When people think of Australian prisoners of the Japanese in World War II, they tend to think of Changi. Selerang Barracks was a huge base camp. Thousands of Allied prisoners moved through the barracks after they were captured. They were on the way to work sites elsewhere in Singapore and Asia. From May 1944 to August 1945, thousands of Allied prisoners were also crammed into Changi prison, a short distance from the barracks.
Arrival at Changi
Ah, Changi! You were heaven to us then!
[Stan Arneil, One Man's War, Sydney Alternative Publishing Cooperative, 1980, p 155]
Changi often symbolises the experience of Australian prisoners of the Japanese forces during World War II. While often described as horrific, Changi was a comfortable camp compared with those at:
There were actually 2 'Changis' and popular memory has joined them over the years.
Selerang Barracks
The British built a camp at Selerang Barracks between the world wars. After taking Allied personnel prisoner on Singapore Island in mid-February 1942, the Japanese marched them to this camp.
Selerang Barracks soon became a large base camp. Thousands of Allied prisoners moved through it to work sites elsewhere in Singapore and Asia. Survivors of the Burma-Thailand Railway returned to Selerang Barracks in late 1943. They were emaciated and exhausted.
The size and permanence of Selerang Barracks meant that conditions were quite good compared with other prison camps. The prisoners could maintain gardens, kitchens, latrines and other facilities.
The prisoners' own officers controlled most of their day-to-day activities. This meant they were relatively free from direct harassment from their captors. They had the freedom to establish a 'university'. This drew on the expertise of prisoners. They held regular entertainment to maintain morale. Much to the concern of camp authorities, there was also a black market in stolen goods, including medicines.
The Australians and the Japanese confronted each other at Selerang Barracks from August to September 1942. The Japanese demanded the Allied prisoners sign an oath not to escape. The prisoners refused. They believed this violated their honour. They said it was inconsistent with international law.
The Japanese herded more than 15,000 prisoners into the barracks parade ground. They kept them there for 4 days. The Allied leadership became worried about a potential health crisis. They agreed to sign the oath under duress. As Captain Adrian Curlew is recorded in his diary:
I argued with my conscience, Death and Glory vs Common Sense
[Philippa Poole, Of Love and War, nd, p 151.]
Changi Prison
The second 'Changi' was the prison a short distance from Selerang Barracks.
Built by the British in 1936, this was initially used by the Japanese to intern 3,500 civilians (mostly British citizens and Eurasians). But the capacity of the prison was only 600.
In May 1944, the Japanese moved these internees to a camp at Sime Road in central Singapore.
In January 1945, the Japanese crammed around 10,000 prisoners into the cells, corridors and common areas of the prison and into huts erected on the prison grounds. The Japanese used Changi Prison to house Allied POWs until August 1945.
Remembering Changi
In the post-war years, Changi gained considerable notoriety through popular novels. These included:
- Russell Braddon's The Naked Island (first published in 1952 and reprinted many times)
- James Clavell's King Rat (published in 1962 and later made into a commercial film).
After the war, former POWs began to revisit the sites of their wartime experiences. With much of Selerang Barracks demolished, the Singapore armed forces used the remains as a base. They made the barracks inaccessible to the public. It was Changi Prison that became the focus of commemorative activities.
Tourists visited Changi Prison, particularly the chapel within its grounds. Inmates had erected it in the 1950s. In the 1980s, the chapel was replaced by a replica of a wartime-Changi chapel built outside the prison grounds. Then in 2001, the 'Changi chapel' was moved a little down the road to the Changi Museum.
For people from several nations, the Changi chapel is the site of commemorations on anniversaries, such as the Fall of Singapore.
In 2004, the Singapore Government decided to demolish Changi Prison. They wanted to build a state-of-the-art facility. There was an uproar in Australia from the press and ex-POWs. Despite much diplomatic pressure, the prison was demolished. As a compromise, one wall was left standing with the original gates affixed to it.
Artefacts from Changi Prison were sent to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Some were sent to veterans' associations in Australia and the United Kingdom. The original chapel pews were installed in the Changi Museum.
In 2001, the ABC released a mini-series, Changi. It showed that Changi remained an important symbol of Australian captivity. The TV series was a blend of POW experiences that only partially resembled life in Changi.
The national memorial to prisoners of war at the Royal Military College in Duntroon invokes Changi. It is made from a Selerang Barracks chapel that was brought back to Australia after World War II and reassembled in the late 1980s.