Fromelles

Governor-General Quentin Bryce, right, and Prince Charles follow the coffin of an unknown Australian soldier during a ceremony at Fromelles, northern France, last night. Picture: AP Source: AP

IN a French village, Australians stand in reverence at a new memorial as Fromelles enters into the national consciousness.

But as she rises to speak, at the dedication of Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery, Governor-General Quentin Bryce speaks of a deeper and harder silence.

"We are here to observe the end of a long silence," she says.

"A near-century of questioning and not knowing, of loving hearts unrequited, generations of absence, lives extinguished without explanation, missing without proper account.

"That is, until today, 94 years since the slaughter, maiming and displacement of thousands of soldiers on the nearby field: no-man's land, the theatre of the devastating Battle of Fromelles."

Thousands of Australians travelled to Fromelles to honour a family member or loved one who fell in the worst 24 hours of Australian history. The bloody battle of Fromelles in July 1916 saw casualties, either killed, wounded or missing, amount to 7800 in one division alone.