Loveday, South Australia (1941–46)

The Loveday camp was located near Barmera on the Murray River in the Riverland district of South Australia. The site was selected because of its nearby transportation (rail and road), its irrigated fields and because both electricity and telephone communications were available. Loveday held the largest number of internees during World War II.

Loveday was made up of four separate compounds linked by areas of land that were cleared and cultivated by the internees. Camp 9 housed local Italians, Camp 10 housed overseas Germans and Italians, Camp 14 (comprising four compounds of 1000 each) housed Germans, Italians, Japanese and Chinese from Formosa (Taiwan). The fourth compound was the General Headquarters. At its peak in May 1943 the camp held over 5000 internees.
A section of the living quarters of internees and prisoners of war at Loveday
A section of the living quarters of internees and prisoners of war at Loveday
AWM 064876

The internees at Loveday were keen to undertake useful work. Many of them had professional scientific skills or were skilled tradesmen. They proposed growing vegetables, tobacco and pharmaceutical crops, woodcutting and charcoal burning. The idea of using internee labour to cultivate crops and produce goods for the war effort was a new concept and was successfully carried out at Loveday. The internees were paid for their labours. Internees also enjoyed leisure activities, including playing golf on the camp golf course.

Loveday camp closed in December 1946.
Japanese internees at Loveday planting seedlings of the experimental crop guayule, thought to be a possible alternative source of natural rubber
Japanese internees at Loveday planting seedlings of the experimental crop guayule, thought to be a possible alternative source of natural rubber
AWM 123078

Records

The National Archives holds records about the Loveday camp. A selection of these is listed below.
Collection references
ItemThis Australian Military Forces file contains menus from Loveday camp in 1945.1945AP613/10, 123/1/313 
ItemThis 1944 file is about the examination of internees at Loveday by the Aliens Classification and Advisory Committee.1944A373, 9787 
ItemThis Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) file from 1943–44 contains records about the growing of medicinal plants at Loveday camp.1943–44A9778, B30/2/24/6 
ItemThis South Australian Military file contains a 1946 history of internment in South Australia.1946D884, 73A/1/6 

 '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.