Plans for a wind farm on the site of a World War I battlefield where thousands of soldiers died are to be raised with the French government, an Australian minister said on Wednesday, reports The Telegraph.
Sky News reported that French energy company Engie Green had proposed to erect turbines on the grounds of the former Bullecourt killing fields in the country’s north.
The area was the scene of the heaviest Australian losses in the war during a battle that has become symbolic of the incompetence of British generals directing the campaign.
It is estimated that 10,000 Australians lost their lives, with many buried there.
Australians regularly travel to Bullecourt to pay their respects and remember those who died.
Veterans affairs minister Dan Tehan said he planned to talk with the French government to get a better understanding of what was planned amid fears unmarked graves could be desecrated.