Rider Levett Bucknall Works On Australian War Memorial In France

By Matt Richard

Next year will mark the 90th anniversary since the Australian Corps first successful offensive battle during World War I at La Hamel, France. As such, the Australian Department of Veteran Affairs has committed to reconstructing the memorial park that fittingly commemorates the battle and which is sympathetic to other Australian memorials on the Western front. Rider Levett Bucknall ACT are the cost planners on this small but complex project which involves a great deal of intricate and artistic building works.

The visitors to the memorial will be able to glean something of what it may have been like for the soldiers during 1918 as they walk from the site arrival zone towards the memorial. As the visitors walk along the footpath, there will be a number of interpretative signs that tells the story and events that occurred during this short but eventful battle.

There will also be observation points around the memorial where visitors can ponder, reflect and look out to where the various armed forces came from and at the remnants of the original trenches. The designers of these observation points have included both 'poppy' engravings and quotations set into granite paving.

The memorial itself will comprise curved granite walls onto which the bronze Australian Corps badge is mounted. Adjacent to the badge will be bronze quotations, curved granite seats encompassing the walls, and behind the walls will be a number of flagpoles. The 'poppy' engravings will also be continued in the granite paving.

All in all it will be a very impressive war memorial.

For those history buffs out there, the memorial park at La Hamel has a special significance to Australia. The ridge on which the memorial is located was the objective of the first offensive battle of the Australian Corps led by Lieutenant General Sir John Monash and was a complete success. For the first time, the United States of America fought alongside Australians. Monash planned for the battle to take ninety minutes; it took ninety three. Although the action at Le Hamel was relatively small in size, it was amongst the first successes of the allies as they turned to the counter-offensive having blunted the German advances of 1918. Le Hamel foreshadowed the effectiveness of the Australia Corps that would be repeatedly demonstrated in the allied offensive that began on the 8th of August 1918 and continued until the Armistice. For the Australian Corps, the offensive began with what is now known as the battle of Amiens, and the Le Hamel site was part of the Start Line for that battle.