Description
Object description
Australian officer served with 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn, 8th Australian Infantry Div, Second Australian Imperial Force in Singapore, Malaya, 1/1942-2/1942; prisoner of war in Changi Camp and Adam Park Camp, Singapore, Malaya, on Burma-Thailand Railway and Sime Road Camp and Changi Prison Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942-8/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Western Australia, 1912-1939: childhood; education; employment in wool industry; memories of First World War; family; effects of Depression on daily life; memories of visit to Paris, France, 1936; attitude towards Adolf Hitler and Nazis in Germany; reason for joining Citizens Military Forces; opinion of Munich Agreement, 9/1938; attitude to propaganda; declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Aspects of training as NCO with 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn, 8th Australian Infantry Div, Second Australian Imperial Force in Australia, 11/1940-1/1941: call-up for military service, 16/11/1940; posting to Northam Camp; reaction of family to his call-up for military service; comparison of different branches of armed services.
REEL 2 Continues: background to joining 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn; role of machine gunners; machine gun team and duties; training as Vickers Machine Gun operator; rate of fire; firing practice; pattern of training at Northam Camp; strength of battalion; description of camp and facilities; opinion of medical officer Captain Claude Anderson; opinion of commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Anketell; contracting German measles; journey to Darwin; duties guarding ammunition dump and German and Japanese internees on Adelaide River; picket duties. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Aquitania Sydney, Australia to Singapore, Malaya, 10/1/1942-25/1/1942: voyage from Sydney to Fremantle; battalion members going Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL) from HMT Aquitania in Fremantle, 15/1/1941.
REEL 3 Continues: voyage from Fremantle to Singapore, Malaya, 1/1942. Aspects of operations as officer with 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn, 8th Australian Infantry Div, Second Australian Imperial Force in Singapore, Malaya, 25/1/1942-15/2/1942: initial impressions of Singapore; role of platoon defending the area around The Causeway; platoon attachment to 2/30th Australian Infantry Bn; location of machine guns; defensive positions and listening posts; story of Imperial Japanese Navy patrol boat; landings by Japanese forces, night 8/2/1942-9/2/1042; refugees; problem of lack of supplies and spares; Imperial Japanese Army Air Service bombing of camp; battalion morale; opinion of Japanese forces; nature of defensive positions.
REEL 4 Continues: opinion of senior officers including Major-General Arthur Percival and Major-General Gordon Bennett; destruction of The Causeway, 31/1/1941; Imperial Japanese Army Air Service attacks; story of ambush; opinion of Japanese forces; nature of Imperial Japanese Army artillery bombardment on Imperial Australian Force troops, 5/2/1942; question of surrender; strategic withdrawals.
REEL 5 Continues: final position in Botanic Gardens; physical condition; sight of oil tanks on fire in Singapore; reaction to being ordered to surrender and lay down arms, 15/2/1942; question of trying to escape; Imperial Japanese Army's execution of Australian prisoners of war; story of Imperial Japanese Army officer and sword; march to Changi. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Changi Camp and Adam Park Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942-5/1943: accommodation; opinion of rations; morale; attitude to being made prisoner of war; use of bore holes for latrines; rumours in camp; duties with working parties.
REEL 6 Continues: work building Japanese shrine in Adam Park; role in charge of working parties; incident of prisoners of war being punished by hanging from bridge; incident with Imperial Japanese Army guard nicknamed 'Black Prince'; description of Japanese shrine in Adam Park; story of missing Imperial Japanese Army officer's sword; black market activities with Chinese civilians; amusing story of chicken; cooking and eating plants to supplement diet; growing food in vegetable gardens; methods of sabotaging Japanese shrine in Adam Park; further comments on Japanese shrine; story of theft of Imperial Japanese Army NCO's sword.
REEL 7 Continues: period spent in Changi Camp including concert parties and lectures; story of Major Brocklehurst; daily routine in Changi Camp; recreational and sporting activities; making own clogs and shoes; method of cleaning shoes and teeth; concealed illicit wireless set in hut; punishments; relations with Imperial Japanese Army guards; maintenance of military discipline in camp; killing and eating rats.
REEL 8 Continues: rat auctions; story of fake drugs; story of working party on Japanese shrine; unpredictability of Japanese captors; opinion of Japanese treatment of Asian workers; rates of pay for prisoners of war; cost of food and other items on black market; homemade tobacco and cigarettes; examples of medical treatment; prisoners of war being forced to sign declaration not to escape, 9/1942.
REEL 9 Continues: effects of pellagra; use of rice polishings to treat failing eyesight; memories of medical officer Captain Claude Anderson; skin complaints; opinion of Gurkhas and Sikhs; reads out order prohibiting escape from Changi Camp; rumours of being sent to work on Burma-Thailand Railway; leaving Changi Camp with H Force, 5/1943; comparison of attitude of British and Australian troops. Recollections of period as prisoner of war on Burma-Thailand Railway, 5/1943-12/1943: train journey from Changi to Ban Pong, Thailand; problem of dysentery among prisoners of war and lack of water; description of camp at Ban Pong Camp; marched to Kanchanaburi Camp; theft of personal possession by local Thai civilians; marched to Kanyu No 2 Camp in jungle; tented accommodation; work cutting bamboo; problem of rain and mud; allocated to night shift working on cuttings; opinion of treatment received from Imperial Japanese Army guards; reason for building railway.
REEL 10 Continues: working conditions; Japanese selection of sick prisoners of war for working parties; working hours; nature of work creating cuttings; Japanese captors' use of prisoners of war to check for unexploded charges; roll call and allocation of work; work quotas; reason for name Hellfire Pass; injuries; state of health and personal hygiene; shaving; rations; memories of eating yak meat and cockroaches to supplement diet; relations with Imperial Japanese Army guards and problem of language; opinion of Korean guards serving with Imperial Japanese Army; 'speedo' work quotas; story of missing prisoner of war in jungle.
REEL 11 Continues: story of writing novel 'The Silvered Shovel'; examples of prisoners of war being tortured and beaten to death by Japanese captors; opinion of medical officers, including Major Kevin Fagan; outbreak of cholera; role in burning and burial of bodies; death rate; tropical ulcers; description of cholera camp; attitude to survival; problem of lack of food; religious beliefs; maintenance of morale.
REEL 12 Continues: method of dealing with Japanese captors; relations with Imperial Japanese Army guards; story of post-war visit with family to site of Burma-Thailand Railway; terrain and weather conditions; completion of cutting and move to Konkoita Camp; work building bridge over tributary of River Kwai; problem of communication with Imperial Japanese Army guards; opinion of Imperial Japanese Army officers and other ranks.
REEL 13 Continues: story of Imperial Japanese Army guard and broken glasses; nature of assault by Imperial Japanese Army guard with bamboo stick and medical treatment; story of elephant; method of catching and eating catfish; rest days; frog racing in Singapore; Christmas celebrations and special food; caring for trainload of sick prisoners of war; further details of work on bridge; tools; working hours.
REEL 14 Continues: repetition of story about yak meat; problem of bugs; climate and monsoons; method of treating tropical ulcers on legs; duties working as assistant to medical officer Major Kevin Fagan; operations and amputations; state of health of Japanese captors; baths; reaction to completion of Burma-Thailand Railway, 10/1943; discipline in Japanese forces; problem of weight loss. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in Sime Road Camp and Changi Prison Camp, Singapore, Malaya, 12/1943-8/1945: transfer to Sime Road Camp in Singapore, 12/1943; ration of soya beans to counteract beri-beri; working parties on Japanese extension to Changi Airfield.
REEL 15 Continues: train journey from Kanchanaburi, Thailand to Singapore, Malaya, 12/1943; Christmas celebrations, 25/12/1943; prisoner of war deaths from homemade alcohol; amusing story of Imperial Japanese Army colonel; daily routine and duties in Sime Road Camp; transfer to Changi Prison Camp; description of concealed radio and duties as news disseminator; communication with home; concert parties; story of Australian prisoners of war killing a male Chinese civilian; cooking and eating snails; question of co-operation between prisoners of war and Imperial Japanese Army guards; memories of air crashes; inspections and searches.
REEL 16 Continues: English language Japanese newspaper; reaction to dropping of atomic bombs and Japanese surrender, 8/1945; liberation of Singapore; medical care and food supplies; problem of prisoners of war dying from overeating; opinion of medical treatment received; attitude to treatment of Japanese war criminals; opinion of Changi Prison Camp; description of journey from Singapore, Malaya to Australia. Aspects of return to Australia, 1945: reception for former prisoners of war in Sydney; reunion with family; question of limiting eating; dental treatment received; return to civilian employment in wool industry; psychological effects of period as prisoner of war; attitude to talking about wartime experiences.
REEL 17 Continues: reflections on wartime experiences.