Sponsorship is being sought to fund a Warminster Town Council project commemorating the Australian soldiers who came to Wiltshire during the First World War.

The town council hopes businesses in the town will get on board with the project and help by putting up sponsorship for a statue to honour the men.

The authority wants to mark the efforts of the 70,000 Australian servicemen left stranded in Wiltshire at the end of the conflict.

The town council has approached the Australian High Commission for its views on the project.

Warminster town councillor Steve Dancey said: “Around 400,000 Australians volunteered for service in the First World War and 70,000 were left stranded in Wiltshire in early 1919 waiting to return home after the Armistice.

“I can recall that in the 1960s and 1970s there were still many people left in this area who could remember the Great War soldiers who’d been based locally.

“But they have now passed on, so it would be appropriate that we should seek to keep the memory of these volunteers alive through a quality statue in the centre of the Warminster.”

As of yet no location has been pinpointed for the statue but sculptor Amy Goodman, who is based at Project Workshops, near Amesbury, has been commissioned to sculpt it.

She said: “I think a permanent memorial to those brave soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for our countries and our liberty would be a fitting tribute.

“It will be an honour to be involved in such a project, and I believe that an appropriate theme will be the concept of a letter from home.

“This will bring home the distance they were away from their families.”

Anyone interested in supporting the project can call the town council on 01985 214847.