Emil Ford Lawyers

The Pozières School Project

At war’s end, the small French village of Pozières was a shambles, a shattered ruin with no two bricks still remaining together.

This had been the scene of savage fighting involving the Australians from late July to early September 1916 and where the AIF had 23,000 dead or wounded in the six weeks of fighting.
This included the notorious Mouquet farm on the outskirts of the village and the Windmill site where, in the words of Australian official historian Charles Bean, the Pozières ridge “was captured on August 4th by Australian troops who fell more thickly on this ridge than on any other battlefield of the war.”





"From the ruins, the village was slowly rebuilt including a small one room school.  Today this school room is inadequate ..."

From the ruins, the village was slowly rebuilt including a small one room school. Today this school room is inadequate, the toilet facilities decrepit and the playground hard. This provided an opportunity to remember the 7,000 Australian dead, two thirds having no known grave, by the building of a Memorial school.

 

 

"This provided an opportunity to remember the 7,000 Australian dead ..."

Under the Patronage of the NSW Governor, His Excellency The Honourable General David Hurley, work is underway to raise funds to rebuild a new primary school of seven class rooms and, as a stage two, add an accommodation block for visiting Australian school children.

It is proposed to have an Australian teacher on exchange at the school and a French-Australian curriculum introduced.

Initial fund raising is underway. This began with a Gold Coin Day at schools last Remembrance Day. Now, a number of major French multi-national companies are keen to be part of the project.

The company, Australians at Pozieres Limited has charity status and is finalising its DGR status with the Tax Office.

For further information, contact Will Davies on

 

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