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Italian National OssarioPrint Page 
The “Ossario” mausoleum commemorates the Italian Prisoners of War and civilian detainees from World War Two who were interned in camps within Australia.
During the Second World War 4,000 Italian, German and Japanese Priosners of War were detained at Murchison. Those who died at Murchison were buried in the local cemetery but floods in 1956 did major damage to the graves.
Mr Luigi Gigliotti persuaded Italian families living in the Goulburn Valley to pay for the building of a mausoleum - the Ossario. He also managed to persuade the authorities to bury all the Italian Prisoners of War and civilian detainees who died in Australian prison camps in the mausoleum.
The mausoleum was completed in 1961 and designed by Victorian architect, Charles Hollinshed. It had to be rebuilt in 1966 due to further flood damage. It is built of Castlemaine stone with Roman roof tiles, a campanile and an altar of Italian marble. Each year, on Remembrance Day, mass is celebrated before a large gathering.
Inside the Ossario are a number of plaques and the bodies that were retrieved from the graves afffected by the 1956 flooding.
Note : The Ossario is only opened on a limited number of days during the year and on other days is locked. Monument Australia thanks John Gribben of the Greater Shepparton City Council for organising access to obtain the monument photographs.
Location
| Address: | Willoughby Street, Cemetery, Murchison, 3610 |
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| State: | VIC |
| Area: | Foreign |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -36.627564 Long: 145.223417 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Structure |
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| Monument Theme: | Conflict |
| Sub-Theme: | WW2 |
| Actual Event Start Date: | 03-September-1939 |
| Actual Event End Date: | 15-August-1945 |
| Designer: | Anthony Rene Stella |
Dedication
| Actual Monument Dedication Date: | Friday 4th November, 1966 |
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United in eternal rest. Chapels Murchison - El Alamein 1942 - 1992 Twinning El Alamein - Murchsion 1942 - 1992
Wished and presented from the Federation of National Association of Italian Ex-service and War Veterans Australia. Federal Directive Council President Caviliere Guido Giacia.
The Italian community in collaboration with National Association of Italian Ex-service and War Veterans, The Embassy and the Italian Consul-General in Melbourne presented this project to The General Commissariat for the Honoured and Fallen in Rome, that approved it and provided the necessary funds for the construction of this work, that restores to perpetual memory of present and future generations the honour of our soldiers who died in imprisonment here in Australia in the service of Italy.
Melbourne, 4 November 1966
