Cowra, New South Wales (1941–47)

The Cowra prisoner of war and internment camp was located several kilometres outside the town of Cowra in south-central New South Wales. It officially began operation in June 1941, but it was several months before the first prisoners arrived. Cowra was purpose-built to house prisoners of war, mostly Italians, brought to Australia from overseas and it operated primarily as a prisoner of war rather than an internment camp. Civilians interned at Cowra included local Italians and nearly 500 Javanese and Indonesians.

Indonesian internees and their children at Cowra, 1943
AWM: 030150/08

Cowra is most famous for the events of 5 August 1944 when Japanese prisoners staged an outbreak during which over 300 escaped outright and more than 250 were killed. This dramatic incident has overshadowed the experiences of others interned at Cowra.

The prisoner of war camp at Cowra, 1944
AWM 064284

The camp was divided into four compounds, each surrounded by high barbed wire fences. Compounds A and C housed Italians, compound B housed Japanese soldiers and non-commissioned officers, and compound D housed Japanese officers as well as Koreans and Chinese from Formosa (Taiwan) who had been interned as Japanese. The first prisoners at Cowra lived in tents while their huts were being completed. Eventually, Cowra had its own stores, kitchen, mess huts, showers and latrines, recreation huts, shops, playing fields and vegetable gardens.

Most of those held at Cowra were repatriated at the end of the war. The last prisoners left Cowra in January 1947.

Records

The National Archives holds records about the Cowra camp. A selection of these is listed below.

Collection references

This small Department of the Army file from 1942 concerns the employment of interned Javanese seamen.	1942	MP508/1, 255/714/325
This Department of the Army file includes International Red Cross reports in French on the camps at Cowra and Tatura.	1941 – 42	MP508/1, 255/736/51
Records about the acquisition of land for the Cowra camp are found in this Works and Services Branch file from 1942.	1942	SP857/3, CL/10187
The selection of the site for the Cowra camp is the subject of this 1941 file.	1941	SP1008/1, 420/34/19

'Aliens and others': World War ll internment project

The National Archives of Australia is a partner in an Australian Research Council project titled ‘Aliens and others: representing citizenship and internment in Australia during World War II', headed by Dr Ilma O'Brien of the Victoria University of Technology.

As part of the project, Dr O'Brien is interested in collecting personal memories of World War II internment in Australia. If you have personal or family memories, photographs or documents about internment you would like to share, further information about the project can be obtained from Dr O'Brien at ilma.obrien@vu.edu.au.