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'.

A group of SMCC students visited France in 2017 to spend time exploring the Western Front. Their magnificent History teacher, Steve Garry accompanied by three other teachers led the students on a tour of many of the significant battlefields as well as spending time in Paris. It was a most memorable experience for all. Steve set up a site for the trip.

Channel 7 did a nice story on the group while they were visiting various sites.

One of the highlights for Steve has always been his trip to the museum at Fromelles. This trip was no different. In fact Steve has made another connection through the museum. There is a wonderful site set up called, 'Recovering the Past' by Ian Alderman. 

Lambis has been keeping us up to date with all the latest on what has been happening around the identification of soldiers.

Living History Podcast with Lambis and Mat McLachlan

2017.03 Newsletter.pdf

Apple have just released a collection of resources to commemorate the centenary of WW1. Click on the image below to go to the resources in the iTunes Store.

The ABC have also released a collection of resources to support the centenary commemorations. iView on ABC also has a great collection of stories celebrating the centenary of Anzac. They have also just released a new site for students to explore the battles of the Western Front.

With the centenary being celebrated recently a number of stories have appeared across all forms of media.

ABC News, Federal Government, NSW Vets, Fromelles Blog, Orange NSW, Inverell Times, Hawkesbury Gazette, Western Advocate, Herald, 4BU, Bundaberg.

There have been many other sites and resources created since we began the project. Here are a sample:

The Australian War Memorial

The Lost Diggers of Fromelles Facebook

Australian Army

Friends of the AIF

The Sydney Morning Herald

Shaping Our Sorrow

ANZAC 360 App

Beginning in 2010, 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. 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.

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.

We will be producing more video profiles of the soldiers killed at Fromelles in 1916. Again the Year 10 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.

The AIF database is a good place to start looking.

We have been fortunate to be supported by Lambis Englezos throughout the journey. This has meant a great deal to the staff and students involved in the project. Some of what Lambis has done can be seen in this SBS documentary.

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, REGINALD WILDMAN

*Article about Jack Bowden

*Article about Ignatius Norris

These soldiers were completed 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, WILLIAM POLDING RYAN

*Recent story about the search for David Irvin (April 2016)

These soldiers were completed in 2012. ALBERT WILLIAMSON, JOHN GOULDING, FRANK HEWARD, LESLIE LEISTER, HASSALL KENDALL, HOWARD JAMES RANDALL, JOHN TURNER, CHARLES HAWCROFT, LAWRENCE HARRIOTT, HAROLD JOHN BOURKE, ERIC FLOYD HANCOCK. 

These soldiers were completed in 2013. NORMAN ARTHUR HALE, WILLIAM CULLEN, GEORGE LUCRE, ERIC WILSON, ALFRED VICTOR MOMPHLAIT

      Due to changes to the syllabus no profiles were constructed in 2014.

These soldiers were completed in 2015. EDGAR WILLIAM PARHAM, ARTHUR WEIR, JOHN CYRIL WYNN, WILLIAM ALEXANDER JAMIESON, WILLIAM BRUCE HIGGINS, ERNEST FRANK WILKIN

In 2016 only one profile was considered worthy of inclusion on this site.

LEONARD WILLIAM BROADHURST

In 2017 two profiles stood out.

ALBERT ERNEST PRATT and ALFRED GEORGE TUCK

In 2018/19 the students from St Clare's College in Waverley began creating video tributes to the soldiers missing following the Battle of Fromelles. Under the guidance of Lambis these are the videos they created which will feature in the upcoming documentary on the battle:

HERBERT BOLT, ALEXANDER CLINGAN, JOHN GOULDING, HERBERT JAMES HASLAM, HAROLD GEORGE WOODMAN, JOHN STANLEY LEES, WILLIAM CHARLES TUCKER,HENRY MAYER, GEORGE DUNCAN, BENEDICT DUNSTAN, THORNTON GAINSBOROUGH CLARKE, THOMAS SHERIDAN, ERNEST JENTSCH, ALAN MITCHELL

SOLDIER RESOURCES

JOHN (JACK) P. PHILLIPS *(Anne Stewart who is a member of the Ning is a relative)
ARTHUR DONALD LEIGH, 

ALFRED MOMPHLAIT(resources from relatives of Alfred), 

VICTOR SIMON, 

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

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

JOSEPH EDWARD LEE, 

FREDERICK GEORGE USHER (Mr Burden has a contact for Frederick), 

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, 

ALBERT CLIVE BROMLEY, 

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)

MAURICE LESLIE REID, 

ARTHUR RUSSELL, 

GEORGE HUNGERFORD

DAVID FREDERICK LIVINGSTONE, 

DANIEL BERNARD RYAN, 

LESLIE GORDON WALSH, 

PERCY WEAKLEY

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.