Military History: Treating the Dead with Honour
Thu, 04 May
|Adelaide
The Australian Graves Detachment and Australian Graves Services in France, 1919-1922 Guest Speaker: Dr Romain Fathi
Time & Location
04 May 2023, 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Adelaide, 111 Hutt St, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia
About the event
This talk explores the difficult work of the Australian Graves Detachment and of its scaled-down offshoot: the Australian Graves Services. Their mission was to locate, exhume, and re-bury the remains of Australian soldiers who perished on the Western Front’s battlefields, where the Australian Imperial Force fought between 1916 and 1918.
Little has been written about the men who undertook the daunting task, perhaps because this is a confronting area of investigation. But don't we owe to the dead to ascertain if the glory and eternal rest promised to them, by war propaganda, when they were alive, was respectfully bestowed upon them when they died?
This talk will address several questions: How was this work performed? By whom? What were the tools and skills required? What were the risks digging for human remains in fields littered with live ammunition? How did the men cope with their work, and can we be sure that the right remains are in the right named graves?
GUEST SPEAKER: Dr Romain Fathi
Time: 1830 lecture begins; 1930 dinner
Members Price: $70.00; $15.00 lecture only
Non-Members: $80.00; $15.00 lecture only
Dress: Jacket and Tie
RSVP: By 5PM, Monday 1 May 2023
CANCELLATION POLICY - Bookings cancelled after the RSVP will incur a 50% charge of the ticket price