On Monday 29 April, the French Archeologist Gilles Prilaux shared the fruit of his work during a fascinating talk that had been organised in collaboration by the French Trust Fund of the University of Melbourne, ISFAR, the Honorary French Consulate in Melbourne and the Shrine of Remembrance.

Gilles Prilaux explained how he discovered more than 3 200 signatures ( 2 000 of which were Australian !)  engraved in the chalk of the walls of the caves of Naours in the Somme region, that had been done by soldiers from various Army Corps of the First World War when they visited the caves. During his conference, Gilles Prilaux retraced and brought to life the moving stories of  some of these Australian Diggers. 

For this event, two large portraits painted by Australian artist George Petrou stood on stage.

After the talk, the audience gathered around delicious Anzac biscuits, right after the official handing to M.Chris Spence,  the Chair of the Trustees of the Shrine of Remembrance of a gift, a plaque from Naours, a symbol of the French-Australian friendship…

To hear more about Gilles Prilaux’ discoveries (in French, on Radio SBS), please click here.