National day call for bloody WWI battle

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been asked to declare a national day to commemorate the enormous loss of Australian lives at a First World War battle in France.

WA Premier Mark McGowan says July 23 should be known as Pozieres Day to mark the start of a seven-week battle that killed 23,000 Australians, with historian Charles Bean describing the site as "more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth".

"I wrote to him a few weeks ago and hope to hear back from him relatively quickly. This is one the Commonwealth could embrace," Mr McGowan told reporters in Fremantle on Sunday.