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Preceded by a large Commonwealth cemetery containing over 2,000 graves, this memorial pays tribute to the 11,000 Australian soldiers who went missing during the Great War. This guided tour is a moving and informative experience that will teach you how to interpret a military grave, help you better understand the significance of the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, and the role played by Australia in the Great War.

Date : Saturday, April 20th at 3:00 pm
Duration : 1 hour
Meeting point on the parking lot of the Memorial
Free! 

Feel the vibrations of a bagpipe! Located at the top of the Australian National Memorial tower, a bagpiper performs famous and moving tunes to pay tribute to the ANZAC soldiers who fought on our territory.

Dates: April 26, 27, and 28 at 6:00 PM
Duration: About 30 minutes
Free!
In partnership with the Sir John Monash Centre
Meet at the base of the memorial tower.

Every year on April 25th, the Val de Somme honors the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) forces who fell in combat during the First World War.

On this occasion, a Dawn Service is held at the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux, located in Fouilloy. Visitors wishing to attend must book their pass online on the Anzac Day services ticketing website.
 

Ceremony Program:
2:30 AM: site opens
4:00 AM: pre-program begins
5:30 AM: ceremony begins
6:30 AM: ceremony ends
9:00 AM: ceremony at the war memorial in Villers-Bretonneux
3:00 PM: French ceremony at the Bullecourt Memorial - war memorial in the city center - Square du Souvenir Français
4:00 PM: Australian ceremony at the "Digger" monument near Bullecourt

To access the site, several options are available to you:
 

• Shuttle service from Villers-Bretonneux

Free shuttles will be available for ceremony participants between Villers-Bretonneux and the Australian National Memorial site. They will depart from the public parking lot at 1 Rue de la Gare in Villers-Bretonneux. The last departure is scheduled for 4:45 AM. After the ceremony, shuttles will be available again to take participants back to the parking lot in Villers-Bretonneux.

These shuttles will also be accessible to people with disabilities and reduced mobility.
 

• Shuttle service from Amiens

On foot from neighboring towns
Two illuminated and secure paths from the surrounding towns will allow participants to reach the ceremony site on foot.

1. From Villers-Bretonneux (45 minutes)
2. From Fouilloy (30 minutes)
 

Schedule
The official ceremony starts at 5:30 AM and ends at 6:30 AM. It will be preceded by a pre-ceremony starting at 4:00 AM, including musical performances, short film screenings, and readings.

Location
The ceremony takes place at the Australian National Memorial, on the Route de Villers-Bretonneux, in Fouilloy, in the Somme.

On the occasion of the ANZAC Day Dawn Service to be held on April 25th at the Australian National Memorial of Villers-Bretonneux located in Fouilloy, the Val de Somme Tourist Office dedicates the month of April to Memory. Thus, find all the activities that the team has prepared for you to (re)immerse yourself in these pages of history that have shaped our territory, and to whom we pay tribute through guided tours and other events.

Discover the Memories in Perspective circuit

Put on your helmets, adjust your pedals, and join us for a memorable day discovering the Memories in Perspective circuit! Accompanied by the tourist office guides, you will discover the 4 anamorphoses that make up this route, as well as different key sites of the First World War. All this, accompanied, at the start and finish, by a well-deserved snack!

Date: Saturday, April 6th starting at 9 am
Duration: full day / about 35km
Ages: 10 and up
Prices: €10 (14 and over) / Free for under 14s
Bring your picnic and water bottle

Guided Tour - Australian National Memorial

Preceded by a large Commonwealth cemetery containing more than 2000 graves, this memorial pays tribute to the 11,000 Australian soldiers lost during the Great War. This guided tour is an emotional and informative experience that will enable you to decipher a military tomb, better understand the stakes of the battle of Villers-Bretonneux, and the role played by Australia in the Great War.

Date: Saturday, April 20th at 3 pm
Duration: 1 hour
Free

ANZAC Day and Flash Comments "Deciphering a Tomb"

As every year, on April 25th, the ANZAC Day ceremony will take place at the Australian National Memorial located between Fouilloy and Villers-Bretonneux. This ceremony celebrates the memory of Australian and New Zealand soldiers (ANZAC) who fought in the First World War.

Why in Villers-Bretonneux?

On April 25th, 1915, Australian armed forces entered the war and landed at Gallipoli, Turkey, suffering a terrible defeat with heavy losses. This defeat would forever mark these very young nations. On April 25th, 1918, three years to the day after this tragic defeat, the Australians launched a victorious and heroic attack on Villers-Bretonneux, managing to repel the enemy, thus preventing the capture of Amiens by the German army. In 1921, the Australian government decided to commemorate this major sacrifice by establishing April 25th as a national day.

Thursday, April 25th, 2024
4 am: start of the pre-program / 5:30 am: start of the ceremony / 6:30 am: end of the ceremony / 8:30 am: ceremony at the war memorial in Villers-Bretonneux

Go on an adventure with Digger Quest

Take your family on an adventure at the Sir John Monash Centre with the new Digger Quest app!

The entire Sir John Monash Centre team has been working for over a year to develop this fun and educational application. It is aimed at children aged 6 and over. Digger Quest takes children on an adventure to discover Australia's role on the Western Front during the First World War.

They will have to explore the exhibition to find clues and answers with a tablet. They will then be guided through the center's galleries by the various totems, Australian animals, and will be able to complete their quests at their own pace. 

Armed with their tablet, adventurers explore Australia and discover why this young nation fought alongside the Allies in the First World War.

Thanks to stories told by Australian soldiers and nurses, younger visitors can also immerse themselves in the daily lives of Australians in France during the First World War. 

Practical info:

• Available from age 6
• Duration: 45min to 1h
• Free admission
   

Having suffered terribly from the Great War, the Somme cannot forget and remain inactive in the face of the many conflicts that still impact our world. With this in mind, Somme Tourisme wishes to draw on its remembrance tourism activities to initiate a solidarity movement for the benefit of countries affected by the current conflicts.

The idea is to collect funds from tourists visiting the battlefields and donate them to humanitarian NGOs. Until November 11, 2024, the funds raised will be donated to the NGO Handicap International, which provides medical and moral support to victims in conflict zones.

It's a historic moment! 

On September 20, 2023, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) listed 139 French and Belgian First World War memorial sites as World Heritage Sites. 

In the Somme, there are now 11 listed sites, including the Australian National Memorial and the Villers-Bretonneux Commonwealth Cemetery, both in the town of Fouilloy and individually listed.

The Val de Somme now has two listed sites. This recognition highlights both our region as a land of history, and the work of those involved in remembrance tourism, who work daily to promote the destination as an organic testimony to our collective memory.
 

Postcards to Remember 

Since the beginning of 2023, Val de Somme Tourist Office joins with Somme Tourism to support the initiative Somme Battlefields for Peace, a monetary fund which aims to make Remembrance Tourism an ethical and responsible form of tourism, with all profits from visits to cemeteries and memorials going to NGOs working in the humanitarian field or specializing in reconstruction on the soil of war-torn countries.

To this end, the Val de Somme Tourist Office has already donated funds raised during last July's "Bagpipes' march", and more recently during the Architecture National Days (Journées Nationales de l'Architecture), during which 3 guided tours of churches in Fouilloy, Corbie and Vaire-sous-Corbie raised over a hundred euros.

Since November 1st 2023, a new initiative has been in place. You can now find a collection of five "Remember to Act" postcards featuring various sites of the Remembrance trail, including the Villers-Bretonneux Australian Memorial, recently classified as a World Heritage Site, in the Tourist Office store. All cards are free of charge. Any donation in exchange for a card will be donated to Somme Battlefields for Peace !

Anzac Day has been canceled, but we must not forget the sacrifice of Australian soldiers from the First World War, who came to defend our territory at the cost of their lives. More than a century after the Great War, Franco-Australian friendship is stronger than ever.