THE RAILWAY OF DEATH [Allocated Title]

Unedited footage showing various places along the 258-mile long Burma-Siam 'Death Railway' constructed in 1942-43 by a slave labour force consisting of Allied prisoners-of-war and Asian civilians.

START 00:00:00 Views of the railway siding at Thanbyuzayat, the start of the Burmese section of the 'Death Railway' showing open waggons and boxcars (used as temporary accommodation) in the siding; in the background, Japanese soldiers unload stores from another train. The camera follows a Japanese soldier as he walks across the railway siding carrying a can - he smiles when he sees the camera. Three British officers belonging to No. 3 Indian Army Graves Registration Unit examine a map showing a section of the Burma-Siam railway. The Japanese soldier seen earlier talks to two of the officers standing next to a wooden sign post reading 'Allied POW Cemetery - 17 Graves - 150 metres'.

00:00:49 Views of a small cemetery for Allied prisoners-of-war who perished during the construction of the 'Death Railway'; their graves are marked by simple wooden crosses and stones (railway track ballast?). The inscription on two of the grave markers nearest the camera read 'AIF - Driver J L Darlington - SX3133 - 29.6.43' [Jack Livesay Darlington] and 'AIF - S/Sgt McSkimming D J T - VX43985 - 27.6.43'. Both men were Australian.

00:01:00 Shots showing one of the grave registration officers strolling along a railway cutting on the Burma-Siam railway that was hewn by human hand and another railway cutting where the soil and rock bed have been weakened by heavy rain. A low-angle view of a railway embankment consisting of soil and extra-heavy railway sleepers and supporting timber beams as a Japanese motor-driven railway car is driven across it. Two grave registration officers walks along the railway embankment towards the camera. Shots showing Asian labourers in the course of being repatriated riding on the tender of an old 4-6-2 steam locomotive as it pulls into a railway station and in two open-topped goods waggons. A group of seven Asian labourers sit on the front of the locomotive and pose for the camera. A Japanese army soldier serving as a railway signaller holds a coloured flag in his hand as the labourers prepare to board the train in the background.

00:01:59 A Graves Registration officer walks between the tracks on a stretch of the 'Death Railway' towards the camera. He stands next to a wooden signpost that reads 'Cemetery - Graves 763 - 364k -080m' at Chungkai (?). He looks up at a tall wooden cross inscribed 'Hospital Cemetery - 7 officers - 752 ORs'. A view of the three Grave Registration officers visiting the cemetery and the rows (at least nine) of small white wooden crosses tightly packed together. A shot of a recently erected wooden sign 'Allied POW - Cemetery - Graves 12 - Metres 250' .

00:02:39 A reverse tracking shot along a section of the Burma-Siam railway. A shot of a crudely-executed sign 'Allted (sic) POW Cemetery - 355 km 024m - Gravif (sic) 46 - For 40 m'. Two reverse tracking shots along sections of the Burma-Siam railway as it approaches the Burma-Siam border.

00:03:04 Shots of three moss-covered pagodas at Three Pagodas Pass on the 'Death Railway' at the Burma-Siam frontier and the decoration on the top of one of them. Shots showing five British soldiers including the grave registration officers inspecting long low huts made from local timber and thatched roofing that were once used to house Allied prisoners-of-war and the perimeter boundary that looks like a normal garden fence except for the panji stakes. Shots of a sign put up by the Japanese that reads 'Songkrai (sic) 264km 120m' being examined by a graves registration officer and an Indian army officer. Lieutenant J M Harrison, a recently freed prisoner of war, walks towards the camera, a cigarette in his right hand, and takes off his slouch hat.

END 00:04:13

35mm