Italian prisoners of war in Australia

Italian prisoners of war in Australia were Italian soldiers captured by the British and Allied Forces in World War II and taken to Australia.

On 10 June 1940, Italy entered the Second World War on the side of Germany. During the course of the war, Great Britain and their allies captured in Ethiopia and North Africa approximately 400,000 Italian troops, who were sent to POW camps all over the world, including Australia.

Between 1941 and 1945, Australia received custody of 18,420 Italian POWs. The bulk came from British camps in India.^[1] During this time prisoners wore burgundy/maroon clothing.^[2] Then, after Italy signed an armistice with the Allies in September 1943, the Australian authorities took between 13,000 and 15,000 Italian prisoners out of the POW camps and put them to work.^[3]

Over the period, several POWs escaped internment camps,^[4][2][5] at least one was shot for allegedly trying to escape from a camp,^[6] one committed suicide in a camp,^[7] fights between fascist versus anti-fascist supporting prisoners,^[8] and others was charged with criminal offences.^[9][10][11] At least one was named as a party to divorce proceedings.^[12]

Research undertaken of POWs in northern New South Wales indicated newspapers carried much anti-Italian sentiment:^[13] Unionists held concerns unpaid Italian POW labour would displace existing Australian labour;^[14] Inequality of Italian POWs had greater freedoms and better food than Australian POWs in overseas camps; and POWs should not be allowed to return to Australia post-war.^[15] On an individual level, rapport occurred between landowners and their POW labourers.^[16]

One brand of red wine currently produced in Australia is called "Rabbit & Spaghetti", this being the customary diet of Italian POWs in Australia.^[17]

The Italian National Ossario at Murchison, Victoria holds the remains of 130 Italian soldiers and civilians who died while interned in Australia.^[18]

The Australian internment camps during WWII[]

As Italy joined the side of Germany during 10 June 1940, many countries started to impose Italian descents as a threat to their nation.^[19] Subsequently, from 1940, Italian descents living in Australia lost their privilege as a free person to the rising fear among the Australian government and community.^[20] The restrictions became strict later in the year and housed 20% of Australian-Italians into internment camps in Australia, as well as with other “enemy aliens” residents in Australia.^[21] In total the interment camps consisted of “enemy aliens”, foreign internees, German Prisoners of War (POW), Italian POW, politically affiliated foreign enemy nationals,^[22] and 300 Aboriginal residents of Cape York mission (a mission ran by a German pastor).^[23] The camps in Australia held 30 different nationals with Italians, Germans, and Japanese being the majority. Overall majority of detainees were men with a small population of women and children.^[24]

During World War II, there were internment camps scattered all over Australia which detained around 15,000 internees and at least 25,000 Prisoners of War.^[25] In total, across the country, there were 18 main internment camps while each state also held “enemy aliens”, Prisoners of War, and internees in smaller temporary camps.^[26] These camps were hotspots of culture, ethnicity, and social status which the White Australia Policy did not foresee.^[27] Through this, the internment camps grew in size to where the Italian detainees built a community within the camps, urbanizing them with tennis courts and small replica of the Colosseum, and garden.^[28]

Locations of Italian internment camps in Australia[]

Cowra Camp, New South Wales[]

From 1941 to 1942, the Cowra Camp was built to house the captured POWs.^[29] In this camp, there used to be compounds A, B, C, and D which two were for temporary detainees and two others for permanent.^[30] Since 1943 to the end of World War II, there were estimated 14,000 Italian POW who were sent by the British.^[31] They were detained in “compounds A and C with approximately 1000 in each.”^[32] In addition to the Italian POW, there were Indonesians and Japanese who were detained in the compounds.^[33] It still exists in a rundown feature of ingrown trees with a remainder of “stone rubble, salvaged bricks and concrete blocks.”^[34]

Loveday Camp, South Australia[]

The Loveday Camp was located near Barmera and consisted of six compounds to accommodate Italian, German, and Japanese internees who primarily worked as paid labors to harvest woods and work on railway roads.^[25] There were at one point 3951 internees housed in this camp.^[35] While there were POWs from the Netherlands East Indies, the Pacific Islands, New Zealand, Britain and the Middle East, there were no records of Italian POW.^[36] There are records of some 134 internees and 1 POW deaths due to illnesses.^[37]

Harvey No. 11 Camp, Western Australia[]

This camp held Italian “enemy aliens” from September 1940 to April 1942.^[38] It was built mainly to detain “enemy aliens” with a couple of POWs imprisoned.^[39] Many of the Italian “enemy aliens” were later transferred to Loveday, South Australia which was a bigger facility.^[40]

Tatura No. 1 and No. 2 Camps, Victoria[]

The Camp 1 and 2 in Tatura operated from 1940 to 1947 which were located near each other.^[41] The Camp 1 held German and Italian internees which ran as a small town with tennis courts, gardens, and some small businesses.^[42] The Camp 2 held groups temporarily at a time such as German Jewish internees, Italian and German POWs.^[43] It had basic needs but was not as developed and comfortable as the Camp 1.^[44]

Inside the Australian internment camps[]

Many of the captured Italian POW were treated and respected fairly across Australia by the locals and Australian guards.^[45] There were no significant events that marked as a “horrific tale” since the Australian internment camps followed the 1929 Geneva Convention properly.^[46] However, inside the camps, there were divides between the prisoners according to their ideological stance.^[47] The separation of Italian Fascists and anti-Fascists (the Royalists) groups shaped the structure of the camp through the atmosphere created by them, which led to the changes in POW policy of Australia.^[48] Even though the Australian intelligence agencies was in charge of controlling Fascist v. anti-Fascist conflicts within the camp, the sudden increase of Fascist POWs in 1941 made it harder.^[49] In addition, there were some discriminations faced by the Italian POW from the Australian soldiers because of the stereotype made about their lack of performance in battle compared to the Japanese and Germans.^[50] Also, there were some differences in the treatments of Italian internees and POW such as the policy on labor.^[51] As such, internees had to be paid for their labor work, while the POW were forced into labor.^[52]

The influence of the Italian POW in Australian farms[]

When the 350,000 Italians POW were caught in North of Africa, they were sent directly to Australia which around 1,500 prisoners and more were sent to farms in Queensland.^[53] The Italian POW greatly impacted the labor market of the 1940s Australia when there was a shortage in labor.^[54] The Australian government issued a plan to place the Italian POW into local farms without being guarded.^[55] But there were some oppositions against this, prior to the execution, by the Australian Worker’s Union and some Australian Labor Party officials.^[56] Even though the language barrier played a significant role in this labor policy, the Australian farmers found Italian POW to be hard workers who were a great help to the local community.^[57] Many of the Italian POW created strong relationships with the farming community, allowing them to be trusted to work on farms far away from their camps.^[58] All of the Italian POW did not return to Italy until 1947 because of the lack in transportation.^[59] Because of the strong relationships built through the farm labor program, some returned to Australia to resettle after the war ended.^[60] While a couple of the Italian POW married Australians whom they met during their time in forced labor.^[61]

See also[]

• List of POW camps in Australia
• Italian Australians
• Italian prisoners of war in the Soviet Union

References[]

Further reading[]

• Italian POWs in Australia

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