Memorial: The completed wall will provide a place for descendants, and the wider Fromelles ‘family’, to commemorate with the Broadford RSL.
Broadford RSL has commissioned has completed a mosaic memorial commemorating the Battle of Fromelles, a tragic loss of Australian life in WW1.
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The Battle of Fromelles, fought on July 19 and 20, 1916, was a bloody initiation to the Western Front for Australian soldiers, attacking strongly fortified German front lines in French Flanders.
More than 5500 Australians became casualties. Almost 2000 of them were killed in action or died of wounds, and 400 were captured. This is believed to be the greatest loss by a single division in 24 hours during World War I.
The VC Corner Cemetery was established after the war, the only solely Australian war cemetery in France. There are no headstones, no epitaphs to individual soldiers, simply a stone wall inscribed with the names of 1299 Australians who died in battle nearby and who have no known graves. The unidentified remains of 410 are buried in mass graves in the cemetery.
Until recent years, 1335 Australian soldiers remained ‘missing’ from the Fromelles battle, having no known grave.
In 2007, the remains of 250 Australian soldiers in six mass burial pits were uncovered at what is now known as Pheasant Wood, near the village of Fromelles. In 2010, the remains of 249 soldiers were re-interred, with full military honours, in Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery.
Some 166 previously unknown Australian soldiers have since been identified.
Mosiac artist Donna Meyer working on the wall.
Broadford, like hundreds of other communities around Australia, had a connection to the battle.
Broadford was the site of a final peacetime training camp where many soldiers would gather for the last time before the horrific events of the Great War.
Mosaic artist Donna Meyer had seen RSL member and historian Tim Whitford, via media news channels, discussing the discovery of the missing Diggers.
Ms Meyer approached the Broadford RSL sub-branch, and it was decided to create a memorial mosaic wall in the town of Broadford, which would be both beautiful and tell the story of Fromelles.
This project was largely organised by former Broadford RSL secretary Peter Coutts, assisted by Mr Whitford.
It is hoped that the memorial mosaic wall might become a place of pilgrimage and contemplation.
After years of lengthy discussions and gaining grants from the Bendigo Bank and the Victorian Government, and permissions and building approval from Mitchell Shire Council, the memorial mosaic wall was commissioned, and completed by the 107th anniversary of the Battle of Fromelles.
The Fromelles Memorial Mosaic Wall will be officially unveiled on Saturday, July 15, the weekend prior to the 107th anniversary of the Battle of Fromelles.
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