{"id":5138,"date":"2009-07-23T02:08:57","date_gmt":"2009-07-22T15:08:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fffaif.wordpress.com\/?p=5138"},"modified":"2009-07-23T02:08:57","modified_gmt":"2009-07-22T15:08:57","slug":"fromelles-news-responses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/?p=5138","title":{"rendered":"Fromelles News Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

As outlined in the 10 July posting Fromelles Claims\u00a0Response<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, there have been a number of recent media articles reflecting on aspects of the exhumation, identification and reinterment of the Australian soldiers at Fromelles. This posting provides an update on this debate.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MechanicalExcavation3_4_imgw405\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo: Excavation of burial pits, Pheasant Wood [CWGC]<\/p>\n

In early July Fairfax Press journalist Paolo Totaro claimed that the project at Fromelles \u201cto exhume, identify and rebury 400 Australian and British World War I soldiers found in a mass grave in a French battlefield is in crisis after a Defence Department decision to use a cut-price contractor\u201d <\/em>in her article Reburial project in crisis<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0The article drew a number of other responses, most notably an assurance from the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr Kevin Rudd, committing his Government to making \u201cdoubly certain\u201d that the exhumation, identification and reinterment of the Australian soldiers at Fromelles is being handled properly, and a joint supporting statement by the Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science and Minister for Veterans\u2019 Affairs and a project update from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission that are detailed in the RECENT NEWS item PM Reaffirms\u00a0Fromelles<\/a><\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Subsequently, Australia.to NEWS<\/em> posted an article by Grant Triffett Convenor \/ Administrator of the Fromelles Discussion Group, as Don\u2019t Forget Me Cobber<\/em> (and now removed).\u00a0 This article reiterated the claims made in the Fairfax Press and also referred to comments by the head of Adelaide University’s Centre for Ancient DNA, Dr. Cooper, who expressed fears that inappropriate forensic DNA techniques may be tried at the excavation site to get quick results.<\/p>\n

This resulted in a response from Chris Bryett, President of Recovering Overseas Australia\u2019s Missing Inc (ROAM), Fromelles crisis. Support for Oxford Archaeology as recovery continues<\/a><\/strong><\/em> that was posted on the website Australia.to News<\/em> on 10 July and reported in the posting of 10 July as Fromelles Claims\u00a0Response<\/strong> <\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

There have also been project updates on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website on 14 July<\/strong><\/a> and 18 July<\/strong> <\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There have also been project updates on the Australian Army Fromelles website on 14 July<\/strong> <\/a>and 21 July<\/strong> <\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition, The Hon. Greg Combet AM MP, Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science issued a statement Update on Progress of Fromelles<\/em> <\/strong><\/a>on 16 July.<\/p>\n

This was reported in the Fairfax Press as Fromelles excavation ‘back on track’<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, July 16 2009.<\/p>\n

This was also reported in Australia.to NEWS<\/em> as The archaeological excavation operation at Pheasant Wood in Fromelles<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Australia.to NEWS<\/em>\u00a0also carried an apology for the inaccurate content of the letters to the editor as\u00a0 Fromelles war grave recovery proceeding as planned by Oxford Archaeology \u2013 Apology.<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The report states: Oxford Archaeology continues to work at the location of a World War One battle site where several hundred British and Australian Servicemen are buried.
\n<\/em>Australia.to recently published two “Letters to the Editor” which unfairly and inaccurately described the performance of Oxford Archaeology in its fulfillment of the contract to recover the war dead.\u00a0
\n<\/em>Australia.to and the editors apologise to Senator Combet, Oxford Archaeology, its staff, workers, local contractors and relatives of the servicemen as information from Oxford Archaeology has come to hand which clearly shows that the work is proceeding satisfactorily and that the content of the letters to the editor was inaccurate and that a retraction is warranted.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

It goes on to present Oxford Archaeology’s rebuttal of Grant Triffett’s article. Read the detail by clicking here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The UK Ministry of Defence also issued an update on 17 July that is posted on the Oxford Archaeology website as Artefacts found at Fromelles provide clues to nationality of WW1 soldiers<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

The Families and Friends of the First AIF<\/strong><\/em> thanks the Australian, UK and French governments for affording Australian and British soldiers\u00a0buried in mass graves at Pheasant Wood by\u00a0German soldiers following the Battle of Fromelles\u00a0on 19\/20 July 1916\u00a0dignified individual reburials in a new CWGC cemetery at Fromelles, and applauds\u00a0the joint decision to DNA test the remains at exhumation and use every reasonable method to attempt identification of each soldier.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As outlined in the 10 July posting Fromelles Claims\u00a0Response, there have been a number of recent media articles reflecting on aspects of the exhumation, identification and reinterment of the Australian soldiers at Fromelles. This posting provides an update on this … 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-5138","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\/5138","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=5138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}