This memorial was added to the Cowra POW camp site for the 75th anniversary of the Cowra Breakout (it is now the 80th anniversary).
For the 80th anniversary there was a memorial service held in the early hours of the morning on 5th August 2024. I did not attend, but these are photos from later that day. There were little white lanterns lining the pathway to the memorial, which I imagine would have looked quite peaceful during the ceremony in the dark. There are 5 panels to the memorial & the middle one explains as follows:
These 4 panels depict aspects of the Cowra Prisoner of War Camp over its 6 year life from 1941 to 1947 - The Australian soldier on guard - Japanese playing baseball - Italians & their love of music - and the Indonesian mothers & children. This relatively calm time was shattered in the early morning of 5th August 1944. The breakout resulted in the deaths of 234 Japanese and 5 Australians. (I'm not sure why it says 5 Australians killed, as I thought it was 4 - might need to look into that a bit more)
I've made a collage using 2 photos off the memorial from a distance & another up close.
What a very sad & pretty hopeless event. So many lives lost too. I have never heard of this Cowra camp. I had to Google but WiFi isn’t good tonight but I read the gist of it. So glad it’s still remembered!
