After the Japanese advance and the fall of Hong Kong (December 1941) and Singapore (February 1942), many of these nurses spent over three years as prisoners of war (POWs) in Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, … The prisoners erected a barbed wire fence around the camp and took responsibility for its administration. Raymond kindly donated this unique diary to the Library in 1999. Laurence Rees: Rowley Richards, an Australian doctor, served during the war as a captain in the Medical Corps in the Australian army. A strong emotion, hate or love, could help men get on the boat home. c. 1941. Credit: Australian War Memorial Reading rationed. NELSON, David, "The Story of Changi, Singapore" Australia 1974 . Many prisoners of war asked how and why they had survived. One of the more unusual items in the State Library’s collection is this diary written by Raymond Stewart on a toilet roll while he was a prisoner of war during World War II. Twenty-eight Australian World War II soldiers will be posthumously* awarded for their bravery 73 years after the end of the war. Minister for Defence Personnel* Darren Chester announced that the soldiers, who were all prisoners of war, died while escaping prisoner-of-war camps or after being recaptured*. A WW2 diary of an Australian Army POW in Japan. Apart from the camp doctor, CAPT Monteuuis RAMC, who was captured at St Valery in 1940, there was an Australian medical student who had been a Hampden pilot, Geoff Cornish. Private Edwin Phelps was an Australian soldier in World War I and was captured by the German army during the battle of Bullecourt, France, in April 1917. Bill Wilkie was the Father of Edgar. Long passages from his day-to-day diary, covering Java & Kuching. He could hardly stand. Remembering back to World War II, many Australians were in a desperate situation. The late Don McLaren was only 19 years old when his AIF unit was taken prisoner by the Japanese, after the fall of Singapore in 1942. Federico Bonisoli’s diaries have historic value as evidence of the events that surround the internment of POWs in Australia in World War II and the experience of the refugees and POWs life at the Hay camp. Detailed account of the latter . First Australian Pow Of Japanese - Malayan Campaign 1941-45: Memorial Windows honour Sandakan POWs : 2/3 Motor Ambulance Convoy: Lawyers On The Notorious Burma Thailand Railway: POW Lawyers cartoon by Dean Alston: Recovery Of Pows From Macassar By The Hms Maidstone 1945: Machine Gunners on Singapore: Anglo/Burmese family's harsh experiences under Japanese 1942/45: The … Fighting Old Barney. A Prisoner Of War (POW) is a person, whether combatant or non-combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. Diary Oh’ here upon the floor. The diaries importance lies in its potential to interpret the place as a site associated to POWs and internment, the internment camp itself, the refugee/ POW experience. This number included 7,110 Australian soldiers captured in North Africa and Greece, approximately 1,470 airmen (mostly bomber aircrew shot down over Germany in 1943–45) and a small number of sailors. As in the First World War, prisoners shortened the German word for prisoner of war (“Kriegesgefangener”) to “Kriegies”. The Nominal Roll will indicate if the individual was a prisoner of war.If the serviceman you are interested in died during the war, you will find him on the Memorial's Roll of Honour database. Welcome, Log in. Oh’ there was O’Larny. Stolen Years: Australian prisoners of war Survival. Battalion Military History Books; Australian Light Horse 1914-1919 History. This site is dedicated to the memory of my father who kept a war log/ diary detailing his experiences as a POW of both the Italians and the Germans during World War 2. The Second World War stands as the watershed in contemporary prisoner of war (POW) history. Italian POW Camp PG57 (Campo 57) Gruppignano, Italy. BEF- British Expeditionary Force. But until now, it has been barely known in Australia. Also organised trips to Thailand twice a year. Although it looks unassuming, this notebook would have cost South Australian soldier Melvin Donald 'Don' McLaren his life had he been discovered writing it. The diary entry above was written by a 17-year-old high school senior known as “Ginger” (her full name was not published along with the diary). There were 4 WO NCOs who between them did the cooking, cleaning, linen washing and attended the fires etc. This diary was kept by McLaren, 8th Division, Second Australian Imperial Force, as a Japanese prisoner of war during World War II. Rowley Richards' diary A chance conversation with a Professor from the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine inspired humanities graduate and history lover, Sarah Fulford, to research the experiences of the ‘Vyner Brooke nurses’, a group of World War II prisoners of war (POWs), whose remarkable camaraderie and stoicism in the face of horrific experiences defines them. Tim Bowden's series charts the story of Australian POWs under the Japanese from 1942 to 1945. Following surrender 50,000 British and Australian prisoners of war assembled around the British barracks at Changi, on Singapore island. He had been a POW for nearly 3 years and spoke German. The diary was recovered by members of the War Graves Commission after the war and returned to Rowley, two and a half years after it was buried. 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