| Place | Europe: France, Nord Pas de Calais, Nord, Lille, Fromelles, Pheasant Wood Military Cemetery |
|---|---|
| Accession Number | P08624.018 |
| Collection type | Photograph |
| Object type | Black & white - Photomechanical print |
| Maker |
Cumberland |
| Place made | Australia: New South Wales, Sydney, Parramatta1 |
| Date made | 1920 |
| Conflict |
First World War, 1914-1918 |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain
|
Studio portrait of Lieutenant (Lt) Robert David Burns, 14th Company Machine Gun Corps from Potts ...
Description
Studio portrait of Lieutenant (Lt) Robert David Burns, 14th Company Machine Gun Corps from Potts Point, NSW. A station manager and owner prior to enlisting, he embarked from Sydney aboard the Southland on 30 August 1915. Lt Burns was killed in action at Fromelles, France on 20 July 1916, aged 28. After the war his grave could not be located and he was commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France. In 2008 a burial ground was located at Pheasant Wood containing the bodies of 250 British and Australian soldiers including Lt Burns. All of the remains were reburied in the newly created Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery. At the time of the official dedication of the new cemetery on 19 July 2010, ninety-six of the Australians, including Lt Burns, had been identified through a combination of anthropological, archaeological, historical and DNA information. Work is continuing on identifying the other remains relocated from the burial ground and buried in the new cemetery as unknown soldiers.