Ninety three years ago, a young man from Nyrang Creek told his sister he was leaving home.
Albert was single with no children, so was going off to seek adventure and broaden his horizons. He said to his sister before heading off, “I don’t want to return here, it’s time to move on.”
He was about to leave his home and serve his country in France.
Albert Williamson never returned home, and not because it was time for him to move on from Nyrang Creek.
He was killed at Pheasant Wood, and his grave, until now, was never found.
One of his descendants, Christine Burt is now helping to identify the possible discovery of Albert’s remains.
She and her family - her mother was Albert’s sister - hope the discovery will bring closure, peace, and final knowledge of what happened to their family member.
Albert enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force on August 21st 1915, to serve abroad.
At the time he was 21years old. On the16th Feb 1916, he joined the AIF 54th Battalion and trained at Warwick, Sydney for a couple of months.
Albert embarked on HT “Caledonian” bound for the Middle East and disembarked at Alexandria, Egypt, 19th June 1916. After a very short break in Egypt he set sail again this time for France on 29th June 1916, and disembarked the“Caledonian” in Marseilles, France.
It is believed that from Marseilles the Battalion more than likely marched to Fromelles due to all available transport being used for military and war efforts.
Albert was reported missing, 21st July 1916 in France, following the big front line push on the Germans at Pheasant Wood on the 19th and 20th July, 1916.
From archival documents, historians reports, and photographic evidence, three mass graves were identified where the Germans collected many of the fallen and buried them.
They were given respect and honour by the Germans, by burying them according to their identifying uniform and rank. Their identity discs were removed.
At the time these discs were made of very hard cardboard, so in time these would have disintegrated leaving no other means of knowing that they had been killed in that battle, other than being listed as missing.
On 13th March 1917, his identification disc was received by the British War Office from Germany. No particulars were offered except that the soldier was deceased, Killed in Action, France, 1916.
Ninety three years later, The Australian Fromelles Project started the recovery and archaelogical dig to exhume those buried there, and the slow process of contact with possible descendants and relatives of the soldiers of Pheasant Wood.
The dig began in June 2009, and was completed in September 2009. The recovery has been supervised by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
During the battle at Fromelles 5,533 Australians, 1,547 British were killed or wounded on 19th and 20th July 1916.
1,333 Australians have no known grave from the battle, however many of these soldiers will have been buried in existing Commonwealth War Graves.
It is expected that 300 soldiers from Australia and Britain will be found and identified through DNA testing of family descendants.
It is believed that Albert’s remains are more than likely in the grave site exhumed.
Several of Albert’s descendants have been sourced for DNA sampling. The results of the DNA sampling is yet to be
determined.
Albert’s remains will stay in France, but now given an identity and individual grave with a personalised head stone.
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