Villers-Bretonneux saw action in August 1914 and the incessant movement of British and French troops over the next four years; but the name of this village entered the history of the war on 24 April 1918 when Australian troops finally halted the German offensive of march 1918. Since the construction of the Victoria School in 1927 and the inauguration of the memorial in 1938, public and private links with Australia have grown steadily stronger.The twinning with Robinvale and the exhumation in France and reinterment in Canberra of the Australian Unknown Soldier in November 1993 have sealed this close relationship.

The immense Australian Memorial, inaugurated in 1938, (the site each year of the commemoration of Anzac Day), outside the town reflect the vital contribution of the Australian troops and the links which continue to the present day. Built in white stone, it consists of a tall central tower and two corner pavilions linked to the tower by plain walls that bear the name of the missing-soldiers who have no known grave.

The Adelaide cemetery (on the N29 road towards Amiens) is a small cemetery.
It contains 522 Australian graves.

In 1993, the body of an unidentified Australian soldier was exhumed here : he is now the Unknown soldier and was transferred to the Chapel of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. A commemorative stone marks the event. (Plot 3 Row M Grave 13).