A new audience for our Anzac history

The story of Australians’ struggle and sacrifice on the Western Front is reaching a new international audience previously unaware of the Anzac tradition.

French students, their parents and visitors from other European countries are increasingly visiting key Australian related WWI sites in France – in particular the hub of the so-called Remembrance Trail, the Sir John Monash Centre.

When international travel fell off a Covid cliff in 2020 – and stayed there for the next two years – the key Australian visitor sector dropped with it. It is only just starting to recover, with much increased numbers expected by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs for this year’s Anzac Day services at Villers-bretonneux, Gallipoli and other foreign destinations.

Locals kept the flame of remembrance alive, gathering on the road outside the Australian National Memorial on Anzac Day even when there were no official services.

In the meantime Rebecca Doyle, director of the $100m hi-tech museum at the celebrated Anzac battleground of Villers-bretonneux and her team, pivoted to attract one group that was still travelling around France: school students.

“We did an outreach campaign to French schools. We knew school trips were happening within France – no longer to places like the UK or Germany – so we leveraged off that,” she said.

“I would definitely say it is a change in the demographic of our visitors. It’s really exciting.”

While visitor numbers in 2022 overall remained down on pre-covid levels – no surprise given the numbers of Aussies heading overseas only began recovering in the second half of the year – the change in direction has seen the proportion of school trips triple, with French students now 87 per cent of school-age visitors as compared to 53 per cent in 2019.

“That has seen our French

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I would definitely say it is a change in the demographic of our visitors. It’s really exciting Rebecca Doyle (pictured)

numbers increase enormously,” said Doyle.

“We get students from France and beyond who say they had no idea the Australians fought here and are buried here.”

As a bonus, the children then tell their families.

In addition to visitors from all over France – with those living further away from the northeast World War I area usually the most surprised by what they find – the centre has also seen an uptick in Belgians and Dutch.