overview
Australian Treatment of Prisoners of War
Internment during World War 2 took may forms. Allied prisoners of war (POWs) of German, Italian and Japanese origin, were brought here following the capture in battle overseas. Enemy 'aliens' or residents of Australia with 'perceived' links to Axis nations were also placed in camps, for fear of enemy attack, spying or espionage.
Internment
Internment Camps
- Internment | QLD Government'Allied prisoners of war (POWs) of German, Italian and Japanese origin, were brought here following capture in battle overseas. Enemy ‘aliens’ or residents of Australia with ‘perceived’ links to Axis nations were also placed in camps, for fear of enemy attack, spying or espionage...'
- During World War I and World War II, Australia held both prisoners of war and internees.'Prisoners of war were captured members of enemy military forces, or those who had surrendered.
Internees were mostly ‘enemy aliens’ from countries at war with Australia. Most were civilian men, but some women and children were also interned...' - Japanese survivors recall Australia’s WWII civilian internment camps'When war broke out between Australia and Japan 75 years ago, it had a profound impact on the lives of Japanese civilians living in Australia...'
- 'Enemy aliens': The pain of Queensland's wartime past'Authorities established internment camps for three reasons – to prevent residents from assisting Australia's enemies, to appease public opinion and to house overseas internees sent to Australia for the duration of the war...'
Images
sources
Prisoners of War
- Dishonourable Men? The Australian Army, Prisoners of War and Anglo-German POW Repatriations in the Second World War |EBSCO'This article examines the effects of the first, second and third Anglo-German POW repatriations on Australian POW policy. A particular focus is the manner in which the POWs involved in these repatriations were received on return to Australia...'
- A Travesty of British Justice? Appealing against Internment during the Second World War.'This article demonstrates that the initial appeals system was certainly undermined by a government motivated by concerns for national security rather than personal liberty...'
- Australian POWs and the Sinking of the Rakuyo Maru: The Politics of Repatriation |EBSCO'Analysis of this unanticipated repatriation provides some insight into attitudes toward prisoners of war as well as Australia's relationship with its allies at the time...'
- Former Japanese prisoner of war shares lesson from the Cowra breakout, 75 years on'It's been 75 years since a young Teruo Murakami survived a mass prisoner-of-war escape effort in the New South Wales town of Cowra. But the 98-year-old, who this month turns 99, still has vivid memories of the World War II breakout, during which more than 200 men died, including several of his friends...'
- Japanese prisoner of war artworks shine light on dark period of WWII history in Australia'Art historians are only just discovering the trove of artworks made by Japanese war prisoners and internees detained in camps throughout Australia and New Zealand during World War II...'
- Complaints against the Employment of Axis Prisoners of War, 1939–1948 |Ebsco'The article examines the attitude of the National Union of Agricultural Workers towards the employment of Italian and German prisoners of war during and after the Second World War...'
- Australian Architectures of Internment |EBSCO'This article reveals that Australia's early experiments with civilian confinement took place on reserves and mission stations, such as the settler town of Coura Rocks (present-day Cowra) in New South Wales...'
- The Italian "Fifth Column" in Australia: Fascist Propaganda, Italian‐Australians and Internment."This article argues that the widespread internment of Italian‐Australian civilians during the Second World War was the product of two overlapping discourses ... "
