COMMEMORATION OF AUSTRALIAN GRAVES IN BELGIUM Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood, Belgium
At the conclusion of the of the ANZAC Day Dawn Service 2011, The Sons of the British Empire placed a small commemorative wooden cross (pictured above left) on every single Australian grave in Buttes New British Cemetery . These crosses were made in Australia and carry the wording AUSTRALIA REMEMBERS on them.The crosses were first sent to the following schools.
Hutchins 100
Ogilvie 100
Waimea Heights 100
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LenahValley |
100 |
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St Mary’s |
100 |
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New Town |
69 |
The students were asked to write their school name, their name, as well as a personal message on each cross. Each school was provided with instructions and a DVD explaining what the whole project is about, and why it is important that they understand the sacrifice of our Australian soldiers of so long ago.
Once the crosses were completed they were posted to Chris Barker (a U.K based living historian) who took them to Belgium and at the completion of the Dawn Service Chris, along with the dignitaries and local Belgian people in attendance placed a cross on every single one of the 569 Australian graves in Buttes New British Cemetery.
About the Cemetery
Polygon Wood is a large wood south of the village of Zonnebeke which was completely devastated during the First World War. The wood was cleared by British troops at the end of October 1914, given up on 3 May 1915, taken again at the end of September 1917 by Australian troops, evacuated in the Battles of the Lys, and finally retaken by the 9th (Scottish) Division on 28 September 1918. On the Butte itself is the Divisional Memorial of the 5th Australian Division, who captured it on 26 September 1917. POLYGON WOOD CEMETERY is an irregular front-line cemetery made between August 1917 and April 1918, and used again in September 1918. A walled avenue leads from Polygon Wood Cemetery, past the Cross of Sacrifice, to the BUTTES NEW BRITISH CEMETERY. This burial ground was made after the Armistice when a large number of graves (almost all of 1917, but in a few instances of 1914, 1916 and 1918) were brought in from the battlefields of Zonnebeke. There are now 2,108 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in Buttes New British Cemetery. 1,677 of the burials are unidentified but special memorials are erected to 35 casualties known or believed to be buried among them.
Edited text from http://www.ww1cemeteries.com/ww1cemeteries/buttesnewbritishcemetery.htm
CASUALTY DETAILS: UK 1297; Canada 50; Australia 569; New Zealand 162; Entirely Unidentified 30; Total burials: 2103
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Featured Soldier |
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 | In all of the projects we undertake (this is was the second) we feature one soldier whose story represents them all. The featured soldier for this project is 4323 Corporal Thomas Hamilton MM & Bar, a Lewis Gunner of the 12th Battalion from Westbury. Tom Hamilton was killed in action during the 3rd Battle of Ypres in the Broodseinde area. CITATION FOR MILITARY MEDAL 4323 THOMAS HAMILTON “On May 6th 1917 in operations east of BULLECOURT he commanded a Lewis Machine Gun section when the enemy broke through our lines. He mounted his gun on the parados and opened fire on them inflicting severe losses and materially helping to repel the attack. He continually showed great coolness and disregard of personal danger & set a fine example to his comrades.” |
Funding
We are currently in the process of applying for a Department of Veterans Affairs “Saluting Their Service” grant. Contact has been made with both the Tasmanian State Government & Opposition to ask for a small amount of money to carry this project through, although to date this has been unsuccessful. We will continue to lobby for approximately $500 which will see us able to complete the ANZAC Day project, with our major cost being airmail postage of the completed crosses to the U.K. The wood for the crosses, as well as the labour, and poppies & grommets have all been donated by members. Regardless of the outcome of this lobbying, the project will still be completed.
Media
We will attempt to obtain coverage of this commemorative event both here in Australia, and hopefully during the ceremony when the crosses are being placed on ANZAC Day. Our Patron Dr Brendan Nelson will be in attendance with the Embassy’s own media unit, and we are hopeful of some Australian media being in attendance at this year’s service.
