Villers Bretonneux
One-Word-Sunday22-Straight
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straight
One Word Sunday Challenge:...Straight
Cee-BW-Challenge-Landscapes
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Cee’s
Black and White Challenge.
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Geelong sunset.
Beachscape
A landscape or the result of landscaping?
Many South West Victorian farms have
changed their landscape from one
which grazed sheep and cattle to one
which grows trees and is far less intensive.
A little over 100 years ago this idyllic
French landscape would have appeared
anything but idyllic as Villers Bretonneux
was in the middle of some of the
heaviest fighting of World War I.
As the sun goes down…
…near Geelong.
Yearling Herefords
Spring sown canola crop on its way to maturity.
Canola in flower
Saint Kilda Pier
Moorabool Valley eucalypts.
In the distance are
The Grampians.
The southern end of
The Great Dividing Range.
Moorabool Valley
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Cees-BW-Photo-Challenge: Landscapes
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Tuesday-PC-Wk137_”Challenge”
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I’m late with my post this week because I did find it a challenge.
Climbing the tower at the Australian Memorial
at Villers Bretonneux.
After spending most of the day walking in heavy denim jeans
and sneakers in unseasonal mid twenties temperatures…
the last thing I felt like doing was climbing a staircase.
I thought maybe the arch would do…
However having attained that height…
the next level was my goal.
Imagine my horror upon reaching this level
only to find there were
still more steps to the summit.
I will admitted only twenty-three but the view was worth it.
I just cannot imagine that War has raged around this
tranquil farmland setting not once but twice.
Did you notice the bullet holes in the tower
from World War II aircraft.
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ANZAC-Day-2018
ANZAC-Day-2018
Today, ANZAC Day 2018 the
Prime Minister of Australia… 
Mr. Malcolm Turnbull…
is visiting the co-located
Australian National Memorial
and the
Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery
located just outside of Villers-Brettonneux
on The Somme Battlefields of France,
to open the Sir John Monash Centre.
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The Sir John Monash Centre was…
under construction when
I visited early in June, 2017…
and is situated behind the Central Tower…
from which the views are stunning.
It was extremely difficult to imagine
all the lives lost…
and bloodshed in
this idyllic farming land.
There are wing walls flanking the central tower…
upon which are engraved the names of
10,732 Australian casualties who died in France…
and who have no known grave.
Used as an observation post by
the French in World War II…
the Memorial was extensively damaged by
German aircraft and ground fire.
During the repair process it was decided to
retain some of the scarring.
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Lest We Forget
Wordless Wednesday18_0418
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As we approach ANZAC Day I thought of some
of the memorials and cemeteries visited last year. 
Toronto Avenue Cemetery.
Prowse Point Cemetery, Belgium
A cemetery dedicated to the soldiers
of the German Army, near Bullecourt.
An American Cemetery…
also in the Bullecourt region.
Polygon Woods Cemetery.
Merricourt Cemetery.
Fromelles Military Cemetery.
Polygon Woods Cemetery.
Australian Memorial Villers Bretonneux.
Lest We Forget.
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Hope you enjoyed.
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Wordless Wednesday17_0124
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Some images of…
the Australian War Memorial at…
Villers–Bretonneux.
Behind the centre tower the Sir John Monash Centre…
was being constructed and may nearly be open now.
So peaceful and yet soaked with so much blood.
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Hope you enjoyed.
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Wordless Wednesday (create-with-joy.com)
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