Musée Franco-Australien

Lille, Flanders & the Somme


Some 2400 Australian soldiers were killed or wounded in the April 1918 assault that wrested Villers-Bretonneux from German control. In the 1920s, Australian children donated funds to rebuild the town's primary school, creating bonds of friendship that remain strong to this day. Part of Victoria School is now a museum featuring highly personal artefacts donated by Australian ex-servicemen and their families. It's located 20km east of Amiens via the D1029.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Lille, Flanders & the Somme attractions

1. Australian National War Memorial

1.44 MILES

During WWI, 416,809 Australians – 8% of the country's population – volunteered for overseas military service; 46,000 met their deaths on the Western Front…

2. Australian Corps Memorial Park

3.66 MILES

Adorned with a large bronze ‘Rising Sun’, the insignia of the Australian Imperial Force, this memorial 6.5km northeast of Villers-Bretonneux stands on the…

3. Tour Perret

9.55 MILES

One of Europe's earliest skyscrapers, the reinforced concrete Perret Tower (110m) faces the train station. It was designed by Belgian architect Auguste…

4. Maison de Jules Verne

9.72 MILES

Jules Verne (1828–1905) wrote some of his best-known works of brain-tingling – and eerily prescient – science fiction under the eaves of this turreted…

5. Cathédrale Notre Dame

9.83 MILES

A Unesco World Heritage Site, the largest Gothic cathedral in France (at 145m long) and the largest in the world by volume was begun in 1220 to house the…

6. Musée de Picardie

10.02 MILES

Housed in a dashing Second Empire structure (1855–67), the Picardy Museum contains archaeological exhibits, medieval art and Revolution-era ceramics. It's…

7. Beffroi d'Amiens

10.07 MILES

Constructed between 1406 and 1410, Amiens' massive square belfry – a Unesco-listed monument – has a mid-18th-century top reaching 52m, which was rebuilt…

8. Fricourt German Cemetery

13 MILES

A stark reminder of the extensive loss of life on all sides of WWI, this cemetery is the burial place of 17,027 fallen German soldiers. Only 5000 of the…

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