Fromelles was commissioned by The Hunter Singers in 2016 under the direction of Kim Sutherland OAM who also personally supported the entire project, including a research trip to Fromelles in Northern France.
Paul has had a long connection with the Hunter Singers, including a tour to the battlefields of France and Belgium in 2007 for the world premiere of Paul’s work “Known Unto God”. During this tour, after many shared, powerful experiences, Paul dreamed of creating a new work that would honour the memories of the ‘diggers’ by searching the thousands of inscriptions on the head stones and writing lyrics inspired by them. And then, within months, Paul and Kim learned of the work of Lambis Englezos who that very year was digging in Fromelles to recover what he believed were the bodies of 250 Australian soldiers, buried just near the town in a war grave.
Fromelles was the first major battle fought by Australian troops on the Western Front. By 8am on 20 July 1916, the battle was over. The 5th Australian Division suffered 5,533 casualties, with nearly 2000 dead in battle or soon after from related injuries. The attack was a complete failure as the Germans realised within a few hours it was merely a feint. It therefore had no impact whatsoever upon the progress of the Somme offensive.
More Australian soldiers perished in 14 hours at Fromelles than in the Boer, Korean and Vietnam Wars combined. By many it is considered the worst military disaster in Australian history and has been called “the worst 24 hours in Australia’s entire history”.
In 2007, thanks to Lambis, a survey was commissioned by the Australian government, which indicated that pits just outside of town had been undisturbed since the war. From 23 May – 13 June 2008, an exploratory dig found human remains, personal effects, webbing, brass fitments, uniform badges, buttons and even a return train ticket from Fremantle to Perth. 250 soldiers had been returned and are now buried near the site in a new cemetery. Many have been identified after 90 years of waiting.
This piece is based on the letters home from diggers including Major Roy Harrison, Pompey Elliott and, Private Jimmy Downing. These letters were penned from the trench itself, only hours before these men were killed in a tragedy that should have never happened. Many of the victims were simply left to die in the killing fields.
In the French summer of 2015, Paul Jarman walked all the sites of the battle, including the Pheasant Wood massed grave and collected visual quotes from the town, school and cemeteries to include in the piece, combined with the inscriptions on the headstones of the diggers who have been found through DNA testing.
Paul would like to thank Lambis Englezos for his passion and commitment, and the authors Patrick Lindsay and Les Carlyon for their research and writing. This piece would never have happened without the generosity and undying passion of Kim Sutherland.
On the eve of the Centenary of the battle, the Hunter Singers performed Paul’s piece to an audience in the church of Fromelles, just 100 metres above where the bodies lay for 90 years; the same church was used by the German Officers as a command base exactly 100 years before as they prepared battle.
An audio sample recording from a digital source.