Bullecourt Memorial

"The Blood Tub"

In the late Spring of 1917, the Allies were in crisis. Revolution had erupted in Russia and the French army was on the verge of mutiny. 

Meanwhile, Germany was winning the war in the air and her U-boats menaced the channel. 

Despite General 'Thruster' Gough's first assault on the fortress village of Bullecourt using the new wonder 'tank' and the Anzacs, it ended in disaster. 

On the 3rd of May Gough launched a second attack on Bullecourt which dominated the British action on the Western Front for two weeks. 

It was the excessive brutality and ferocity of the hand-to-hand fighting that earned Bullecourt the name 'the Blood Tub'.

<< A member of Australia's Federation Guard at Bullecourt 

The Bullecourt Memorial Park "Digger"

This town has several AIF memorials, the most important of which is a small memorial park in which stands a major sculpture in bronze - the "Digger". The park’s commemorative plaque reads:

Sacred to the memory of the 10,000 members of the Australian Imperial Force who were killed or wounded in the two battles of Bullecourt, April-May 1917, and to the Australian dead and their comrades-in-arms who lie here forever in the soil of France.

 ‘Lest we Forget’

The Bullecourt Memorial Park was dedicated in 1993. There were two major battles at Bullecourt in April and May 1917 in which some 10,000 members of the Australian Imperial Force were killed or wounded.

The Memorial Park overlooks the battlefield and consists of a cairn on which stands the bronze "Bullecourt Digger". The bronze sculpture was designed and sculpted in Melbourne by Peter Corlett.

Bullecourt's "Slouch Hat" memorial

• This is probably the only war memorial in the world where the focal point is an item of uniform. The slouch hat is bronzed to make it last.

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