We stopped at the Fromelles Memorial Park to see the Australian monument. The memorial park is situated on the German defensive line which was attacked on 19 July 1916 by the Australian forces at the Battle of Fromelles.

The sculpture of two soldiers in the center of the memorial park is dedicated to the men who fought and fell in the Battle of Fromelles on 19 and 20 July 1916.

There were also remains of German machine gun bunkers at the memorial park.

After visiting the Australian Memorial Park, we stopped at the Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery which was only a short distance from the Australian Memorial Park. This cemetery is a significant memorial for Australia.

We walked through the cemetery looking at the gravestones of both British and Australian soldiers. The history of this cemetery is unique because it was constructed between 2009 and 2010. It is the first new Commonwealth War Graves cemetery for more than 50 years.

We were surprised by the amount of Australians that were involved in the first world war. There were over 416,000 Australians that enlisted for WW I and over 60,000 died over the period of the war.

The Pheasant Wood Cemetery contains the graves of 250 British and Australian soldiers who died on 19 July 1916 in the Battle of Fromelles. The cemetery is located on a section of the front line during the battle of Fromelles. Their bodies were discovered following research by a retired teacher,  that also included analysis of aerial photographs. They discovered mass graves on the edge of Pheasant Wood, just outside the village of Fromelles.

There were Australians on our tour and they were able to locate a relative which was buried at the cemetery. It was a moving experience for them and reminded everyone just how far-reaching the impact of the war was.

“Au revoir et passez une bonne journée”