His crime? His birthplace.Ī curious fact: the Australian government photographer was Hedley Keith Cullen, a part time actor who went on to become the ghoulish, late night, Australian TV host in South Australia and Perth during the 1960s and 1970s, better known as ‘Deadly Earnest’. The chap wearing a hat and a towel around his neck and carrying what appears to be a bird cage happens to be my father! He was incarcerated in 1941 for four years up until the end of the war. Today’s image shows a group of Italian internees being relocated from No 9 Compound to 14D Compound at Loveday in 1943. Yet this episode in Australia’s wartime history remains relatively obscure. At its peak in 1942, more than 12,000 people were interned in Australia. Loveday Camp in South Australia was the largest Commonwealth internment camp in the Southern Hemisphere and comprised of German, Japanese and Italian civilians who ma de up the largest group at almost 5,000. In both World Wars civilians from enemy alien nations were arrested and incarcerated for the duration of the war in barbed wire compounds.
So when Italy declared war on Britain and its allies on 10th June 1940, Italian nationals living and working in Australia became hostages of war.
Photo: H K Cullen ~ Italian internees Loveday Internment Camp 1943 ~ Colourised by Loredana Crupi During the First and Second World Wars, foreign nationals residing in Australia were classed as “enemy aliens” if they came from countries warring with Australia.
0 kommentar(er)
