This is where the students of St Mary's Cathedral College meet to explore the lives of those men who have become known as "The Lost Diggers of Fromelles'. 

Throughout 2010 the students from our Year 9 History classes created video profiles of a number of the soldiers who had been listed as missing following the Battle of Fromelles in 1916.

A small group of students created profiles for the Commemoration Ceremony in France in July. This was a great honour and the video profiles were very well received.

All videos are now on the Video page of this Ning as well as on the College Vimeo channel.

During Term 3 of 2010 all Year 9 students participated in the project. In pairs they worked to bring a number of the soldiers' stories back to life and pay tribute to these courageous men who had been buried at Pheasant Wood for almost a century.

We are about to commence the next phase of our journey when the current Year 9 students take on the challenge of creating video profiles for the remaining identified soldiers. The 2011 cohort will be expected to reach the high standards set by our 2010 students.

There are many wonderful resources that supported our students in their quest to find information to construct their profiles. These are some of the resources used:

The ABC have a wonderful site. As does The Age. Another good place is the Australian Army History Unit.

Youtube contains a number of great videos.

Recently the Australian Government released footage of Diggers on the Western Front. This rare footage is believed to be the first example of a 'documentary' war program produced.

A Virtual Fromelles Museum has been set up by Damein Madden. This is a wonderful tribute to the soldiers. The Friends of the AIF site run by Chris Munro also provided great support throughout the project.

There is also a number of museums in France. One such is the museum in Villers-Bretonneux.

Another interesting place to visit is MAPPING OUR ANZACS. Here you can find which Anzacs came from your local area. Here is another site that may help. History Pin is a great site that works with Google Maps.

The official site was generally the first port of call, then there the Descendant Database, a Discussion Group, a blog on the 56th Battalion, the Australian War Memorial site, Patrick Lindsay's (author of Fromelles) official site, Picture Australia and the National Archives were all useful resources. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission was another good place to find information. Finally Australians on the Western Front also provided great resources. The War Memorial also have a resource called Don't Forget Me Cobber that tells more about the Battle. Their new exhibition on Love and War may provide you with a different perspective.

Ultimately our best resource was the AIF Database . The resources provided by Chloe Wootten from the Defence Department helped enormously in constructing meaningful tributes to the soldiers.

More recently the Channel 7 Sunday program has publicised the discovery of a collection of images found in a French farmhouse. The images by a well known French photographer of the time capture images of many of the Diggers away from the Front Line. A Facebook page has been set up for identifying the images. There are three other Facebook sites of interest. One is the Shrine of Remebrance run by Tim Whitford. Another is I Honour the Dead of Fromelles and the final one is The Lost Diggers of Fromelles. These sites are great resources for contacting relatives. Another is In Their Footsteps which premiered on May 8. While not having WW1 as its main focus there will no doubt be possible leads for those looking for Fromelles stories. Their Youtube Channel has each program available online.

The Fairfax organisation recently announced the launch of their site where you can access many of the images they have produced over the years. Fairfaxsyndication.com may help in your search.

We will be producing more video profiles of the soldiers killed at Fromelles in 1916. Again the Year 9 History classes will undertake this challenge. Our aim is to have created a profile for each of the soldiers as a tribute to their courage and selflessness.

Herbert Thomas Bolt from St Mary's Cathedral College on Vimeo.

The soldiers we created video profiles for previously are obviously not to be done again. They are HERBERT BOLT, HENRY CRESSY, VICTOR SAMPSON, ALLAN BENNETT, COLIN ARNOTT and RAYMOND PFLAUM.

As are the soldiers who were selected by students in 2010. Those soldiers are BERROL MENDELSOHN, JOHN JACK BOWDEN, CLARENCE TIMBRELL COLLIER, WILLIAM WASS, HENRY BELL, WILLIAM JOSEPH CUCKSON, ROBERT COURTNEY GREEN, IGNATIUS BERTRAM NORRIS, HARRY LOWRY MOFFITT, EDWARD HENRY DIBBEN, CLIFFORD DAWSON HOLLIDAY, JUSTIN BREGUET, HENRY NELSON, VINTON BAKER.

These soldiers were selected by students in 2011. GEORGE PAGAN, DAVID GEORGE IRVIN, ERIC HARDING CHINNER, HERBERT GEORGE POLLARD, LESLIE WILLIAM HART, EDWARD NASON BURNEY, THOMAS JOSEPH COSGRIFF, HENRY VICTOR WILLIS

These soldiers have been completed only recently. ALBERT WILLIAMSON, JOHN GOULDING, FRANK HEWARD . We have decided to publish all videos in 2012.

A number of other soldiers were completed in both 2010 and 2011 but the standard of presentation was not what we require for publication to our Vimeo channel.

ONCE YOU HAVE CHOSEN YOUR SOLDIER YOU NEED TO EMAIL YOUR TEACHER THE NAME OF YOUR SOLDIER. 

IF YOU CHOOSE A CATEGORY 1 SOLDIER THEN YOU ALSO NEED TO EMAIL YOUR TEACHER VERIFICATION THAT HE DIED IN THE BATTLE OF FROMELLES.

YOU MUST WAIT FOR A CONFIRMATION MESSAGE FROM YOUR TEACHER BEFORE PROCEEDING TO AVOID DUPLICATION OF SOLDIERS.

CATEGORY 1 SOLDIER:

You must choose a soldier from the list below. A basic reference sheet will be provided by your teacher.

Highest Grade Achievable: A

FRED ARTHUR DYSON
ARNOLD HOLMES
CECIL MORGAN
ALFRED MOMPHLAIT (resources from relatives of Alfred)
HASSALL KENDALL
HAROLD ESAM
GEORGE CRAIG
ERIC FLOYD HANCOCK

JOHN TURNER
ARTHUR WEIR
HENRY VICTOR WILLIS
FREDERICK RAWLINGS
HOWARD JAMES RANDALL
WILLIAM MOORE
MALCOLM SPENCE
CYRIL JOHNSTON

JOHN HAROLD BOURKE
NORMAN ARTHUR HALE
WILLIAM BRUCE HIGGINS
ROBERT DAVID BURNS
JOHN MORLEY

ERIC ROBERT WILSON

SAMUEL CHARLES WILSON

CATEGORY 2 SOLDIER:
Choosing a Category 3 soldier is the simplest of all levels. You will be provided with primary and secondary source material. 

Highest Grade Achievable: B

THORNTON GAINSBOROUGH CLARKE (Mr Burden has a contact for Thornton)
ALBERT MITCHELL (Mr Burden has a contact for Albert)
ARTHUR DONALD LEIGH
JOHN STANLEY LEES (Mr Burden has contact details for a relative)

GEORGE ROBERT DUNCAN (Mr Burden has contact details for George)
VICTOR SIMON

ERNEST AUGUSTUS JENTSCH  *(Annette Tebb is a relative and is a member of the Ning)

FRANCIS JAMES WILLIAMS *(Francis Margaret Gregory is a relative and a member of the Ning)

ALAN MITCHELL

ALEXANDER THOMAS O'DONNELL (Mr Burden has a contact for Alexander)
FRANCIS DRUM 

JOSEPH EDWARD LEE 

FREDERICK GEORGE USHER (Mr Burden has a contact for Frederick)
WILLIAM CHARLES TUCKER (Mr Burden has a contact for William)
JAMES PLOZZA (Mr Burden has a contact for James)

MATTHEW HEPPLE *(Jon Andrews is a relative of Matthew and is a member of the Ning)

PERCY GEASON

HERBERT JAMES HASLAM

ALBERT CLIVE BROMLEY

THOMAS FRANCIS SHERIDAN (Mr Burden has a contact for Thomas)

WILLIAM ANDREW CRAIGIE

CHARLES WILLIAM MURRAY

FREDERICK FLETCHER *(Bill Wright from the Oatley Sub Branch can assist with the profile on Frederick. Mr Burden has his contact details)

HENRY MAYER  *(Bill Wright from the Oatley Sub Branch can assist with the profile on Henry. Mr Burden has his email)

MAURICE LESLIE REID

ARTHUR RUSSELL

GEORGE HUNGERFORD

DAVID FREDERICK LIVINGSTONE

DANIEL BERNARD RYAN

LESLIE GORDON WALSH

We would like to thank Chloe Wootten from the Dept. of Defence, Damian Madden from the Virtual Fromelles Museum and Chris Munro from the Friends of the AIF for all their help in providing resources and links to assist in constructing the stories. A very special thanks to Chris Reason from Channel 7 for the inspiration and setting up of the project through his involvement in reporting on Fromelles and his links with the Dept of Defence.

Thanks also to all the boys for giving up so much of their own time and to Mr Steve Garry our History teacher for all his wisdom and insight into the various battles of WW1. His advice, guidance, enthusiasm and ongoing commitment to the project ensures the program will be ongoing.

Steve and the students involved have been asked to present this project at a number of venues. It is wonderful recognition of their skill, knowledge and commitment to keeping the memory of these men alive. 

In 2010 they presented at the Teaching and Learning Conference at Macquarie University while in March of this year our project was the feature presentation at the Archdiocesan eLearning Conference at Marcellin College, Randwick.

Celebrating Teaching and Learning Conference Presentation from St Mary's Cathedral College on Vimeo.

The following link will take you to images of the ceremony released by the Department of Defence.

There has also been a release of photos through the Commonwelath War Graves Commission.