Summary heading

 Photograph donated to Australia Post Museum by Mr Douglas H K Standley – Murray Bridge Post Office

Descriptive note

During 1918, a French mission led by General Pau, a distinguished military officer, visited Australia. The Australian government had invited the French to send a delegation, made up of representatives of political, scientific, economic and commercial interests, in the interests of national and commercial relations.

Arriving in September 1918, the mission spent about 3 months in Australia. They traveled widely throughout the country, attending public functions, having luches and dinners and making inspection visits at various commercial and industrial sites.

This photograph shows the South Australian Town of Murray Bridge welcoming the French mission on 7 November 1918, only days before the Armistice to end World War I was signed. Among those gathered outside the Murray Bridge Post Office were the town’s school children, who sang the ‘Marseillaise” and were granted a day’s holiday as reward.