Relief as plan to build wind farm on war site is ditched
Some 10,000 Australians were killed or wounded at the site during First World War
Many bodies were never found, and the planned site for the wind farm is a natural burial ground near the Bullecourt memorial in northern France that is visited regularly by Australian families.
Canberra yesterday welcomed as “very touching” the scrapping of a planned French wind farm on the site of a First World War battlefield where thousands of Australian soldiers died.
French energy company Engie Green had planned to erect two turbines on the grounds of the former Bullecourt killing fields in northern France, where some 10,000 Australians were killed or wounded in 1917.
Many bodies were never found, and the planned site for the wind farm is a natural burial ground near the Bullecourt memorial that is visited regularly by Australian families.
“This is wonderful news for every Australian and especially those with a family connection to the Battle of Bullecourt,” Veterans’ Affairs Minister Dan Tehan said in a statement.
“The Engie group has listened to the concerns of the Australian people and they have acted with empathy by cancelling this project.”
Tehan told Sky News he was also grateful for the efforts of the French government, saying it showed “how the French still, 100 years on, take so importantly what Australians were prepared to do for them”.
“From the local mayor right through to the minister for veterans’ affairs, they all referred to the diggers and the legacy of the diggers ... it’s very touching for all Australians.”
‘Barbaric’
Diggers is Australian army slang for the nation’s wartime soldiers, and reflects the digging that troops on the front line did to create trenches.
Australian pensioner Maria Cameron from Port Fairy, a friend of Tehan, was lobbying local officials when AFP visited the site last week in the Pas-deCalais region, near the border with Belgium. “It’s barbaric. This is our sacred ground,” the 70-year-old said of Engie’s plans as she met with the local mayor and French campaigners during her trip.