Musée Franco-Australien

The Franco-Australian Museum in Villers-Bretonneux traces the history of solidarity between Australians and French after the First World War. Through objects, testimonies and archives, it perpetuates the memory of this friendship.

In the aftermath of World War I, a small contingent of the Australian War Graves Bureau was based in Villers-Bretonneux. The town was in ruins and in order to rebuild it, Australians and French helped each other in an international solidarity movement which resulted in the rebuilding of its school. The museum presents this history of war, memory and future through the richness of the collection of the Franco-Australian association made mainly of donations. The tour allows us to understand the construction of this Franco-Australian memory, through 4 sequences illustrated by personal objects of soldiers but also by moving testimonies of this Franco-Australian friendship. A space under the glass roof allows visitors to remember while contemplating the inscription on the school's courtyard "Do not forget Australia", symbolizing the desire to remember and recognize.