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      • Counting the Cost of Kokoda
      • Depth Study: World War One 1914–18. Year 9
      • Do Statues Speak?: Investigating the continuity and change in beliefs that have influenced the Australian way of life through local war memorials
      • First World War—Year 9 History/Humanities
      • In Their Footsteps: Recording the histories of military personnel from the Korean and Vietnam Wars, Afghanistan, other conflicts and/or peacekeeping missions for Year 10 students
      • Making of the Modern World: World War I
      • The Great War: Conflict, Chaos and Courage
      • The Human Face of War: The First World War and Beyond
      • The Korean War
      • The Legend of the Anzac Spirit
      • The Post-War World: A Video Game, Year 10 History
      • The Significance of WW1
      • The Vietnam War and Australia
      • VC or No VC: That is the Question
      • WWI and Australia on the Western Front
      • WWII: Shaping the Modern World
      • What was the significance of World War I?
      • Who is that soldier in the carpark?
      • World War 1
      • World War I: Year 9
      • World War One
      • Year 3 History—Fortifying North Queensland
    • Activities
      • Coming Home: An investigation of the Armistice and Repatriation
      • Keeping the Peace: Investigating Australia's contribution to peacekeeping
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      • 1916—Fromelles and the Somme
      • 1917—Bapaume and Bullecourt
      • 1917—Ypres
      • 1918—Amiens to Hindenburg Line
      • 1918—Villers-Bretonneux to Le Hamel
      • A Bitter Fate—Australians In Malaya & Singapore
      • Ancestry—Stories of multicultural Anzacs
      • Audacity—Stories of heroic Australians in wartime
      • Australian Flying Corps
      • Australian Light Horse—Palestine 1916–1918
      • Bomber Command
      • Chinese Anzacs
      • Comradeship—Stories of friendship and recreation in wartime
      • Curiosity—Stories of those who report during wartime
      • Decision—Stories of Leadership in the Services
      • Devotion—Stories of Australia's Wartime Nurses
      • Forever Yours
      • Gallipoli
      • Greece and Crete
      • Home Front
      • Laden, Fevered, Starved—the POWs of Sandakan
      • Memories and Memorabilia
      • North Africa and Syria
      • North Beach Gallipoli 1915
      • Operation Jaywick
      • Resource—Stories of innovation in wartime
      • Royal Australian Navy
      • The sinking of the Centaur
      • Valuing our veterans
      • World Wide Effort: Australia's Peacekeepers
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    • 60th Anniversary of the Korean War
    • 70th Anniversary Tobruk 1941
    • 70th Anniversary of the battles for Greece and Crete
    • 70th anniversary of the Kokoda campaign
    • 70th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin
    • 95th Anniversary of the landings on Gallipoli
    • Anzac Centenary School Link Program
    • Anzac Day poster
    • Anzac Day poster
    • Australia and the Vietnam War
    • Australian Prisoners of War
    • Australian Women in War
    • Australians at War Film Archive
    • Australians on the Western Front
    • Centenary of the Flanders Offensive
    • Centenary of the Royal Australian Navy
    • Centenary of the Sinai–Palestine campaign
    • Centenary of the Somme
    • Commemorating Australian Forces in the Vietnam War
    • Commemorating Australian forces in the Korean War
    • Commemorating Australian forces in the Vietnam War 1962–1975
    • Commemorating Australian prisoners of war on the Burma–Thailand Railway
    • Commemorating the Centenary of the Gallipoli Landings
    • Commemorating the Malayan Emergency and Indonesian Confrontation
    • Commemorating the first convoy of Australian troops to the First World War
    • Commemorating the return of Australian forces from Afghanistan
    • Discovering Anzacs Exhibition Tips and Tools (Learn Area)
    • Discovering Anzacs School and Community Toolkit (Learn Area)
    • Discovering Anzacs Video Tutorials and Timeline (Learn Area)
    • Gallipoli and the Anzacs
    • Great Debates—Conscription 2016
    • Here they come—A day to remember
    • INTERFET—International Forces for East Timor
    • Indigenous Service
    • Investigating Gallipoli
    • Kokoda: Exploring the Second World War campaign in Papua New Guinea
    • Korea—A Cold War conflict (1950–1953)
    • M is for Mates—Animals in Wartime from Ajax to Zep
    • Remembering Them app—Education Activities
    • Remembrance day
    • Schooling, Service and the Great War (Primary Resource)
    • Schooling, Service and the Great War (Secondary Resource)
    • Symbols of Commemoration Cube Education Activities (Secondary)
    • Symbols of Commemoration Cube—Education Activities (Primary school resource)
    • The Flanders Poppy—A symbol of remembrance
    • The Nominal Roll of Australian Korean War Veterans
    • The Nominal Roll of Australian Vietnam War Veterans
    • The Nominal Roll of Australian World War 2 Veterans
    • The Sinking of HMAS Sydney
    • The War that Changed Us Education Activities
    • Their Spirit, Our History
    • Wartime snapshot #23—1918-2018: Centenary of the Final Campaigns
    • We Remember Anzac (Primary Resource)
    • We Remember Anzac (Secondary Resource)
    • We'll Meet Again

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  • Gallipoli and the Anzacs
  • Australians on the Western Front
  • Australia and the Second World War
  • The Thai–Burma Railway and Hellfire Pass
  • The Kokoda Track
  • Australian involvement in South-East Asian conflicts
  • The Korean War
  • Australia and the Vietnam War
  • Australians on the Western Front
  • The Australian Remembrance Trail
  • Resources
  • Australians on the Western Front
  • The Australian Remembrance Trail
    • Ieper (Ypres)—Belgium
      • What happened here?
      • A walk around Ieper
        • Cloth Hall (Lakenhalle)
        • Ypres War Memorial (Jules Coomansstraat)
        • St George's Church (Elverdingsestraat)
        • St Martin's Cathedral (Vandenpeerboomplein)
        • Lille Street Rijselestraat (Lille Gate)
        • Ramparts Cemetery (Lille Gate)
      • Nearby—The Menin Gate, Ieper
        • Names on the Menin Gate
        • 'Menin Gate at Midnight'
        • Last Post at Menin Gate
      • Nearby—Essex Farm Cemetery
        • Private Barratt
        • Lieutenant Colonel McCrae
      • Nearby—Deutscher Soldatenfreidhof
    • Tyne Cot Cemetery—Zonnebeke
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting—Tyne Cot Cemetery
        • 40th Battalion at Tyne Cot
        • Captain Hurley at Passchendaele
      • Nearby—Fifth Australian Division Memorial
        • Battle of Polygon Wood
        • Buttes New British Cemetery
        • Private Radford
      • Nearby—Menin Road
        • Hooge Crater Cemetery
    • Toronto Avenue Cemetery—Ploegsteert
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting Toronto Avenue Cemetery
      • Nearby—Island of Ireland Peace Park
        • Battle of Messines
        • Pillboxes at Messines
      • Nearby—Hill 60, Zwarte-Leen
        • Tunnels at Hill 60
        • Craters at Hill 60
    • VC Corner—Fromelles
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting Fromelles
        • The Cemetery and Memorial
        • Major McCrae
        • Private Chadwick
        • Sergeant Simon Fraser
        • The 'Nursery'
      • Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery
        • Exhumation and identification
        • Exhumed objects gallery
        • Cemetery construction
        • Reburial
        • Stories of the dead
      • Nearby—Notre Dame de Lorette French Cemetery and Memorial
        • Battles of Artois 1915
      • Nearby—Canadian National Vimy Memorial
      • Nearby—Zivy Crater Cemetery
        • 'Lunar' landscapes
    • The Bullecourt Digger—France
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting Bullecourt
        • The 'Bullecourt Digger'
        • 48th Battalion at Bullecourt
        • Sergeant White, 22nd Battalion
      • Nearby—Noreuil Australian Cemetery
        • Vaulx to Noreuil
        • Noreuil, 2 April 1917
      • Nearby—Bapaume
        • Bapaume Town Hall
      • Nearby—Butte de Warlencourt
        • Butte de Warlencourt (February 1917)
        • 18th Battalion at Malt Trench
        • Warlencourt British Cemetery
        • Fight for the Loupart Bastion
    • Thiepval Memorial—France
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting Thiepval Memorial
        • Anglo–French Cemetery
      • Nearby—Ulster Tower
        • Lady Munro-Ferguson
      • Nearby—Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial
        • Memorial and surrounds
    • First Australian Division Memorial—Pozières
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting the First Australian Division Memorial
        • Capture of Pozières, 23 July 1916
        • Bombardment of Pozières, 24–26 July 1916
        • Charles Bean at Pozières
      • Nearby—Albert
        • Hénencourt Chateau
        • Albert Communal Cemetery Extension
      • Nearby—The road to Pozières
        • Tyneside Scottish and Irish Memorial
        • Lochnagar Crater
        • Gordon Dump Cemetery
        • Sunken Road Cemetery
      • Nearby—Devonshire Cemetery
        • Mametz Wood
    • The Windmill—Pozières
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting the Windmill
        • Capture of Pozières heights
        • 48th Battalion at the Windmill
      • Nearby—The road to Flers
        • Somme Winter
        • 'Les Cavées' (the caves)
        • Gueudecourt (Newfoundland) Memorial
      • Nearby—AIF Memorial
        • Mouquet Farm
        • Sacrifice at Mouquet Farm
    • Australian National Memorial—Villers-Bretonneux
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting Villers-Bretonneux
        • Second battle of Villers-Bretonneux
        • Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery
        • The town of Villers-Bretonneux
      • Nearby—Adelaide Cemetery
        • The unknown soldier
      • Nearby—Amiens Cathedral
        • Lieutenant McCartin MC
        • Château de Bertangles
        • Notre-Dame d'Amiens
    • Australian Corps Memorial—Le Hamel
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting the Australian Corps Memorial
        • Battle of Hamel
      • Nearby—Third Australian Division Memorial
        • Sailly-le-Sec (30 March 1918)
      • Nearby—Dernancourt
        • Dernancourt in 1918
        • Dernancourt Cemetery
    • Second Australian Division Memorial—Mont St Quentin
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting Mont St Quentin
        • Mont St Quentin 1918
        • Péronne
      • Nearby—Heath Cemetery
        • Advance to Morcourt Valley
        • The road to Lamotte-Warfusée
    • Fourth Australian Division Memorial—Bellenglise
      • What happened here?
      • Visiting the 4th Australian Division Memorial
        • Hindenburg Outpost Line
      • Of interest—The Forest Clearing of the Armistice
        • Compiègne Forest
        • 11 November 1918
      • Of interest—Palace of Versailles
        • Australia in Paris, 1919
      • Nearby—Calvaire Cemetery
        • The last VC in WWI
        • Captains Fletcher and Mahony
        • Tincourt British Cemetery
  • Resources
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Exhumed objects gallery

… a fountain pen, a bible, a French phrase book, a leather pouch with coins still inside …

Exhumed objects

A colour photo of a fountain pen found in the mass grave.
A colour photo of a shoulder flash found in the mass grave at Pheasant Wood.
A colour photo of what remains of a rosary—a cross with the fastener.
A colour photo of what remains of a rosary—a cross with the fastener and beads.
A colour photo of what remains of a train ticket (about 80% of it, in pieces that have been placed together)
A colour photo looking at a black leather wallet, 8 coins and a very small piece of fabric.
A colour photo of a pipe.
A colour photo of a button. It has a raised section with a concave centre that has four sewing holes. Around the top of the concave part is a rope engraving. Reads: "A HORDERN & SONS SYDNEY"
see caption

The process of exhumation

A colour aerial photo of the Pheasant Wood area, which shows the excavation site (under temporary structures) and the temporary building.

1. Aerial photograph of the Pheasant Wood excavation site. The pits are under the weather protective structures at the top of the image. [Australian Army]

A colour photo, inside one of the temporary protective structures where the excavation is being carried out by a small digger. A person is in the dug out area looking at the newly exposed section.
A colour photo of 5 people in white all-in-one suits, face masks and head cover, inside of a wide dug-out section, looking closely at areas in the dirt. They are all on their knees.
A colour photo of an archaeologist who is sitting on the ground, wearing all protective clothing and sifting through small pieces of clay.
A colour photo, closeup to an archaeologist wearing gloves. He is holding a magnifying piece with his right hand and is looking at something in his left hand (obscured by his right hand).
A colour photo looking under the temporary protective cover. There are five people in the dug out area, in white all-in-one suits, head and face coverings. Three area within set out areas, digging. Two are standing to the side.
A colour photo of a storage area that has a wall of shelves that all hold many gold-coloured boxes with labels on their front. A man sits on his haunches and is pulling out a box.
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