Anzac Day: Aussie victory at Villers-Bretonneux one to revere, says Monash scion

The fields around Villers-Bretonneux are described by Sir John Monash’s great-grandson as the ‘most important piece of land outside Australia’.

Michael Bennett with a bust of his great-grandfather Sir John Monash at the centre near Villers-Bretonneux. Picture: Patrick Walters

The “hallowed fields” surrounding the small French village of Villers-Bretonneux, where the new Sir John Monash Centre stands, are described by the ­revered military commander’s great-grandson as the “most ­important piece of land outside Australia”.

The village, captured from the enemy by Australian forces 100 years ago today, was where the ­Allied forces helped turn the tide against the German spring offensive in 1918 and secured the vital transport hub of Amiens.

The Sir John Monash Centre, located on high ground a few minutes’ drive from the village where the efforts of the Australian troops are still memorialised, was yesterday praised by Michael Bennett as the natural “starting point” for Australians making the pilgrimage to the Western Front battlegrounds of World War I.

Speaking to The Australian after inspecting the new centre located behind the Australian nat­ional memorial, which was built in 1938, Mr Bennett said it was “beautifully conceived” and would help re­create the experiences of the troops and elevate awareness of Australia’s contribution to the ­Allied forces in France — a story he said should be better known.

Mr Bennett was to attend the opening of the centre by Malcolm Turnbull overnight and will go to the Anzac Day Dawn Service at Villers-Bretonneux as a representative of the Monash family.

More than 115 descendants of Australians who served on the Western Front have also made the journey, including the family of Harold “Pompey” Elliott — one of Australia’s most famous generals and one of two commanders who led the night-time counter-attack at Villers-Bretonneux a century ago.

Mr Bennett said his great-grandfather would have been humbled to have the centre named after him, saying it was really a tribute to the soldiers and the “men who fought here and the Australian experience”.

“There’s nothing like seeing it. It’s really important that there be a place for Australians in France to act as a starting point for perhaps a pilgrimage,” Mr Bennett said.

“I’ve been here 10 years ago and seen the divisional memorials and so on, but there was nowhere specific that you could go and learn.

“I think it’s a very important part of our history that many Australians don’t know enough about.

“Gallipoli has always been the focus of Australia’s commemorations”.

Mr Bennett said the centre reinforced the key role that Australia played towards the end of the war, saying it did “incredibly well in bringing together images and sound in trying to recreate that experience”.

“I’m always concerned with recreations of the past that there is a mixture of recreation and original footage,” he said. “Here it makes it clear what’s real.

“I think it’s beautifully conceived. I love the idea that’s it’s not dominating anything. These are hallowed fields. This is the most important piece of land outside of Australia,” he said.

“It’s solid. It’s underground. You think of the soldiers underground in their tunnels or dugouts or in those fields of corn we’ve seen and watched. I think it’s beautiful.”