Lambis Englezos – the man who helped unearth the remains of WWI Diggers buried anonymously at Fromelles in northern France – has embarked on a new campaign, to ensure all war graves in Australia are properly maintained.
A voluntary advisor to the Office of Australian War Graves and the Victorian RSL, Mr Englezos has become the spokesman for a group of historians who have identified scores of WWI soldiers’ graves in barely marked plots at Heidelberg’s Warringal Cemetery and elsewhere.
The evidence at Heidelberg – neglected graves of soldiers who died of war-related causes having returned from the Western Front damaged psychologically – is compelling.
With their original headstones removed (part of a decommissioning process that began in the 1960s and has only recently come to light), the soldiers’ names are hardly recognisable on small metal plates affixed to the broken headstone. No details of their war service are included.
Some of the soldiers’ names and service details are included 30kms away on commemorative plaques at Springvale Garden of Remembrance.
The matter has brought into sharp relief the Commonwealth’s policy of only maintaining a single place of commemoration.
Gardens of Remembrance have become the focus for official commemoration of Australia’s war dead, seemingly often at the expense of grave sites, which are left to families to maintain.
Where the serviceman has a plaque in a Garden of Remembrance, under the Office of Australian War Graves’ policy, the department does not automatically maintain the grave.
The servicemen buried at Warringal Cemetery – who suffered from shell shock – died in the Military Mental Ward (Asylum), 16th AGH, Mont Park, Victoria, (now part of La Trobe University campus) in the 1920s.
“It’s not good enough. We have a duty to give these soldiers back their dignity and identify these men properly where they lie,” Mr Englezos told Neos Kosmos.
“We need to acknowledge their service. Ashes and headstones of WWI soldiers are being removed from cemeteries and hundreds lie in unmarked dirt plots.”
President of the Hellenic sub-branch of the RSL, Steve Kyritsis said he shared Mr Englezos’ concerns over the Warringal plots. “These soldiers deserve a proper grave,” he said.
“The Australian government has an obligation to honour these servicemen at their place of burial. Though it’s a federal issue I think the state government should also look into this matter. It’s a government responsibility.”
Mr Englezos is also concerned over reports of veterans’ ashes – supposedly held in perpetuity – being thrown out, as Melbourne cemeteries look for more space.
The Albert Park-based campaigner and fellow activists are lobbying state government to amend the Victorian Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2003 to prevent cemeteries dispensing with ashes without the agreement of families of the deceased.
Current legislation allows cemeteries to disperse ashes if a family do not request an extension to their safe-keeping beyond 25 years.
In a statement provided to Neos Kosmos by the Victorian government, Hugh Delahunty, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, said the issue of the war graves at Warringal Cemetery “has been and remains a matter for the Commonwealth Government through the Office of War Graves”.
This issue of ashes removal is due to be considered by a Ministerial Advisory Committee for Cemeteries and Crematoria under the portfolio of Victoria’s Health Minister David Davis.