Belinda Neal (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence Science and Personnel. Will the minister update the House on the current plans to exhume and appropriately commemorate the Australian soldiers who fell at Fromelles?

Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Science and Personnel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Robertson for her question and note her special interest as her grandfather, Oliver Hoskin, served at Fromelles, which, as we are aware, was a dreadful battle. You will recall, Mr Speaker, that that was a battle was on 19 July 1916 in which 5,533 Australian soldiers were casualties and 2,000 of whom were dead within 12 hours of battle. I am pleased to inform the House that we have made significant progress in relation to the exhumation and reburial, with full military honours, of those brave souls who lost their lives in that tragic battle.

After advice from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, consultation with my colleague, the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, and discussions with my French counterpart, Jean-Marie Bockel, and then British minister Derek Twigg, we agreed upon a new site and a process for building a new cemetery. This cemetery is about 400 to 500 metres away from the current site at Pheasant Wood. It has been offered up to us by the local community. Whilst in France recently, I met with their representatives, who were particularly concerned to make sure that we understood their commitment to this process. The mayor, Hubert Huchette, was most impressive in his support for the proposal. I met Madame de Massiet. You will recall, Mr Speaker, that Madame de Massiet owns a property at Pheasant Wood where the soldiers currently lie. I thanked her for the donation of that property. Once these exhumations and reburials take place, there will be a memorial at that site.

The French minister was very supportive of the proposal, as was Derek Twigg. We agreed upon not only a site for the cemetery but also a timetable for its development. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has the responsibility on our behalf of issuing tenders for the cemetery. They will concurrently issue a tender process for the exhumations. We will then rebury the soldiers individually in caskets with full military honours.

We have had significant support from a range of people who should be acknowledged, apart from those I have already mentioned. One who has been significant has been Lord Faulkner, Chairman of the British All-Party Parliamentary War Graves and Battlefields Heritage Group of the British parliament. He was at Fromelles the day I was there. I have already observed the plans the Commonwealth War Graves Commission officials have for this new cemetery and they are very impressive indeed. I should say, for those who have been to Fromelles or VC Corner—as my colleague, the Minister for Veterans Affairs, will be doing in the near future—that this new cemetery will be on high ground very close to the outskirts of the community, opposite the church and overlooking VC Corner. So it is a very good site.

The support we have been given goes so far as the French military. General Montford, who is the military commander of the Lille region, has been very supportive and we think and hope that he will be providing us with some assistance in the months ahead. The GUARD archaeologists, the Glasgow University archaeological team, were the ones responsible for doing the initial research for us at Pheasant Wood. Dr Tony Pollard was at Fromelles when I was there and I was able to thank him for the work that he has done, as was Mr Peter Barton, who has been employed by us and the British government to do research in Munich on ways in which we might identify precisely which soldiers are buried at this site.

We are anticipating, all going well, that we will commence this work at Fromelles in the next northern summer. We hope that, on the basis we are successful with the exhumations, we will be able to have a ceremony on the site at least by 19 July 2010. That would be a significant event which I am sure would grab the interest of all Australians as we finally bury properly these at least 400 souls, of whom we believe 170 or thereabouts are Australian soldiers.

Unfortunately, as is the way with these things, three or four days after I left England, Mr Twigg was no longer the minister. Nevertheless, I am assured of the British government’s continuing support. I have written to the new minister, Kevan Jones, and expect to finalise all remaining issues in the coming weeks.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence and briefly: the opposition wants to associate itself with the thanks that the Minister for Defence Science and Personnel has given to the officers of the Australian government, the British government, the French government and, of course, the local community in France that have assisted him in his very diligent efforts to secure an appropriately sacred final resting place for the remains of those brave soldiers.