“When you go home, tell them of us and say,
for your tomorrow we gave our today.”

Significant Events

The Montevideo Maru – 1945

The Montevideo Maru: 10,000 tonne Japanese merchant ship
 
Numbers of Australians POWs on board: 1,053
 
Number of Civilians on board: 208
 
Date of sinking: 1st July 1942
 
Prime Minister: John Curtin (Labor) 1941-1945

The Burma Railway

Time of construction: June 1942-November 1943
 
Construction: Length of line: 420 kms
 
Earthworks: 4,000,000 cubic metres
 
Rock shifted: 3,000,000 cubic metres
 
Bridgework: 14kms erected
 
Numbers of Australians POWs involved in the construction of the Railway: 9,500
 
Numbers of Australian troops who died during construction: 2,815
 
Prime Minister: John Curtin (Labor) 1941-1945 

Changi and the fall of Singapore

Length of Captivity: 1942-1945
 
Location of prison: Selerang Barracks, Changi peninsula, Singapore
 
Number of Australians taken prisoner: 13,000
 
Prime Minister: John Curtin (Labor) 1941-1945