Hack Club’s Scrapbook

Cowra is a town in the Australian state of New South Wales, 250 km west of Sydney. It is surrounded by sheep and is one of the larger towns in the state. But this relatively normal town holds the unique distinction of being the site of a prisoner of war camp in World War 2. Japanese and Italian soldiers who were captured during the war in the Pacific & North Africa were interned at Cowra, along with innocent civilians who happened to be Japanese immigrants of the 2nd and 3rd generation (Nisei & Sansei) suspected of being spies for the Japanese Empire. In addition to them, many other people were interned, mostly soldiers of the Axis powers, such as Albanians under Fascist Italy and Koreans/Chinese under Japanese rule. Also among them were a group of about 1,200 Indonesians, including merchant sailors and political prisoners of Nationalist & Communist factions, along with their families. The Indonesians were initially exiled to Irian Jaya, West Papua proper, by the Dutch. Following Japanese advances on Papua, the Dutch (illegally) transferred the prisoners to Cowra, under the pretext of being Pro-Japanese military threats, and not political prisoners.
> Many deaths occurred throughout the history of the camp. At one point, the Japanese soldiers held prisoner attempted a mass breakout, during which hundreds of Japanese died alongside 4 Australian soldiers. 13 Indonesians also died of unrelated diseases from the cold winter climate.
> After the war, many former Japanese internees returned to the town to pay respects to their comrades. Alongside them were returned Australian service members, who remarkably took care of the graves of their former enemies in addition to their own. The veterans would become guardians of all graves at the Cowra camp. Throughout the years, memorials were established for all who died at the camp. Soon, the town became a place symbolic of the Japanese and Australian friendship and peace as a whole. 
> The town holds one of 22* world peace bells, the only one in the world located outside a capital city.