human biologists whose job was to locate clandestine mass graves, examine the evidence contained in them, and deliver the bodies and evidence to mortuaries.
Since 1990 his work has led to the discovery of more than 90 graves containing some 2,500 bodies. These graves have been in a variety of soil conditions, ranging from dry town waste dumps to waterlogged clays. All the work was done to evidentiary standards and delivered within the specified time frames.
He has given expert testimony at two trials in The Hague.

Photo: Ambika Flavel [Tim Loveless]

Ambika Flavel, BSc (Hons), MSc is an osteoarchaeologist who has worked as an archaeologist, anthropologist and forensic consultant, primarily in locating and excavating clandestine graves, and in the analysis of human remains in both domestic and international contexts. She began her career in Western Australia excavating a grave from the Batavia shipwreck in the Abrolhos islands.
 International work began in Bosnia-Herzegovina excavating mass graves pertaining to the Srebrenica massacre for the ICTY under the direction of Professor Richard Wright. She then went on to join the Forensic team in Guatemala where she spent the next few years exhuming and analysing human remains and associated evidence from the era of the Dictator Rios Montt. Family liaison and repatriation of remains were integral aspects of this humanitarian work.
Ambika has undertaken multiple missions to Iraq, analysing and repatriating human remains for the Anfal trial, and she spent a season exhuming and analysing remains from clandestine graves from the Franco era in Spain.

Photo: Archaeologists at work in Pit 5 Pheasant Wood [Carole Laignel]

Ambika co-authored and co-edited The Scientific Investigation of Mass Graves, published in 2008.  Richard Wright was a contributor as were other members of the Oxford Archaeology team Dr Peter Jones, Dr Louise Loe, Head of Heritage Burial Services, and Tim Loveless.

Ambika’s role at Pheasant Wood is as one of two grave supervisors, responsible for the excavation and exhumation of the human remains and associated artefacts, collection of DNA samples, and maintaining chain of custody.

Photo: Oxford Archaeology team at work [CWGC]

 Ambika is proud of being one of the only two Australians working at Pheasant Wood with the OA team:
Being able to use my expertise and skills to recover the remains of my countrymen is an honour and a privilege. The OA team is committed to undertaking the work with which we are tasked in a professional and respectful manner.    

 Photo: Ambika Flavel and Lambis Englezos AM [Tim Loveless]

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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 buried in mass graves at Pheasant Wood by German soldiers following the Battle of Fromelles on 19/20 July 1916 dignified individual reburials in a new CWGC cemetery at Fromelles, and applauds the joint decision to DNA test the remains at exhumation and use every reasonable method to attempt identification of each soldier.