The remains of Bacchus Marsh-born World War I digger Private Ernest Robert Oliver, who died in the bloody battle of Fromelles in 1916, have been identified using DNA technology.
Private Oliver, a member of the 29th battalion, was one of 20 diggers named on May 26 as having been identified, after their remains were found in a mass grave at Pheasant Wood, France, in 2009.
Private Oliver’s remains were among those of 250 Australian and British soldiers recovered from the burial site.
Since then, authorities have been painstakingly carrying out the identification process using DNA. So far, 144 diggers have been identified.
The young soldier was one of 5500 killed or wounded in the battle on July 19. He died just over a month after arriving in France. He was 30 at the time and had two young daughters with his wife, Alice Saunders.
For almost 100 years, the only memorial to Private Oliver has been an elm in the Bacchus Marsh Avenue of Honour.
Great War Centenary Committee president, Damien Strangio, said Private Oliver was one of six siblings, including five brothers, each of whom has an elm on the avenue.
His youngest brother, Robert Oliver – who died of war wounds in 1918 and is buried in France – has the elm beside Ernest.
