FRENCH authorities have donated land to build a new cemetery for about 400 Australian and British soldiers found in a mass grave in May.

The field is near where the bodies of the soldiers were unearthed on the outskirts of Fromelles. Work is expected to begin by the middle of next year.

The cemetery will feature individual burial plots for the soldiers, who will be reburied with the "dignity and honour and respect they properly deserve", Defence Science and Personnel Minister Warren Snowdon said.