During World War 1,a total of 416,809 Australian men enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces. 61,511 of these men died. Approximately 18,000 of these Australian Soldiers are listed as "No Known Grave" and another 7,130 are buried as "An Australian Soldier of the Great War, Known unto God". To mark the 75th anniversary of the end of the First World War, the body of one of these unknown Australian soldiers was recovered from Adelaide Cemetery near Villers-Bretonneaux in France and transported to Australia.Placed in a simple Tasmanian blackwood coffin, the remains lay in state at Villers-Bretonneux in France and at Menin Gate at Ypres in Belgium. They were then returned to Australia, spending another three days lying in state at Kings's Hall, Old Parliament House in Canberra. Finally, on November 11 1993 the remains of the Unknown Australian Soldier were interred in the Hall of Memory at the Australian War Memorial. He was buried with an Australian Army slouch hat and a sprig of the Australian National Flower - the wattle. Soil from the Pozières battlefield was scattered in his tomb, by a WW1 survivor, who said these words "Welcome home, Mate."
During World War 1,a total of 416,809 Australian men enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces. 61,511 of these men died. Approximately 18,000 of these Australian Soldiers are listed as "No Known Grave" and another 7,130 are buried as "An Australian Soldier of the Great War, Known unto God". To mark the 75th anniversary of the end of the First World War, the body of one of these unknown Australian soldiers was recovered from Adelaide Cemetery near Villers-Bretonneaux in France and transported to Australia.Placed in a simple Tasmanian blackwood coffin, the remains lay in state at Villers-Bretonneux in France and at Menin Gate at Ypres in Belgium. They were then returned to Australia, spending another three days lying in state at Kings's Hall, Old Parliament House in Canberra. Finally, on November 11 1993 the remains of the Unknown Australian Soldier were interred in the Hall of Memory at the Australian War Memorial. He was buried with an Australian Army slouch hat and a sprig of the Australian National Flower - the wattle. Soil from the Pozières battlefield was scattered in his tomb, by a WW1 survivor, who said these words "Welcome home, Mate."
Inscription
AN UNKNOWN AUSTRALIAN SOLDIER KILLED IN THE WAR OF 1914-1918: HE SYMBOLISES ALL AUSTRALIANS WHO HAVE DIED IN WAR
