Some 2400 Australian soldiers were killed or wounded in the April 1918 assault that wrested Villers-Bretonneux from German control. In the 1920s, Australian children donated funds to rebuild the town's primary school, creating bonds of friendship that remain strong to this day. Part of Victoria School is now a museum featuring highly personal artefacts donated by Australian ex-servicemen and their families. It's located 20km east of Amiens via the D1029.
Musée Franco-Australien
Lille, Flanders & the Somme
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Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
9.83 MILES
A Unesco World Heritage Site, the largest Gothic cathedral in France (at 145m long) and the largest in the world by volume was begun in 1220 to house the…
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19.04 MILES
For historical and cultural context, the best place to begin a visit to the Somme battlefields is the outstanding Historial de la Grande Guerre in Péronne…
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15.68 MILES
Believed to date from the 3rd century AD, this extraordinary underground 'city' of quarried tunnels was started by the Romans and expanded over the…
14.93 MILES
Its silhouette instantly recognisable from afar, this 45m-high memorial to the missing of the Somme, 7.5km northeast of Albert, is inscribed with the…
9.72 MILES
Jules Verne (1828–1905) wrote some of his best-known works of brain-tingling – and eerily prescient – science fiction under the eaves of this turreted…
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Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial
15.4 MILES
This evocative memorial preserves part of the Western Front in the state it was in at fighting's end. The zigzag trench system, which still fills with mud…
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Mémorial Sud-Africain Delville Wood
17.14 MILES
The memorial (1926) and star-shaped museum (1986), a replica of Cape Town's Castle of Good Hope, stand in the middle of Delville Wood, where in July 1916…
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Australian National War Memorial
1.44 MILES
During WWI, 416,809 Australians – 8% of the country's population – volunteered for overseas military service; 46,000 met their deaths on the Western Front…
Nearby Lille, Flanders & the Somme attractions
1. Australian National War Memorial
1.44 MILES
During WWI, 416,809 Australians – 8% of the country's population – volunteered for overseas military service; 46,000 met their deaths on the Western Front…
2. Australian Corps Memorial Park
3.66 MILES
Adorned with a large bronze ‘Rising Sun’, the insignia of the Australian Imperial Force, this memorial 6.5km northeast of Villers-Bretonneux stands on the…
9.55 MILES
One of Europe's earliest skyscrapers, the reinforced concrete Perret Tower (110m) faces the train station. It was designed by Belgian architect Auguste…
9.72 MILES
Jules Verne (1828–1905) wrote some of his best-known works of brain-tingling – and eerily prescient – science fiction under the eaves of this turreted…
9.83 MILES
A Unesco World Heritage Site, the largest Gothic cathedral in France (at 145m long) and the largest in the world by volume was begun in 1220 to house the…
10.02 MILES
Housed in a dashing Second Empire structure (1855–67), the Picardy Museum contains archaeological exhibits, medieval art and Revolution-era ceramics. It's…
10.07 MILES
Constructed between 1406 and 1410, Amiens' massive square belfry – a Unesco-listed monument – has a mid-18th-century top reaching 52m, which was rebuilt…
13 MILES
A stark reminder of the extensive loss of life on all sides of WWI, this cemetery is the burial place of 17,027 fallen German soldiers. Only 5000 of the…