The Italian National Ossario, also known as the Murchison Ossario, is an ossuary, war cemetery and war memorial in Murchison, a town in the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria, Australia. The ossario holds the remains of 130 Italians interned during World War II.[1]
Construction work on the monument started in 1958 and the monument was consecrated in 1961. The ossuary was built from funds raised by local Italian communities in the Gouburn Valley with the fundraising effort led by Luigi Gigliotti. The ossario was designed by Paolo Caccia Dominioni who also designed the El Alamein Italian mausoleum in Egypt.[1]
The 130 people interred in the ossuary include 129 men and one woman. Both prisoners of war sent to Australia as well as British and Australian residents of Italian descent interned as civilian enemy aliens are buried there.[1]
References
- ^ a b c Egan, Laura (11 November 2016). "In memory of those who never walked free from World War II". Il Globo. Archived from the original on 26 August 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
Further reading
- Spizzica, Mia (2014). "Lest we forget an iconic Italian war grave: The Murchison Ossario". Journal of the Italian Historical Society. 22: 27–35.
External links
Media related to Murchison Ossario at Wikimedia Commons
- Italian National Ossario – Monument Australia
- Italian National Ossario at Find a Grave