{"id":418,"date":"2008-06-21T10:33:24","date_gmt":"2008-06-20T23:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fffaif.wordpress.com\/?p=418"},"modified":"2008-06-21T10:33:24","modified_gmt":"2008-06-20T23:33:24","slug":"quiet-at-fromelles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/?p=418","title":{"rendered":"Quiet At Fromelles"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/a>The Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD) have returned the excavation site at Pheasant Wood Fromelles to its \u2018original’ condition. The site of the 3 week dig now resembles a freshly ploughed field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Pheasant<\/p>\n

\"Pheasant<\/p>\n

Photos: Pheasant Wood – a week after the completion of the archaeological dig.<\/p>\n

Carole Laignel , Secretary of the F.W.T.M 14-18 <\/a>(Fromelles Museum) who took the photos said that the field was now sewn with grass seeds – \u2018so strange one week later….so different to what it was: so busy during the 3 weeks!’<\/p>\n

Back in Australia author of the book entitled FROMELLES <\/em>Patrick Lindsay is continuing his campaign to keep the story of Fromelles in the public arena with a talk given at the Wollongong on the NSW south coast last night.<\/p>\n

The Illawarra Mercury spoke to Patrick about his impressions on the archaeological site in an article entitled Burial call for Diggers<\/em>. Click here<\/a> or read on……\u00a0<\/p>\n

Burial call for Diggers<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

by Michelle Hoctor<\/span><\/p>\n

An Illawarra war historian is adamant that more than 400 soldiers buried in pits in northern France should be exhumed and given separate burials.<\/span><\/p>\n

Patrick Lindsay, who has just returned from visiting a three-week archaeological dig in France where the mass graves have been uncovered, said it was apparent the Australian and British soldiers were not “resting in peace”.<\/span><\/p>\n

A total of 1917 Australians died in World War I’s Battle of Fromelles on July 19, 1916.<\/span><\/p>\n

At least 19 of the dead were from the Illawarra, with 14 still unaccounted for.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ninety-two years later, relatives are hoping these men are among the 170 Australians and 300 British thought to be buried in pits dug by the Germans after the battle.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr Lindsay, whose book Fromelles traces the battle and efforts by family members to prove their relatives were buried at Pheasant Wood, Fromelles, described the dig as “emotional”.<\/span><\/p>\n

“To see the graves was emotional,” Coledale-based Mr Lindsay said. “They were pretty respectful and careful about who they allowed to see the remains – very reverent with their treatment of it all.”<\/span><\/p>\n

He said the prevailing mood was of sadness that so many men had been tossed together into the pits.<\/span><\/p>\n

It confirmed in his mind the need to provide them with separate graves.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Everyone who saw them told me they were not resting in peace,” he said. “They’re jumbled in there.<\/span><\/p>\n

“They deserve individual burials. If these remains were found after the war they would have been buried individually.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr Lindsay said a report was being prepared for defence ministers of the Australian, British and French governments who would decide on the next step.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr Lindsay will speak on his Fromelles journey tonight at a function organised by the Friends of Wollongong Library.<\/span><\/p>\n

The talk will be held on Level 9 of the Wollongong City Council administration building from 5.30pm.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0FROMELLES<\/strong> IS NOT HONOURED ON THE NATIONAL OR ANY STATE MEMORIAL IN AUSTRALIA.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

FFFAIF<\/strong> SUPPORTS ALL EFFORTS TO RECOGNISE FROMELLES<\/strong> ON OR AT THE NATIONAL AND ALL STATE MEMORIALS THAT PRESENTLY LIST BATTLES BY NAME.<\/span><\/p>\n

Call\u00a0back later to see if there is\u00a0MORE NEWS<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD) have returned the excavation site at Pheasant Wood Fromelles to its \u2018original’ condition. The site of the 3 week dig now resembles a freshly ploughed field.\u00a0 Photos: Pheasant Wood – a week after … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}