The Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Alan Griffin, today announced that in addition to the many services in Australia, the Australian Government will commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Armistice with a Remembrance Day service at the Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, in France. Mr Griffin said he hoped that many Australians would attend a Remembrance Day service either in Australia or overseas to remember the service and sacrifice of the more than 415,000 Australians who served during the First World War.

“More than 46,000 of the 60,000 Australians who died in the First World War lost their lives on the battlefields of the Western Front in France and Belgium. The end of the war on 11 November 1918 brought relief and rejoicing; but the joy was tempered by the terrible cost in human lives and suffering to Australia and many other nations. On this key 90th anniversary, it is appropriate that the Australian Government holds a service at Villers-Bretonneux, where the names of nearly 11,000 of our dead from the battlefields of France with no known grave are forever inscribed,” Mr Griffin said.

Mr Griffin said the service would begin at 10:15 am on Tuesday, 11 November. The Remembrance Day service at Villers-Bretonneux will be preceded by the re-dedication of the memorial at the Australian Corps Memorial Park, Le Hamel, at 3pm on Saturday, 8 November.

Mr Griffin said the Le Hamel memorial commemorated the service of the Australian Corps through its actions at Le Hamel on 4 July 1918.  In this battle, the tactics very successfully applied by General Sir John Monash foreshadowed those used in larger offensives that began in August 1918 and led to the Allied victory.

“The re-dedication will mark the completion of extensive work funded by the Government to repair damage caused by the deterioration of the memorial,” Mr Griffin said.

For more information on the November events in France and other Remembrance Day services around the world visit www.dva.gov.au.