Prisoners of war laying railway track on
the Burma-Thailand railway. c. 1943

[AWM P00406.027]

More than 30,000 Australians became prisoners of war between 1940 and 1945. This section provides images and the personal story of one prisoner. Explore the galleries 'camps', 'ingenuity' and 'surviving' for a sense of the POW experience.

Bibliography

Patsy Adam-Smith, Prisoners of War: from Gallipoli to Korea, Ringwood, 1992.

Betty Jeffrey, White Coolies, Sydney, 1954.

Hank Nelson, Prisoners of war: Australians under Nippon, Sydney, 1985.

Carolyn Newman (ed), Legacies of our Fathers, Lothian, Melbourne, 2005.

Lynette Ramsay Silver, Sandakan: a conspiracy of silence, Kuala Lumpur, 2001.

Richard Reid, The Burma Thailand Railway 1942-1943, Canberra, 1998.

Richard Reid, In Captivity: Australian Prisoners of War in the 20th Century, Canberra, 1999.

Richard Reid, Laden, Fevered, Starved: the POWs of Sandakan, North Borneo, 1945, Department of Veterans' Affairs, Canberra, 1999.

Richard Reid and John Moremon, Stolen Years: Australian prisoners of war, Canberra, 2002.

Rohan Rivett, Behind Bamboo; an inside story of the Japanese Prison Camps, Sydney, 1946.

Operation CLICK: Anzac to Kokoda

is a classroom resource which draws on and encourages the use of the following Veterans' Affairs websites:
• Australia’s War 1939–1945 – www.ww2australia.gov.au
• Visit Gallipoli – www.anzacsite.gov.au

You may download Work sheets - provided in PDF file format.

The resource book and CD-ROM package contains lessons that can be used in many contexts in History and Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE) classrooms. They were written by experienced history teachers with three aims in mind:

• to provide both beginning and experienced teachers with lessons using the two websites as core resources
• to invite teachers to explore more effective ways of encouraging their students to incorporate ICT skills into their classroom learning activities
• to provide exciting and original lessons that will encourage young Australians to learn more about Australia’s wartime heritage through the stories and images provided on the two websites.