The Australian Government interned thousands of people during World War II. Some were captured overseas as prisoners of war (POWs). Others were known as 'enemy aliens'. They were born overseas without full citizenship rights. There were also German, Italian and Japanese people who had lived in Australia for years. Some were from families that had been in Australia for generations.
The policy was put in place to protect national security during wartime. At its peak, more than 12,000 people of Italian, German or Japanese descent were living in Australian internment camps. This included men, women and children. Many were detained with little or no evidence of wrongdoing. Some arrests were made with little warning. Some families became destitute due to this policy.
Prisoners of war in Australia
Some 12,000 foreign nationals interned in Australian camps during the war. They were mainly from Germany, Italy and Japan.
The National Security Act 1939 authorised these camps. They were set up around the country. Many were built in isolated regional and rural areas, such as outside the country town of Cowra, in the central west of New South Wales.
Almost all the prisoners of war (POWs) were captured overseas. They had been sent to Australia for internment. Many internees were Australian residents who had migrated from Europe and Asia in the prewar years of the 20th century, escaping the rise of fascism.
The families of thousands of other internees had been part of Australian communities since the mid-1800s. They were mainly Germans, Italians and Japanese. Regardless of the length of their time in Australia, all were subject to internment, usually without evidence of any wrongdoing.
Internees and POWs came from many backgrounds and nationalities. Those imprisoned under the National Security Act 1939 included:
- Germans
- Italians
- Japanese
- foreign nationals of countries allied with Germany
- POWs sent by Britain to Australia
- Australians with extreme political views.
While most internees were men, there were some camps where families lived together.
Many wives and female relatives fought on their own to keep businesses and farms going and families fed.
Migration before the war
Tens of thousands of migrants from Asia and Europe had arrived in Australia before the war. Their reasons for immigration varied. Some people were:
- fleeing to escape the policies of Germany's leader Adolf Hitler
- looking for work in the pearling, sugar or wine industries
- coming to join families who had lived in Australia for years.
People of German, Italian and Japanese descent had a long history of belonging in communities all around Australia. Many families had lived in the country for generations, making a living and raising families. Some Germans had been treated as 'enemy aliens' in World War I.
Since 1837, Germans had settled in Australia. Many early migrants were winemakers or worked on the land. They settled in small agricultural communities of New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland, such as:
- Albury
- Barossa Valley
- Bega Valley
- Grafton
- Young.
During the 1930s, German migrants arrived in Australia from Hitler's Germany. They were among those Europeans escaping Nazism and fascism.
The first Italians arrived in Australia on the First Fleet in 1788. Others followed, in search of gold during the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s. In 1906, Italians arrived to work as cane cutters in Queensland's sugar industry. Many were able to save enough money to buy their own sugar cane farms.
Japanese migrants first arrived in Australia in the late 1800s. They also worked in the sugar industry, as well as the pearling industry, diving for pearls in Australia's north.
New laws for 'enemy aliens'
Laws controlling Australians with ties to Germany were introduced on 13 September 1939, only 10 days after war broke out.
Amidst public pressure, the Australian Government passed the National Security (Aliens Control) Regulations. Many Australians feared 'enemy aliens' as a security risk. Even though most cases had no evidence of wrongdoing. Anyone with connections to the countries Australia fought during World War II came under suspicion as potential spies or saboteurs.
The new law was applied to Germans in 1939, and to Italians from June 1940.
After Japan's entry into the war, Japanese civilians in Australia were detained for mass internment. By the end of 1941, there were relatively few Japanese living in Australia. But sources agree that, at that time, Australia interned up to 97% of an estimated 1,141 Japanese civilians living in the country.
Many internees believed they were targeted for personal reasons. Some people were falsely accused of collaborating with the enemy, such as the Italian grandfather of Adam Grossetti. Others had neighbours inform on them, in the hope of taking over abandoned farms. There were cases of people informing on others as payback for personal grudges.
Internment became more common as the war situation worsened. Restriction of personal freedom for 'enemy aliens' included:
- needing permission to lease or own land
- registering with police
- reporting all travel
- needing permission to own specified items.
Specified items considered a security risk were often everyday things for people who worked on the land or at sea. They included:
- boats
- cars
- carrier pigeons
- explosives
- guns and ammunition
- petrol
- radio or communications gear.
Anglicising personal or business names was banned.
Overseas prisoners of war
Thousands of internees and POWs were sent to Australia by the Allied forces. Detainees arrived in Australia from over 30 different countries. Most of them were German, Italian or Japanese.
Allied troops captured many thousands of Italian POWs in North Africa. They were sent to Australia for internment. More than 18,000 Italian POWs and internees were held captive in Australia between 1941 and 1947.
Negotiations between Australia and Britain had been ongoing for more than a year about funding the necessary camps for internees and POWs. In June 1941, Britain agreed to help Australia pay for the new camps.
Dunera Boys
Engineer, Hans Muhlhaus (centre front, wearing dark shirt), was one of the 'Dunera Boys'. He was sent from Britain on HMT Dunera with more than 2,500 internees. Muhlhaus was interned in Tatura Internment Camp, Victoria. He taught English and engineering to other internees. Muhlhaus returned to England after the war. AWM P09601.001.
Among the detainees sent by Britain were 2,000 European Jews aboard HMT Dunera in July 1940. They became known as the 'Dunera Boys', although they were actually a range of ages.
Some had escaped Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Others had been living in Britain when war was declared. They included skilled and highly educated professionals, tradespeople and creative artists.
The 'Dunera Boys' endured appalling conditions onboard Dunera. Personal accounts suggest their treatment in Australia was better.
Internees from Dunera were taken to camps at Hay and Orange in New South Wales and Tatura in Victoria. Most were released by the end of 1941.
Siegmund Lewinsohn was a refugee from HMT Dunera. He spent time in camps at Hay and Tatura. He was later allowed to join the Australian Army. Art by fellow-internee, Robert Hofmann, 1942. AWM ART92079.
Life in internment camps
Internment camps were Australia-wide. The army ran the camps under the Geneva Convention. Switzerland was an independent supervisor.
Many camps were in rural and isolated places. Some were set up in jails and army barracks. Others were purpose-built.
Temporary camps were built hastily at rural and regional towns around the country. Many of these, such as Orange and Hay, had crude and uncomfortable living conditions.
New camps were built as the number of internees in Australia grew. Conditions at these newer camps were adequate, although they lacked the comforts of home.
Conditions in the camps
Camp conditions varied depending on where they were and who was there. The camps were often boring, lonely and isolated. They were also lacking in privacy and comfort.
Internment camps were a long way from home for most internees. Mail was censored. Access to newspapers was limited. This heightened the anxiety of internees who were separated from families and communities.
Tensions were also created by the mix of social backgrounds and political beliefs held by internees. There were:
- Austrian and German Jews
- Germans who opposed Hitler's policies and those who supported them
- communists, anarchists and fascists
- European academics and professionals
- Italian and Japanese farmers.
Differences sometimes became violent.
To improve morale and to deal with the boredom, internees organised many activities, including:
- card games
- educational classes
- music and plays
- sports competitions.
Internees and POWs kept themselves busy by cleaning and maintaining the camp facilities. At Loveday internment camp in South Australia, German internees made furniture for camp residents. Many camps had fruit and vegetable gardens.
Detainees in family camps, such as Tatura in Victoria, tried to keep life as normal as possible for their children. Internees set up a school, ran clubs, planted gardens and organised a camp newspaper.
Those who worked
POWs and internees were recognised as being a valuable source of labour early in the war. Their diverse skills and professional backgrounds included:
- building trades
- farming
- fishing
- clerical
- engineering
- gardening
- journalism
- labourers
- lawyers
- mechanics
- teachers.
Loveday internment camp
Internees were not required to work, but many chose to when given the opportunity. At Loveday, for example, internees could work to earn 1 shilling a day.
More than 5,000 internees and POWs cleared and cultivated 178 hectares of land near Loveday in South Australia's Riverland region. Their labour provided wartime Australia with:
- thousands of tons of firewood
- eggs
- meat
- Mexican guayule for rubber
- pyrethrum for insecticides
- opium poppies for morphine
- vegetables.
Civil Alien Corps
In March 1942, the War Cabinet approved the call-up of enemy aliens for war work. In May 1943, the Civil Alien Corps was formed to provide labour.
Corps members built roads and railways. They were also employed in the forestry industry, cutting firewood and burning charcoal for fuel.
The program was not a huge success. Of 15,601 registered enemy aliens, mostly Italian, only 1,671 were drafted. The rest were exempted on various grounds. The Civil Alien Corps was disbanded after 2 years because it was judged too expensive to continue.
Working on the land
By 1943, there was a labour shortage in rural regions of Australia. Seeing more labour was needed to grow and harvest Australia's food, the War Cabinet agreed to use Italian POWs. Through that decision, 10,000 Italian POWs were sent to farms around Australia.
Farmers supervised the POWs, and they were paid 15 pence a day. They did all sorts of farm labouring jobs. The work was physically demanding, such as:
- picking up stones
- working with cattle and sheep
- operating heavy farm machinery.
Many of the POWs were experienced tradesmen or farmers. With their skills and hard work, they overcame language and other differences to become friends with farming families.
Going home
Different rules applied for the release of POWs and civilian internees from camps.
There were few cases of early release being granted for POWs before the war ended. Internees stood a better chance. Even before the end of the war, they could appeal their internment.
Many internees were deported at the end of the war. Internees from Britain or Europe were given the option of staying in Australia. There were some cases where farming communities sponsored the return of Italian workers.
Most Japanese were forced to leave, including Australian-born Japanese.
Sadly, hundreds of internees died before they were released. Many died of illness or old age, and some by suicide. In New South Wales, 234 Japanese prisoners died in the Cowra breakout.
Sources
The History of the Sugar Industry | Australian Sugar Heritage Centre http://www.sugarmuseum.com.au/the-history-of-the-sugar-industry/
Resources: Japan: Immigration Nation on SBS. https://www.sbs.com.au/immigrationnation/resources/article/96/japan
Bevege, M 1993. Behind barbed wire: internment in Australia during World War II. University of Queensland Press, St Lucia.
Monteath, Peter 2018. Captured lives: Australia's wartime internment camps. ACT NLA Publishing, Canberra.
Hasluck, Peter 1965. 'Appendix 4 – The Wartime Treatment of Aliens' in: Second World War Official Histories - Volume I – The Government and the People, 1939–1941. Accession number RCDIG1070612. Australian War Memorial, Canberra.
Moore, Bob and Kent Fedorowich 2002. The British Empire and its Italian prisoners of war, 1940-1947. Palgrave, Basingstoke.
Glossary
- enemy alien
- internee
- prisoners of war