BATTLEFIELDS VISIT.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20274, 7 April 1934, Page 1

BATTLEFIELDS VISIT.

Australians Welcomed to Town They Saved. PARIS, April 5. The Mayor of Villers-Bretonneux, welcoming the Australian representatives who are visiting the cemetery said: ‘‘Your children lie buried in ground hallowed by their gallantry. We revere their memory equally with that of our own dead.” Mr Ferguson, one of the visiting Australians, said he was amazed to see how rebuilding had changed the entire contour of the country from what it was when he fought within half a mile. The Australians visited various cemeteries and memorials on the battlefields.

Shrine Picture for French Town. LONDON. March 27. At the ceremony at Villers-Breton- , neux (France) cn April 5, commemorating the anniversary of the Australian defence of the town, the Victorian Agent-General (Mr Linton) will present the Mayor with an enlarged and inscribed photograph of the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance. The Mayor is appealing for local subscriptions to defray the cost of recording the town’s gratitude to the Australian troops in an inscription on the Rock of Remembrance Within the Shrine. Meanwhile, .the children of VllersBretonneux are rehearsing the singing in French, in honour of the guests, of “ Australia Will Be There.” whKh has been adopted as the town’s ;ong. The Acting High Commissioner (Mr M’Laren) and the Agents-General will lay wreaths at various cemeteries in the neighbourhood.