{"id":6276,"date":"2009-09-11T10:51:32","date_gmt":"2009-09-10T23:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fffaif.wordpress.com\/?p=6276"},"modified":"2009-09-11T10:51:32","modified_gmt":"2009-09-10T23:51:32","slug":"excavation-complete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/?p=6276","title":{"rendered":"Excavation Complete"},"content":{"rendered":"

FROMELLES EXCAVATION SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Photo: Members of Oxford Archaeology Team including Australian Archaelogists Richard Wright (4th from left) and Ambika Flavel(rhs). [OA]<\/p>\n

Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science\u00a0announced, on 10 September 2009, that the archaeological excavation at Pheasant Wood, Fromelles, France had been successfully concluded.
\n\u201cA total of 250 sets of remains and 1200 artefacts have been excavated from six graves. This is lower than the previous estimate of 300 remains,\u201d said Mr Combet.
\n\u201cAn early analysis of the remains and the artefacts indicates that a large number of those recovered appear to be Australian.\u201d
\nThe focus of the project will now fall upon the identification of the remains and their reinterment at the purpose-built Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military cemetery.
\n\u201cAs part of the identification of the remains LGC Forensics is undertaking a comprehensive analysis of DNA samples taken from the remains to assist in DNA matching against living relatives,\u201d Mr Combet said
\n\u201cIn conjunction with this process further analysis of artefacts and remains will continue throughout September and October at Oxford Archaeology\u2019s on site laboratory to see if any evidence can assist with the identification process.
\n\u201cThis information will be presented to the Joint Identification Board in March 2010 where the British and Australian Governments will consider the results and determine any appropriate further action that should be taken.
\n\u201cWhile identification of the remains is an extremely complex process I remain hopeful that we will be able to identify a number of those that we have found.
\n\u201cAs the formal identification is a complex process that may take many months, and in some cases years, every soldier will be buried initially without a permanent headstone.
\n\u201cThe burials will commence on 30 January 2010 and continue through February until every soldier is laid to rest with full military honours. Members of the public are welcome to visit the site during reburials and view the proceedings from outside the cemetery.\u201d\u00a0
\nA commemorative event to open the cemetery is scheduled for the 94th<\/sup> anniversary of the Battle of Fromelles on 19 July 2010.
\n\u201cI would like to take this opportunity to thank Oxford Archaeology, and all of their staff, for their hard work and dedication throughout this excavation. Both the Australian and British Governments have been very pleased with their performance,\u201d said Mr Combet.<\/p>\n

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

Media coverage of the announcement of the completion of the excavation at Pheasant Wood, Fromelles included:<\/p>\n

The Australian: Fromelles excavation ends after 250 bodies found<\/em><\/a>
\nThe Melbourne Age: <\/em>Search for Fromelles soldiers wraps up<\/em><\/a>\u00a0
\nBBC News: Fromelles grave excavation ends<\/em><\/a>
\nThe Sydney Morning Herald: Search for Fromelles soldiers ends<\/a>
\n<\/em>ABC News: Search ends for Australia’s Fromelles fallen<\/em><\/a>
\nUK National News: MOD Announces End Of Excavation At Fromelles\u00a0<\/em>
\n<\/a>EDP24.co.uk:\u00a0<\/em>Soldiers to be reburied with military honours<\/em><\/a>
\nWalesonline.co.uk: The Welshmen who paid the ultimate price at Fromelles<\/a>, \u2018Prisoner of war\u2019 may be buried at Fromelles<\/a> <\/em>
\nHerald, Ireland: DNA test hope to name victims of WWI battle\u00a0
\n<\/a><\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

The Families and Friends of the First AIF <\/em><\/strong>applauds\u00a0the joint Australian\u2013UK decision, announced by The Hon Greg Combet AM MP and the Hon Kevan Jones MP, to conduct a full DNA testing program on the remains of Australian and British soldiers found in mass graves at Pheasant Wood (Fromelles), and for their continuing commitment to identify as many of the fallen as is possible. We also thank the Australian, UK and French governments for affording dignified individual reburials for these soldiers, buried by\u00a0German soldiers following the Battle of Fromelles\u00a0on 19\/20 July 1916, in the new Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery presently under construction at Fromelles.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FROMELLES EXCAVATION SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED Photo: Members of Oxford Archaeology Team including Australian Archaelogists Richard Wright (4th from left) and Ambika Flavel(rhs). [OA] Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science\u00a0announced, on 10 September 2009, that the archaeological excavation at … 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-6276","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\/6276","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=6276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}