'Digger graves' snub for Aussies | NEWS.com.au A BRITISH archeologist has been hired to conduct exploratory excavations to resolve the question of whether the bodies of World War I Diggers lie in pits in a field in northern France. The Australian Army has re-engaged battlefield archeologist Tony Pollard of the Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD), despite criticism of his report of earlier work at the site, Pheasant Wood. The decision has sidelined leading Australian experts who had offered to investigate the suspected war graves at no cost to the taxpayer. Historian Roger Lee, head of the Army History Unit, confirmed yesterday that Dr Pollard and his team would conduct excavations next April. "We went with GUARD because they were familiar with the site, we knew their work and they could do it in a timely manner," Mr Lee said. He said he could not disclose what Dr Pollard would be paid, although it's likely to exceed the $150,000 fee for last year's report, copyrighted to Glasgow University. Sydney lawyer Chris Bryett, the president of the not-for-profit group Recovering Overseas Australia's Missing (ROAM), said he was disappointed by the decision to spurn his group's offer. ROAM had also offered to do the initial work for free. "We can't understand why they (GUARD) have been engaged again, given the quality of the report they did last time," he said. As revealed in The Australian last August, forensic archeologists at Britain's Bournemouth University had reviewed GUARD's report and claimed it was seriously flawed. Paul Cheetham, a specialist in the geophysics of mass graves, said: "I could see no evidence supporting their conclusion that the pits exist, the graves contain human remains or that they are undisturbed." Sydney University emeritus professor Richard Wright - who had volunteered to lead the ROAM team, all of whom would donate their time - was surprised by the decision to rehire GUARD. "I'm astonished that public money should be spent when a team of experienced Australian and British forensic archeologists was available for nothing," Professor Wright said. Professor Wright headed groups that located and excavated mass graves in the former Yugoslavia, and graves of victims of the Nazi holocaust in Ukraine. Other ROAM members include Sydney University forensic dentist Chris Griffiths - also commander of the Australian Defence Force Recovery Team and assistant surgeon-general RAAF - and forensic archeologist Jon Sterenberg, until recently head of the Excavation and Examination Division of the International Commission on Missing Persons in Sarajevo. The push to investigate Pheasant Wood began when the Melbourne-based Friends of the Fifteenth Brigade - the brigade suffered enormous losses during the 1916 Battle of Fromelles - suggested that scores of Australian and British war dead may lie there. The battle was the first that Diggers fought on the Western Front.
An earlier report: Red tape could delay diggers' reburial | NEWS.com.au BUREAUCRATIC red tape threatens to delay the reburial of World War I Australian diggers believed to be hidden in unmarked mass graves in northern France. A team of forensic archaeologists will in April begin a partial excavation of the graves, which possibly contain the bodies of more than 160 Australian 5th Division soldiers killed during the disastrous battle of Fromelles. Buried with them are believed to be more than 200 British 61st Division soldiers, who along with their Australian comrades were all killed during the ferocious battle with invading German troops in July 1916. But the head of the archeological team fears that if any bodies are found, relatives could face a lengthy wait before the remains of their loved can be exhumed and re-interred. Glasgow University's Dr Tony Pollard said the fate of any diggers found at Fromelles depends on the Australian, British and French governments reaching a joint decision. "There's obviously a lot of interest in the site and some pressure to have these bodies exhumed and reburied," he said. "But it's extremely complicated because we are dealing with British and Australian bodies on French territory. "So we have to discuss this at the highest levels of three governments." The Battle of Fromelles was the first major action Australian troops faced on the Western Front in WWI - and it proved to be the most disastrous with a total of 5533 casualties in one night. Among them were at least 1719 diggers who lost their lives, but about 170 bodies were never found. German soldiers are believed to have buried their remains in five pits laying about 1.5m beneath what is now a potato field near Pheasant Wood on the outskirts of Fromelles. The search for their graves was sparked by calls by a member of the Friends of the Fifteenth Brigade Association, Melbourne man Lambis Englezos, who carried extensive research about the Australian soldiers killed at Fromelles. Dr Pollard helped carry out a range of initial geophysic, radar and topographic surveys of the area and last year believed he had pinpointed the exact spot where the soldiers lay. The excavation work, due to be carried out over three weeks in April, will initially involve the removal of tonnes of heavy clay using mechanical excavators. When the team of 15 forensic archaeologists from Australia, Britain, Belgium and Glasgow University believe they are getting close to the bodies they will then pick their way through the soil so no remains are damaged. "The aim is to remove the fills of the pits and expose the upper layer of bodies, find out how many there are and what condition they are in and what is the possibility of identification," Dr Pollard said. "We will then cover them back over again and supply our information to the Australian army, who will be working very closely with us. "Our major concern is that we do right by these men who may be buried in these pits."
The wonderful world of academic research tendering - makes drug dealing seem like a pleasent Sunday afternoon hobby. Here's an even earlier report describing Englezos, who actually did a most of the initial reseach that prompted the dig: Missing Diggers mystery solved | Herald Sun
Face and proper recognition for the "slogger" who did the work - Englezos only got a passing mention in the first two reports.
