![\"SS](\"http:\/\/fffaif.files.wordpress.com\/2009\/08\/ss-boorara_awm.jpg\" "\\"SS")
<\/a>Photo: SS Pflaz<\/em> which was renamed HMAT Boorara<\/em> (A42) [AWM]<\/p>\nAt the same time in Port Philip Bay, Victoria, 10:00am local time on the 5th<\/sup> August the German steamship SS Pfalz<\/em> was attempting to leave the port. The ship was fired upon by the guns at Point Nepean Fort at the heads at Port Philip Bay.<\/p>\n The ship was seized by Australia and renamed the SS Boorara<\/em> and served as a\u00a0transport during The Great War. Further details on the SS Boorara, <\/em>including a collection of photos, can be found at Coastal Defences of Colonial Victoria<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n Ninety five years later the Australian Minister for Veterans\u2019 Affairs The Hon Alan Griffin MP issued the following media release: *****<\/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":" At 11pm Greenwich Mean Time (midnight in Berlin) on the 4 August 1914, the British ultimatum to the Germans to withdraw from Belgium expired and Britain declared war on Germany. Photo: SS Pflaz which was renamed HMAT Boorara (A42) [AWM] … Continue reading
\nOn 4 August 1914 German forces crossed the Belgian border and set in train an escalating conflict that would soon engulf Europe. \u00a0Australia\u2019s pledge of support to Britain ultimately cost some 60,000 lives in a war that lasted four years and affected almost every household in the country.\u00a0
\nMinister for Veterans\u2019 Affairs Alan Griffin said the 95th<\/sup> anniversary of the beginning of the First World War was an opportunity to reflect on the service and sacrifice of those who served in the \u2018war to end all wars\u2019.
\n\u201cMore than 416,000 Australians enlisted in the First World War and of those more than 60,000 lost their lives on the battlefields of the Western Front, Gallipoli, the Middle East, in the skies above many of these battlefields and at sea,\u201d Mr Griffin said.
\n\u201cSome 160,000 Australians returned home injured or ill and Australia\u2019s repatriation system grew out of our duty of care to these men and women and to the families of those who did not return.\u00a0 We continue this duty of care today, supporting around 370 war widows of First World War servicemen.
\n\u201cWe are also ensuring our First World War veterans are commemorated through enduring tributes.
\n\u201cThe Australian Government is contributing $10 million over the next four years to establish a Western Front Interpretive Trail to better tell the story of Australian service in France and Belgium.\u00a0 The concept will tell Australia\u2019s story to visitors of all nations right across the Front, by working with communities and with regional and national authorities to improve existing facilities or create additional ones on Australian battlefields.\u00a0
\n\u201cThis is long overdue recognition of Australia’s contribution and by acting now we can improve interpretative sites as we move towards the centenary of our involvement in the First World War.
\n\u201cEach year on Anzac Day thousands of Australians gather at Gallipoli and now in France to honour those who served in these locations, but also those who served in all of the other wars and conflicts since.\u00a0 Our commitment to commemorate their service remains strong,\u201d the Minister said.<\/span><\/p>\n