Following Nazi Germany’s enactment of the infamous Nuremberg Laws in 1936, expatriate Jewish organisations sought to help as many potential victims out of Germany and Eastern Europe as possible. The USA, Britain and Shanghai China became potential sanctuaries.
Japanese prisoners of war, 12th Prisoner of War Camp, Cowra
July 1, 1944.
Australian War Memorial
Location of Cowra, Hay and Tatura camps
in S.E Australia
Museums Victoria
Early in WW2, the majority of internees in Australia were herded into old internment camps, the Germans and Italians being established at the old Holsworthy Barracks in NSW. As the numbers grew, new camps for prisoners of war were needed. By Sept 1940, the government had completed 4 compounds at Tatura (Victoria), 3 at Hay and 1 at Cowra (NSW), 3 at Loveday (S.A) and one at Harvey (W.A).
Since they were German and Austrian citizens, the Jewish refugees who'd arrived with swastikas on their passports were initially regarded as Enemy Aliens and threatened with internment. But how could they be Nazi sympathisers if they were fleeing Nazism? Soon they became Friendly Aliens.
Cowra (pop now 10,000) is a pleasant town in a farming district 314km west of Sydney; it has two important war tales to tell. The first was the story of a settlement that became a haven for Jewish refugees who had fled Europe early in WW2. These were German Jews who had initially fled to Britain to escape Nazi persecution and were imprisoned on the Isle of Man. In 1940 Australia reached an agreement with Britain to accept c3000 German, Austrian and Hungarian young male prisoners, mainly Jewish. They were sent from Britain aboard the ship HMT Dunera. On arrival in Melbourne in Sept 1940, 500 deportees were transferred to Tatura internment camp while the remaining males went north to Sydney and thence to Hay’s camps.
What the refugees needed in these horrible wartime conditions was food: vegetables, poultry and sheep. So the Australian Jewish Welfare Service established two companies: 1. Mutual Farm Ltd and 2. Mutual Enterprises Ltd, to settle the refugees into agricultural enterprises. This would satisfy the government’s requirements and guarantee the newcomers would not weigh on Australia’s economy.
The refugees were largely city-people and few had worked on the land. The main training initially took place at Chelsea Park in West Sydney where 200+ people lived. Meanwhile 25 families moved to their own properties, while 28 couples and 63 young men went into rural employment.
Mooringa, a 100-hectare property outside Cowra, was purchased by Mutual Farms in Sept 1940. The Mooringa Settlement disappeared but historian Graham Apthorpe has recorded an amazing era of WW2 history in his book, A Town at War. Apthorpe interviewed 4 key people: Harry Kramer-Cromer, Claude Newcombe, Margit Scouller and George Bluth.
4 Jewish deportees working in Cowra
Australian War Memorial
Italian Prisoners of War installing a new filtration trench
for their POW Camp septic system.
Digger History
Austrian Kurt Pisk (b1937) and his parents Fred and Anna Pisk fled Vienna after the Mar 1938 Anschluss/annexation by Hitler. During their time at Mooringa, the Pisks were allocated two Italian POWs to help them with farm-work. In fact the refugees were all helped by local families, as was seen in the collection of rare photos Apthorpe found in Cromer’s photo album. [NB Mooringa refugees were forbidden cameras, cars and guns, in case they used them to advantage Australia’s enemy].
They were still under surveillance of course. Regulations insisted that the Mooringa Jews travel weekly by horse-drawn sulky to the local policeman in Cowra. So the sensible sergeant, realising the Jews weren’t a risk to Allied security, told them to report monthly. The community at Mooringa totally ensured safety once the Jewish men were allowed to enlist in the Australian armed forces, in Feb 1944.
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In 1964 Cowra became an official Japanese War Cemetery when the remains of all the Japanese who had died in Australia were raised, transported and buried together. A gathering was held at Cowra to memorialise these Japanese men, and to build the World Peace Bell. Cowra’s lovely 5 hectare Japanese Garden and Cultural Centre were opened in 1979, and expanded in 1986.
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News of the Cowra Outbreak,
Aug 1944.
Cowra was also known for holding 1,104 Japanese POWs, guarded by the 22nd Garrison Battalion. In response to information that the prisoners were planning a mass outbreak, notice was given that all Japanese prisoners of low rank would be transferred to Hay Prisoner Camp. In Aug 1944, a prisoner ran shouting to the camp gates. Soon a bugle was heard when prisoners, armed with knives and improvised clubs, rushed from their huts in a suicidal mission. Sentries opened fire but hundreds of prisoners hacked the wire fences and escaped into open country, while others set fire to the huts. This was the Cowra Breakout, a desperate event that resulted in 231 Japanese dying and 108 wounded; 3 Australian soldiers were killed and 3 wounded. It was the largest, most tragic WW2 prison escape on Australian soil.
In 1964 Cowra became an official Japanese War Cemetery when the remains of all the Japanese who had died in Australia were raised, transported and buried together. A gathering was held at Cowra to memorialise these Japanese men, and to build the World Peace Bell. Cowra’s lovely 5 hectare Japanese Garden and Cultural Centre were opened in 1979, and expanded in 1986.
Japanese Memorial Gardens, Cowra
Japanese War Cemetery, Cowra
Traces of War