Chapter 4: Internment

On 8 December members of the Commonwealth Investigation Department, Military Intelligence and state police forces were busy rounding up members of the small Australian Japanese community and closing all Japanese Consulates. Army Headquarters in Melbourne ordered that:

Japanese Consulates are to be closed and the archives sealed. No communications by any means are allowed between Japanese Consulates or between Consulates and Legations pending further instructions.1

The doors of the Japanese Consulate in Sydney were sealed. Police guarded all entrances to the home of the Japanese Consul-General, Mr Goto, at Point Piper, and the telephone was disconnected.2 In Canberra the Japanese flag was flown at the Legation mast during the morning but was taken down early in the afternoon. The Canberra Times reported that “Volumes of smoke rising from an incinerator gave rise to the suggestion that the Legation staff was busy destroying documents”.3 Under international agreements, diplomatic officials and their staff were given immunity from search and restraint. Members of Japanese consulates and legations in Australia were gathered in Melbourne. Legation staff and their families were housed in Toorak, while consulate officials were kept at Mount Macedon.4

In Sydney, police raids on suburban homes and city buildings began immediately after Japan commenced hostilities. Most Japanese arrested in Sydney were company staff, but some were taken from laundries and other small businesses in the suburbs.5 Harry Suzuki, an Australian-born of Japanese descent, was reading the morning paper when around 9 a.m. two policemen appeared at the door of the drycleaning shop in Neutral Bay where he worked. He recalled:

One of the policemen said that we were under arrest. They were friendly. They went upstairs and came down … looked everywhere and said, “Don’t take much with you. It won’t be too many days for you because you are an Australian-born”. So I took only a toothbrush and pyjamas.…6

The policemen escorted him and the owners of the shop, Nishimura and Ishikawa, to the local police station. They never saw the shop again. It was burnt down not long after they were interned. The plant and contents were not insured, so they lost everything.7

During the morning a crowd gathered in Martin Place to watch the staff of the Yokohama Specie Bank being escorted to police cars. Some people hissed and booed.8 Internees arrested in the Sydney area were all taken to the Internment Camp at Liverpool. Among them was Shiroo Kikuchi, manager of the Mitsubishi Trading Company Ltd. On 10 December he wrote from the camp to his Australian colleague, Boylson:

I am sure you all had worrying time the day before yesterday but hope by now you are settled down … Are you allowed to come to office … I was taken from my house to the Darlinghurst Station, and after formalities finished, was put on a comfortable bus together with other colleagues numbering thirty. We arrived at this camp at 9:30 p.m.9

According to Tadashi Kurozumi, a correspondent from the Asahi newspaper who was arrested in Melbourne, 16 Japanese were arrested in Victoria on that day. He and another Japanese man were taken to the Army barracks at Broadmeadows where they joined two other Japanese − Sho Takasuka from Bendigo and an old gardener called Sakai. On 12 December they were taken to Tatura Internment Camp. Twelve other Japanese were already there.10 Among them were Professor Inagaki of Melbourne University, the four laundrymen, Furuya, Itoh, Nagai and Hasegawa from Geelong, and four members of the Ueno Circus who had been performing in Australia since October 1940.11 Two other members of the Circus who were then performing in Brisbane were also arrested.12 The internees who had been arrested in the Melbourne area that day were taken to the local gaol and from there were moved to Tatura. Ida Hasegawa, daughter-in-law of Setsutaroo Hasegawa, was busy cooking lunch at home when the police came to arrest him:

My father-in-law was in his bed. He was crippled from arthritis …couldn’t move. He’d been very sick … 72 years old he was. They took him out of his bed, you know, and said, “You’d better take something with you.” So he took a pair of pyjamas.13

At this time Hasegawa’s enlisted son, Ida’s husband, was coming home at night to do the starching while Ida did the washing and soft ironing. They were not allowed to continue the business after Hasegawa was interned.14

According to Bob Freeman, a retired member of the Queensland Police, individual warrants of arrest had already been drawn up for other Japanese and Japanese Australians, and only needed to be dated and signed.15 He arrested two Japanese in Cairns, Queensland, on the morning of 8 December. He recalled:

We didn’t know about it (the outbreak of war with Japan) and that morning a friend and I were handed two warrants to arrest two Japanese … I realized it then, warrants had been prepared. It was so organized.16

The usual procedure of arrest included a thorough search of the homes or offices of internees. All correspondence and documents were confiscated. Firearms and other articles prohibited by the National Security Regulations were also sought.17 Bob Freeman did find something:

The amazing thing to me about this particular episode was that one of them had a transmitter/receiver. He obviously knew because all the suitcases were packed … I wasn’t quite sure if he was waiting for us or trying to get away … They were polite and calm. They seemed to know. That puzzled me. We were told later that they were naval officers …18

It was not uncommon that a member of the local police known to the Japanese arrested them. Rinzoo Yamaguchi, the Japanese baker in Burketown, was arrested by a sergeant of the local police on 8 December. Arthur Yamaguchi, his son, recalled:

The sergeant told Dad that he was ordered to take Dad into custody, much as he disliked the task. I believe to this day it was genuine as Dad was well liked and respected by everyone in Burketown. Dad was not locked up in the “jail house” as they were called but slept on a bed outside the prison.19

Yamaguchi was the only Japanese in Burketown, an isolated country town in north-west Queensland. Arthur continued:

there was no need to intern Dad, but I understand that. That was government policy and I guess would apply anywhere where particular nationals were at war.20

The fact that Yamaguchi was granted an early release in February 194521 as the people in town wanted him back suggests that he was well accepted by the local community.

The Japanese arrested in northern Queensland were taken to Stewart Creek Gaol just outside Townsville. Mr and Mrs Iwanaga and their 20-year-old adopted daughter were among those arrested. On the day of her arrest she discovered, to her great astonishment, that she was an adopted daughter:

That morning when the war broke out, police came to the house and went through everything and took us to the police station. During the time we were there, Dad went out to the office and came back. He said, “You’re not a Japanese.” Dad showed me my birth certificate. I was allowed to go home …It was more than a shock … The next day all the Japanese were put on a train. They didn’t know where they were going. Mum and Dad thought they were being taken away all to be shot …22

From Stewart Creek Gaol the internees were transferred to the Gaythorne Internment Camp before being sent to permanent camps in the south.

In Brisbane, Professor Seita of the University of Queensland was arrested at 1.50 p.m. on 8 December. He was taken to his home where his possessions were thoroughly searched.23 According to a report written by the Deputy Director of Security for Queensland, the material confiscated from him was “one of the largest and most varied collections of political propaganda found in the possession of any one person since the outbreak of war in September 1939.”24

In Queensland the round-up was carried out with the utmost speed. On 14 December Truth reported:

the round-up in the capital [Brisbane] was finalised in a few hours. The operations were completed without a single hitch … Quietly and unobtrusively yet firmly the procedure was carried out in apprehending all enemy aliens in the State.25

The paper continued:

One optimistic laundryman had gone out when the military called at his shop. He had left a note posted on the door, “back at 3 o’clock”. Unfortunately, for him, instead of getting back to his shop, he was escorted in an army vehicle to quite another location.26

Two hundred and twenty-three Japanese were arrested on mainland Queensland and kept at Gaythorne before being transferred to permanent camps.27

The greatest number of Japanese detained was 359 at Thursday Island.28 Preparations were well under way before Japan attacked. On 1 December an internment operation was activated by Fortress Headquarters on the island, which during the following week took delivery of 8.75 miles of barbed-wire fencing and other supplies to make the Japanese quarter, “Yokohama”, a secure prison.29

On the morning of 8 December, “Yokohama” was transformed into a temporary internment camp where, as far as possible, daily life was allowed to continue. Children went to school every day from the camp. Harumi, one of the daughters of the Yamashita family which owned the soy sauce factory, is one of the few who still lives on the island. She recalled:

I was 11 years old then. I remember the barbed wire going up … it was strange … every morning I went through the little gate to go to school and came back through the same gate. Soldiers were always there and let us go in and out.30

The eldest son of the Nakata family on the island said:

I and my brothers and sisters still went to school with the camp’s approval. The atmosphere at school was no different to me. No children were antagonistic or anything. We still played together at sports until the final break-up day.31

A local resident remembered:

The Japanese town was surrounded by barbed wire with machine guns on each corner of the town … The soldiers used to take the Japanese for a bath in the salt water. They stood guard with fixed bayonets. There was no trouble.32

Pearl divers accounted for 90 percent of the adult Japanese on the island. More than half were working at sea on 8 December.33 They were arrested as they returned.34 Another local resident said:

We got on well with the Japanese before the war … the Japanese trained us to use boats, navigate the luggers and how to dive for pearl. We had to arrest the Japanese because we were now at war.35

The first group of Thursday Island internees was sent to the mainland on the Zealandia bringing internees from Darwin. The “Marella” later transferred the remaining Japanese divers from the island.

The Japanese in Darwin were also taken into custody on 8 December. Guards were stationed outside Japanese homes, and the children were removed from their school under armed guard.36 Peter Murakami was seven when soldiers arrived to arrest Japanese children at St. Mary’s Convent School. He “didn’t know what was going on”.37 His eldest sister, Masuko Murakami, was married to her cousin, Yoshio Murakami, an engineer in the pearl-shell industry. She had not heard that war had broken out. She described that morning:

I took my son to Mum’s house and saw two soldiers standing in front of the house …They said, “What are you doing? You are not supposed to be out. You are not allowed in” … back at home there were also two soldiers … They said, “You are under arrest … This is for your protection”.38

Masuko’s parents and her brothers were inside the house when soldiers armed with rifles came in. Joe, the third eldest son, wrote:

The officer-in-charge told us to pack just the minimum of clothing. Some of the soldiers were now brusque in their attitude, but not unduly so. A.C. Gregory appeared in his full tropical naval officer’s uniform while we were packing. I don’t remember what he said to my parents but I have faint recollections of hearing something like “I’m sorry. There’s nothing much I can do”.39

Gregory also told Joe’s father that he would look after anything valuable that Yasukichi might want kept in safe custody. Because of his long association with the Murakami family, Gregory was suspected of being a spy.40 According to Bain, he died in Perth in December 1942, ostracised by friends and associates.41

The Darwin internees were first relocated to the Adelaide River military base, 100 kilometres south of Darwin. Family groups, numbering 20 in total, were put in the military confinement block, while the 49 single men, including 40 pearl-shell labourers and 9 others, were kept within the barbed-wire enclosure until they were sent south. Joe wrote:

Treatment of the internees was quite good, considering the circumstances. There were no insulting remarks from the troops outside the fence, as far as I can recall. The Japanese lugger crews used to play catch ball for exercise and, occasionally, an Aussie soldier would join them.42

The Western Australian reported the situation in Darwin:

The Japanese who were arrested yesterday have all been interned. When arrested, some of them could not believe that Japan was at war with America. They had not heard the news and were at a loss to understand why they should suddenly be taken from their homes. A few broke down and sobbed pitifully.43

After spending a few weeks in corrugated iron huts, family groups, 16 people in all, were put on board the Zealandia, on the lowest deck in the forecastle.44 They left Darwin sometime before Christmas. It was cramped and hot in the cabins. The same ship carried Australian civilian evacuees from Darwin. Geoff Chin, an Australian-born Chinese, was one of the evacuees. He was quoted by Joe Murakami as saying: “The white civilians had comfortable, roomy accommodation, while non-whites had to put up with conditions almost as bad as enemy prisoners.”45

From Darwin the Zealandia picked up the Japanese from Thursday Island. Masuko Murakami said:

We were allowed to carry only thirty-five pounds in weight…We were originally to leave Darwin by plane but ended up being on a ship. We didn’t have anything much but clothes. We could’ve taken more if we had known we were going by ship … Japanese from Thursday Island had lots of things, even pots and pans …46

The sea was calm up to Thursday Island, but the voyage to Sydney was very rough. “All of us suffered severe seasickness which was aggravated by our cooped-up, confined, hot cabins,” Joe Murakami recalled.47 Harumi Ahloy (née Yamashita) said:

A few days later no fresh water was available and we had to drink “semi-desalinated” water … We managed to swallow it by mixing it with “Eno” fruit salt we had brought with us. Christmas Day was spent on the ship with sour tripe and white sauce for dinner.48

On New Year’s Day they arrived at Sydney where the internees were divided into two groups.49 Single men from Thursday Island were put on a train to Hay Internment Camp, while family groups and single women were sent to Tatura.

The remaining Darwin Japanese, 51 of them, comprised 49 men, Mr Jiro Muramatsu and his wife. They were put on military trucks at Adelaide River and taken to the Loveday Internment Camp in South Australia.50 On the way they picked up one Japanese named Ivan Steel (Inokichi Suzuki) at Tennant Creek, the only Japanese interned in South Australia.51

In Broome about 100 Japanese residents were arrested on the morning of 8 December. Miki Tsutsumi, secretary of the Nihonjin-kai in Broome, was one of them. He had come to Broome in 1921 as manager of the Tonan Shokai, a company which sold Japanese goods mainly to the Japanese community.52 He began writing a diary from the day of his arrest. His first entry reads:

After I got up, I heard people were talking about Japan’s attack on Hawaii and Malaya. I couldn’t believe it …At about 10.30, Inspector Lawson and three other policemen came and told us that we were to be taken to the gaol. They gave us a little time to pack up. At about 11.00 we got to the gaol…53

Hatsu Kanegae, who came to Broome in 1896 from Nagasaki,54 was one of the five single Japanese women arrested that day. Her niece, Yoshi, remembers the day her aunt was taken by the police:

I was at my auntie’s house …Auntie and I were washing and cleaning as we always did at that time of the day. It was about ten in the morning. We didn’t know the war had broken out … One policeman came and took her. He said, “I’m sorry but I have to arrest you.” She packed a few things up and asked her neighbours to look after things …They were Filipino, good friends of hers.55

Others voluntarily prepared themselves for arrest. According to a resident of Broome, Australians were surprised as Japanese emerged from the lanes and paths of Chinatown, gathering together in Carnarvon Street awaiting internment.56 On the next day an old Japanese man appeared at a pearler’s home and said, “Waited all afternoon, boss, all packed up. No one came for me, boss. What’ll I do?”57 On the second day, Tsutsumi noted that:

Everyone is fairly calm. Women are also taking it all well.… I am angry at the fact that women were arrested … A few more were brought in today.58

The 100 Japanese were crammed into Broome gaol, built to hold between 40 and 50 prisoners. Probably because of this lack of space, the authorities did not arrest all the Japanese in Broome straight away. Those not immediately imprisoned were placed under restriction orders until they could be taken into custody.59

Some Broome luggers were at sea on 8 December. Masatora Okamura, a diver, recalled:

We had been collecting pearl shells for a week or so when a patrol boat found us … A few local Aboriginals were aboard and told us to return to Broome immediately. That was the way we found out about the war … It didn’t really register and we were taking it easy and continued working leisurely … We had enough food on board … I think we remained at sea for about a week until we ran out of food …60

On 18 December they returned to Broome:

As we came to the dock, we saw soldiers standing with guns pointing towards us. As soon as we got off the boat, we were taken onto a military truck to our divers’ house. We were told to pack up a bag. Then they took us to the Broome gaol.61

The remaining Japanese divers were arrested as they returned to Broome, bringing the number arrested to 162.62

The Japanese community was one of the biggest ethnic groups in Broome. Non-Japanese well-wishers sent in soy sauce, rice, Japanese tea, fresh fruit and vegetables, and fish. According to Tsutsumi, the Japanese had enough suitable food and they were allowed to have visitors and go out occasionally, so they had easy access to whatever news was available.63

Jimmy Chi was a regular visitor to the gaol. He was a successful businessman and had a close association with the Japanese community. On 20 December he was arrested. In 1986 Chi talked about the time with resentment:

The white people in town thought I was communicating with the Japs and my brother was in the Japanese Air Force … Sgt. Cowie came up one day while I was driving the taxi and told me to go with him … I left the car there in the street and he put me in gaol …64

Although he was released the same day as he was a natural-born British subject, he was taken in again a week later:

I was picking up passengers from the jetty and Sgt. Cowie came up and said, “I want you again,”.… I packed my stuff and they put me in gaol again. I couldn’t do anything … My wife and son were still here in Broome and my business was just left sitting …65

On 21 December the internees were told that they were to be transferred south. By this date 185 had been detained.66 On 22 December a prisoners’ committee was set up in the Broome gaol to organise welfare matters. Approaching New Year, the committee debated whether it could display the Emperor’s picture for the New Year celebration in a gaol. Those against were in the majority, and the New Year events took place without the Emperor’s portrait. The internees celebrated the New Year as best they could in the gaol and enjoyed special Japanese food prepared for the occasion. Some later enjoyed a game of mah-jong.67

On 18 January the Japanese were taken by trucks to board the Koolinda. On the previous day, Australian-born wives and children had been taken into custody. The Shiosaki family was included. Alf Shiosaki was 10:

I can’t remember exactly when, but one day I was outside with Dad and saw the aurora [sic]. Dad said, “War’s coming.” And one day sometime after that, a truck came and took us … we were having lunch then, had to leave everything behind …68

Alf’s older sister, Peggy, also remembers the day. In her home in Derby, she said:

The policeman told us to pack up things, a change of clothes and things … We were put in a tent at the Broome gaol. The gaol was already packed with the Japanese. We slept in the tent for one night and the next day we were taken on a ship …69

Yoshi Kanegae, an Australian-born of Japanese Aboriginal origin, was neither upset nor afraid of being arrested. She said: “Dad was in and Auntie was in … so I was excited to go and looking forward to seeing them again.”70

At noon on 19 January the Koolinda left Broome carrying 212 Japanese internees, picked up 34 Japanese internees at Port Hedland, Point Samson, Onslow and Carnarvon, and arrived at Fremantle on 24 January.71 The internees were divided into two groups, the family groups being taken to Woodmans Point Internment Camp, and the men to Harvey Internment Camp.72

Harvey was about 100 kilometres south of Perth. The men arriving there were given a friendly welcome by Italian internees. They were housed in 11 huts in one compound which had a tennis court, garden, canteen, mess hall and wash house. They settled in well and found the facilities satisfactory.73 An internees’ committee was formed and Tsutsumi was chosen as compound leader. He sent a telegram to Woodmans Point Camp on 29 January 1942:

Arrived safely Saturday evening without troubles and all of us are in good health but much colder and windy than expected. Desires all your side are in good health. Pass your time pleasantly. Kindest regards.74

On 31 January, however, they were informed that they were to be moved to an eastern state, and on 1 February 195 unattached men left for Loveday. On 8 February Tsutsumi wrote:

It has just been two months since we were interned. We have been told that family groups are to travel by rail to the East. The exact destination is still unknown … There is not much else to talk about. We chatted about what is going to happen to us over a cup of tea and the cakes which our dear Italian friends baked for us.75

The internees at Harvey had access to local newspapers, which gave them some idea of how the war was progressing. In early February, the papers reported that it looked as though Japan was going to take Singapore. The news delighted both the Japanese and the Italians. The Italians baked special cakes and biscuits in anticipation of Japan’s victory. On 11 February, Japan’s National Day, Tsutsumi wrote: “If the news is true, my heart is filled with joy for Japan’s victory in Singapore which happened on this very special day.”76

On 15 February Singapore surrendered to the Japanese.77 On the same day the remaining Japanese left Harvey for Perth where they were reunited with their families. They left Perth station at 8 p.m.

The sun was setting as we left the station. The station building was huge and spectacular, but the Japanese could not find it in their hearts to be impressed. White people crowded the railway to watch us on the train.78

Some children found the train ride across the Nullarbor exciting. “It was like having a picnic every day, seeing places I had never seen before,”79 said Alf Shiosaki. But the plain depressed Tsutsumi. He wrote: “It only made me sad to see so few bushes in the vast open space. I saw this vast plain without much feeling.”80

On 18 February they reached Adelaide. Twenty-four single males were sent to Loveday Internment Camp on military trucks, while family groups had a short break in the Adelaide Showgrounds before continuing their journey to Tatura Internment Camp. They arrived in Melbourne on the morning of 19 February and were put on military trucks, finally reaching Tatura at 8 p.m. They were exhausted. “I was very tired. All I can remember is that I just wanted to lie down somewhere,”81 said Peggy Shiosaki. Alf recalled the time when he walked into the camp:

I was standing at the big gates. I think it was the entrance to the compound. There was barbed wire everywhere. A guard patted my head and said, “Hey son, this is going to be your home for a while.”82

The internees from Western Australia were one of the last local internee groups to arrive at the camps. There they learnt that overseas internees had been treated badly on their journey to Australia. Former local internees thought the treatment they had received from the Australian military had been fair and not humiliating. Masu Tsutsumi, the wife of Miki Tsutsumi from Broome said:

We had much more luggage compared to people from the islands. They had nothing … I felt sorry for them. Some of the conditions they had been subjected to were just unbelievable … We were treated fairly.83

Thirty-four Japanese were arrested in New Guinea, including five women, and two in Papua.84 About one-third of the New Guinea men were married to local women and had children. The men had been residents for 30 to 40 years. They included plantation workers, ship engineers, boat builders and a transport worker.85 Michael Asanuma, the eldest son of Ichimatsu Asanuma who married a woman of Filipino origin, was 14 in 1941.

We were taken out of the school that morning and sent to the local prison in Rabaul. My mother came a little later … the authorities took us children only out of the prison. We were sent to Wide Bay where our uncle had a plantation. Mother was released a little later.86

All the families remained in New Guinea. The men were transferred from Rabaul and Kieta on the MV Malaita. The two men from Papua joined the ship at Samarai late in January 1942.87 Tony, Michael Asanuma’s younger brother, said:

Mum and us children all wanted to go with Dad and other families too, but we were not allowed. We missed him very much, but Mum’s family is big and we weren’t lonely or anything.88

On 23 January 1942 Japan occupied Rabaul. Tony continued:

We decided to move to Rabaul as it was not safe in Wide Bay. In Rabaul life became so easy … plenty of food. Major Abe looked after the family. We grew vegies and gave to Japanese soldiers. We went to a Japanese school in Rabaul and learnt Japanese.89

Most overseas Japanese later interned in Australian camps were also rounded up on 8 December. Thirty-four men were arrested in the New Hebrides on that day, transferred to Australia on the SS Morinda in January 1942,90 and sent to Hay Internment Camp. In February 1942 the SS Morinda brought three Japanese men91 − two divers and a boat builder92 − from the Solomon Islands. One diver, Fujita, had married a local woman. His wife and children remained in the Solomon Islands.93 The three men were interned at Hay.

In New Caledonia, 1,124 Japanese, including some families, were arrested.94 Many of them were miners, farmers and fishermen.95 They were brought to Australia in two groups − on the SS Cap les Palmes and the SS Cremer.96 The Free French authorities treated them badly in Noumea. The men were arrested first and had to spend that night on the ground in the open air. Next morning they and their families were taken to Nouville Island near Noumea where they were kept in a ruined building until they were embarked on the Cap les Palmes. The conditions on their voyage to Australia were appalling. The Murayama family had owned a tailor’s shop in Noumea from 1927. Yuri Murayama, the wife, spoke bitterly about their experiences during the voyage:

It was the worst part of my wartime experiences. There were about 40 children on board. We had packed biscuits and other things for them, but the soldiers confiscated them all … the conditions on the ship were terrible … no proper toilet facilities … no bedding. But the women and children at least had a change of clothes. The men had nothing except what they were wearing when they were arrested. It was so sad to see them.97

Takao Miyake, later compound leader at Hay Internment Camp, was in this party. He was quoted in a report by the Swiss Consul-General, Hedinger:

We were packed in a dark, airless hatch … slept on the bare iron floor with no bedding … we were allowed to go on deck for a period of half an hour each twice a day. For meals we had no plates, no cups and ate with our fingers. No water to wash. Upon all this we were treated with brutality by the sailors guarding us.98

The ship arrived at Sydney on 22 December. Single men were taken to Hay and Loveday, and family groups to Tatura. On 26 January 1942 Hedinger visited Hay Internment Camp and took particular notice of the conditions of the internees from New Caledonia. He reported:

A problem of considerable urgency was created by the fact that the Free French Authorities of New Caledonia apparently did not allow the Japanese under arrest sufficient time to provide themselves with proper clothing, and daily necessities, to undertake the voyage to Sydney. Most of them arrived clad only in a shirt and shorts. As the temperature in Hay is subject to great variations … on account of the danger to their health, an extra issue of clothing should be made available in the shortest possible time.99

The Japanese sent from NEI were the largest group of internees held in Australia. In December 1941 the Australian government agreed to accept Japanese internees from NEI, subject to the Netherlands government accepting responsibility for transfer and for the costs of erecting necessary accommodation, keeping guards and incidental expenditure incurred by the Commonwealth.100

In January and February 1942, 1,949 people, including 550 women and children, were transferred to Australia on the SS Cremer and the SS Heemskirk.101 In July 1941 Japanese assets in NEI were frozen, commercial activities were restricted, and the Japanese government began evacuating Japanese residents.102 Women and children went first. By November 1941 most employees of Japanese companies were also evacuated. According to Miyakatsu Koike, a former employee of the Yokohama Specie Bank in Surabaya, at the beginning of December those remaining were told by head office in Japan that all branches were to be closed.103 On the morning of 8 December Koike went to check the manager’s house before going to work as the manager was away in Batavia. Just as he was about to leave, he saw about 10 policemen at the gate. He wrote:

I knew instantly what we expected had happened … I greeted a Dutch officer who appeared to be the commandant. He told me that they were there to arrest the manager … I was asked to accompany them to search the manager’s house. I was kept under gunpoint by two policemen the whole time. They were going to arrest me there and then, but I said “I am not ready. Let me go back home and change.” I wanted to get my suitcase which I had prepared for this.104

He was taken to the local police station where he was joined by two other employees from his office and other Japanese arrested in the area. They were taken to the city hall in Surabaya. It was surrounded by barbed-wire fences, and quickly became crowded with other detainees, including pro-Japanese Indonesians and pro-Japanese Chinese. Koike wrote:

It was so funny to see one man whose hair was half done. Obviously he was arrested at a barber shop … We heard news about the Pearl Harbour attack on a radio which a Chinese brought in with him. The news made some of us cheerful … Some people talked like war commentators … We hoped the fighting spirit of the Japanese soldiers would last.105

On the following day they were moved and interned at an army barracks at Sumoono for a month.106

About one-third of internees from NEI were Formosans and Koreans who had been arrested as Japanese. Alice Pao, of Formosan origin, was in grade five in primary school in Surabaya. She recalled:

I was at school. The teacher called me out and told me to go home with the soldier. I didn’t know what was going on. When I got home, Mum told me that Dad had already been arrested and we had to go too. I said, “Why? We are Chinese.” Mum said, “They have to ask us a few questions and we will come back soon.” So I took my geography book as there was a test at school on the following day.107

The family never returned home.

The Mori family had a coffee plantation in the Celebes. They also knew that Japan would probably enter the war, and the mother and daughters went on an evacuation ship back to Japan. The male members of the family were arrested on 8 December. Taishiroo Mori, one of the sons, talked about that morning:

We saw soldiers approaching our house. Dad noticed them first and told us to go into the coffee plantation. So we did. Dad sat in an armchair on the veranda waiting for them to reach the house … A Dutch officer accompanied by 10 armed Indonesian soldiers surrounded our house. Me and my brother decided to come out as there seemed to be no danger. We pretended we knew nothing of their presence. I still remember the look on the soldiers’ faces. They were too astonished to point their guns at us. The soldiers were all locals that we knew anyway. The officer said politely to Dad, “War has broken out. You all have to come with us.” Dad replied, ‘This war is going to be trouble.”

They were escorted to the local gaol.108

Shigeru Nakabayashi did not know that the war had started when about 30 Dutch soldiers came to surround a cultured pearl nursery owned by Mitsubishi on Butung Island in the Celebes. Nakabayashi had gone there as a diver in 1930 and was working as the captain of a ferry when war broke out.109 He said:

There were only 8 of us at Butung … On 5 December we received a telegram from the Surabaya office telling us to go to Surabaya by 15 December … but we couldn’t make it … We had a short-wave radio, but it had been out of order for some time. I was working in the mechanics’ room when three soldiers came in and threatened me with bayonets.

The eight Japanese were taken to the detention block at the Baubau army barracks on the island.110

Masaichi Nabeshima, a Dutch subject born in NEI to a Japanese father and Indonesian mother, was arrested in Manado, the Celebes, on 8 December. He had just got out of bed when a soldier came into the house. “I will never forget that morning,” he said with bitterness:

One soldier came on a motor bike and grabbed me by my arm and said, “You get on the bike”. I didn’t know why. He didn’t tell me why either. I grabbed my wallet and left the house with him. That was it.111

He was put in the local gaol where he spent two nights without food:

It was a real gaol. I had nothing but the clothes I had on and a little money and Dad’s photo in my wallet. They took the money and tore the photo. We don’t have any photo of Dad now.112

The internees arrested in various places in the Celebes spent the next three weeks being moved from one place to another, either by train or on foot. Nabeshima described the journeys as the most intimidating experience of his life:

We didn’t know where we were ’cause we moved from one place to another and were never told where we were going … One day it was raining hard … we were told to shift somewhere … walked in the rain all night. I don’t have any words to describe how I felt then.113

They were gathered at Makasar (Ujung Pandang) and shipped to Surabaya, Java. At Surabaya they were put on a train for Port Cilacap where they boarded the SS Cremer. The ship was already carrying internees from Sumatra, Java, East Borneo and the Straits Settlements.114

At Batavia another approximately 1,000 internees were held in a staging camp. In his diary, Toshio Saito, correspondent for Domei Press in Batavia, noted the arrival at the camp of an internee named Takejiroo Haraguchi:

Mr Takejiroo Haraguchi arrived at the camp carrying some large suitcases and two sets of golf clubs hanging from his shoulders. He didn’t look like most of the other internees. We all welcomed him with some awkwardness … He told us that he was disappointed about his unexpected internment. He thought he would have been exempted as he is old, and a sympathiser with the Dutch and English.115

Haraguchi, a pacifist and former professor of religious studies and epistemology at Waseda University, was arrested in Peleng, a small island off the Celebes, where he had been the owner of a mica plant since 1939. He had extensive experience and knowledge of Japan’s Nan’yo affairs and colonial policies through his academic and professional pursuits. Haraguchi believed that Japan should maintain harmonious relationships with Western colonial powers in the region and was critical of Japan’s increasingly aggressive southward advance. He had some contact with Dutch officials in the area and received special treatment when establishing his plant on Peleng. He was seen as “a spy for the Dutch” among some Japanese residents in NEI.116

On 9 January 1942 the Cremer picked up the Japanese in the Batavia camp. The ship left Cilacap carrying about 2,000 internees, its destination unknown to them. The Japanese Army was advancing rapidly. Hong Kong was occupied on 25 December and most of the Philippines on 2 January 1942.117 There was a lot of military movement in the region. Tony Imaizumi, an internee who owned a shop in Medan, Sumatra, was on the ship. He described that time:

several times during the night Japanese bombers attacked and bombed the airfields located in the vicinity of the city. Fortunately, we were spared the calamity.118

Toshio Saito described the voyage as “hell” and left a vivid picture of conditions on the ship in his diary:

Jan. 9 The ship is packed. Women and children are crammed into the stern and the hold and some on deck. It’s after five. We haven’t eaten today. Babies are crying.

Jan. 10 Many are sick with high fever but no supply of medicine. Request for milk for babies is refused.

Jan. 11 Request for our luggage. Find many of the contents are broken or missing. Deeply disappointed.

Jan. 13 Sick people increase in number. Request for medicine is again refused.

Jan. 18 Chilly weather. Request for more blankets is refused. More people are suffering from diarrhoea or sea sickness. No medicine.

Jan. 19 An internee, Ueda, 63 years old, dies.

Jan. 22 A Formosan internee, Lie Kao, 47 years old, dies.

Jan. 23 Two babies born. Water shortage is serious.119

Taishiroo Mori remembers the terrible journey:

The condition of the ship was just unspeakable … We had no light … all the mess from the toilet was everywhere … it was so bad that we made plans to kill the Dutch guards on the ship. But how could trapped rats catch a cat …120

Shigeru Nakabayashi still cannot forget the experience on the ship. He said, “Small children were begging for water … but couldn’t do anything. I felt devastated.”121

The exception to this experience was Haraguchi, who was given special treatment. One internee, a former employee of the Chiyoda Department Store in Surabaya, recalled the resentment:

While everyone else was in terrible condition, little food and no change of clothes, he had food and clothes in the big suitcases. He didn’t share them with others.122

On 27 January 1942, after a “hellish” voyage of 3 weeks, the ship reached Port Adelaide, and for the first time the internees learnt that Australia was their destination. The Australian officers came on board to check the internees. One of them named Sergeant Smith spoke to the internees in fluent Japanese: “Anyone sick? I am sorry to see you in this condition.”123 Sergeant Smith is one of the names remembered by many former internees from NEI. The officers generally impressed the newly arrived internees. Koike noted in his diary:

The Australian officers looked respectable. They weren’t carrying any guns with them. Security on the pier didn’t look as alarming as we expected. After all, they are a member of the British Commonwealth.124

Nabeshima described his feeling of relief:

I felt I would live when we got to Australia. The sunshine, the blue skies and smiling faces … somewhat gave me hope and strength. We said to each other, “It’s going to be all right.”125

The next day a medical examination was carried out on board to take special measures to prevent the introduction of contagious tropical diseases into Australia. The sick and those identified as disease carriers were disembarked and taken to hospital.126 On 29 January about 550 men were disembarked, leaving about 1,000 on board in family groups, and the Cremer then headed for Port Melbourne. It arrived on 31 February, and family groups were put on the train for Tatura and the men were put on a train for Loveday. Saitoo noted in his diary:

A few Australian soldiers sat with us in our compartment. They offered us cigarettes and gave us a blanket … opened the window for us. The Dutch Army treated us so badly that we were delighted and relieved by the kind attitudes of the Australian soldiers. We slept well for the first time in three weeks.127

On the morning of 30 January they arrived at Loveday. Albert Whitmore, who was officer-in-charge of the Engineering Section of the camp, remembers that day:

They looked very, very straggly … We thought, “There’s going to be a mess here.” But in a matter of a few months, with good food and hygiene, they did exceptionally well here.128

The internees were stripped for quarantine check and delousing. After the quarantine check, the internees settled down to breakfast. Saitoo’s diary reads:

We were so delighted with the butter, jam, coffee, all so fresh. We had a big appetite as the food on the ship was shockingly poor … We had a wash which we rarely had on the ship. We scrubbed ourselves so many times.129

After breakfast their belongings were searched. Koike noted:

The diary, which I had hidden in my socks, was found but wasn’t confiscated. The officer simply asked me if I was a journalist.130

One other group of overseas Japanese was later to be interned in Australia. These were the Japanese arrested in Tonga and Fiji and taken to New Zealand and held in internment camps at Wellington, Pahiatua and on Somes Island.131 They included employees of Banno Shokai, a Japanese trading firm which had a branch in Fiji, carpenters, merchants and farmers.132 Fifty of these Japanese were brought to Australia in November 1943.133

Most Japanese internees, local and overseas, were in camps by early February 1942. The Australian community was by then deeply concerned about the war with Japan. In January the Japanese landed a large number of troops in New Guinea and in February the Japanese bombed Darwin and other northern towns. Japanese submarines attacked Australian shipping in 1942 and 1943, with damaging effect, on the east coast from Brisbane to the Victorian border. On 31 May two Japanese submarines entered Sydney Harbour and attacked local shipping. From February to May 1942 invasion seemed imminent.134 Various organisations such as trade unions, the Diggers’ Association, and the Returned Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen’s Imperial League of Australia (RSS & AILA) urged the government to intern aliens.135 In February 1942 the council of the New South Wales Branch of the RSS & AILA passed the following motion:

That in pursuit of the immediate internment of all enemy aliens Sub-Branches be requested to take up petitions in their respective districts, such petitions to be tendered to the local Federal Member by the President of the particular Sub-Branch, and further that all State Branches through Federal office be requested to take similar action.136

On 7 March the Ballina Sub-Branch sent their petition to the Prime Minister with the following reasons as to why all aliens should be interned:

  1. That feeling of greater security would exist among the people, and in particular women and children, by the knowledge that the power has been taken from such enemies, potential or otherwise, against a treacherous attack.
  2. Our women and children, aged persons and all loyal subjects should receive all protection possible.
  3. That the possibility of invasion does exist and to allow enemy aliens the freedom they now enjoy, is giving them the opportunity to endanger life and property as well as to assist the invaders in many other ways.
  4. No certainty exists that enemy aliens have not concealed stores of arms and ammunition.
  5. For the security of Australia.
  6. For the protection of enemy aliens themselves.

On 9 March the Townsville Sub-Branch complained to the Prime Minister:

Disappointment and dissatisfaction were … generally expressed that the internment of these enemy aliens has not been carried out on a more extensive scale … it is our considered opinion that the naturalised enemy alien is a source of greater danger than the unnaturalised as he is able to cloak his activities under his naturalisation … We are therefore particularly anxious to impress on your Government the urgency of having a complete round-up of all enemy subjects … without delay …137

By May 1942, out of concern that they may aid the Japanese, other aliens even of non-enemy origin were interned. Some were neutral nationals such as Danes, Portuguese and Swiss, or aliens from other countries including Indonesians, Javanese and Chinese.138 In Sydney, Chinese were frequently insulted and occasionally assaulted when they were mistaken for Japanese. The Military Police Intelligence Section and the Consul-General for China in Sydney thought of issuing a distinguishing badge to all Chinese nationals.139 In Condobolin, New South Wales, a proprietor of an electrical goods and footwear shop who was of Chinese descent displayed his family tree in the window of the shop during the war. This document traced his lineage back to a particular part of China.140

The nominal roll of internees, which indicates their movements and locations from January 1942 to December 1945, shows that 56 Chinese were interned in Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales.141 Although reasons for their internment have not been substantiated, a Sydney resident of Chinese origin said that some Chinese in Sydney were mistaken for Japanese and interned.142

In view of the imminent danger from Japan, the War Cabinet decided to strengthen security. In March 1942 the Commonwealth Security Service was re-organised.143 The main alteration was the appointment of a Director-General of Security for Australia and six Deputy Directors, one for each state.144 There was an increase in the number of people interned during 1942−1943.145 In Queensland 634 Italians, including naturalised British subjects of Italian origin, were interned between February and April as a precautionary measure,146 and a few Australian-born Japanese who had not been interned were taken into custody. The adopted daughter of Mr and Mrs Iwanaga in Cairns, was one of them. Six months later she was interned. She said:

I regularly wrote to my parents who had been interned at the internment camp in Victoria. Isn’t it natural that we worry about our parents? … The police came to arrest me and said that my sympathies were Japanese.147

She was reunited with her parents in the internment camp at Tatura but was released on 6 May 1943.148

One Australian-born man was taken into custody in Brisbane at about the same time as Miss Iwanaga. He was looking after the family dry cleaning shop at Kangaroo Point. They had been interned at the outbreak of the war. He had a long association with the family and was engaged to their Australian-born daughter who was not interned. They were living in a house in Kangaroo Point which they were buying. He said:

After the war began, the business was not good at all, but we had to keep it going. It was a difficult time. People noticed that we were Japanese and threw stones at the windows of the shop, but some people remained kind to us. I was arrested, but my fiancée wasn’t. But she decided to come with me as no one else was left.

They lost the house, but their friend, Mr Farley, kept their furniture for them while they were interned at Tatura.149

One woman and her six children aged from 3 to 12 were also taken into custody at their home in Brisbane. Their father had already been interned. The oldest daughter recalled:

I was getting ready for school, and several men and women came to the door and said, “We’ve come to take you away to join your husband to be interned.” Mum said, “Why didn’t you tell me so that I could pack our suitcases.” … One of the women accompanied her into the bathroom. Mum was very humiliated … We just had to pack some clothing and things in suitcases and shut the back and front door and we were shot into the car.150

They were first taken to Gaythorne Internment Camp in Brisbane where they were detained before being sent to Tatura. On the following day the mother was allowed to go home to pack a few more things and found that much of their property had been stolen.151

Patrick Ahmat, the second oldest son of the Ahmat family in Perth, was interned during this period. The rest of his family, except for his Thai-born father and his enlisted brother, had been interned since the outbreak of the war. Patrick would probably have been arrested had he been living with the rest of his family, but he was away from home. Patrick said: “Australia just panicked. I thought it was unfair.”152 He was interned at Loveday.

After the entry of Japan into the war in December 1941, all aliens, in common with Australians, were required to perform some kind of national service.153 Patrick was not enlisted for any volunteer service for the war effort at the time of his arrests. He was 23 in 1941.

In March 1942 an Englishman named H. Woodfield was interned. He was described by the Deputy Director of Security for Queensland as “one of the leading (pro-Japanese) suspects”.154 His Japanese wife, a British subject by marriage, and his daughter were also arrested on the same day and taken to Gaythorne Internment Camp. Woodfield was interned because of his long-term association with Japan and Japanese interests. He had been employed by a Japanese petrol company, and it was also claimed that he travelled widely in China in areas under Japanese military control with the full support of the Japanese government.155 In April 1942 he appealed against his detention but was unsuccessful. The family were then transferred to a permanent family camp at Tatura. His wife and daughter were released in December 1944.156

During this period 20 pro-Japanese British subjects were arrested, 4 in Western Australia and 16 in New South Wales. Military intelligence thought they were members of the Australia First Movement. The four in Western Australia were reported as “conspiring for the specific purpose of assisting the Japanese in the event of their invading the Western and Northern Western coast”.157 Military intelligence in Western Australia suggested the internment not only of these four, but also of any others in other states who were associated with the Australia First Movement. All 20 of them were interned in March at the order of the Minister of the Army.158 A subsequent Commission of Enquiry supported the internment of eight of this group, although another eight were released and offered compensation for unjustified detention.159

The Security Service in Queensland showed concern over the possibility of Aborigines on Cape York aiding the Japanese in the event of an invasion or other military action against Australia.160 On 24 March 1943 the Security Service in Townsville reported:

On these reserves the aboriginals … have been in touch with the Indent Japanese fishermen from Thursday Island for at least two generations … The Aboriginal on the Peninsula is not aggressive and he would consider the Japanese his temporary master and try to get the best terms he could for himself and his family.161

In April 1943 an intelligence report stated:

Most of these blacks and half-castes have been travelling for years the stock routes right into the coastal areas, and their natural bent for “country” has given them an invaluable knowledge of Queensland topography … These half-educated half-castes and aboriginals have been largely influenced by Communist and Anti-Capitalist propaganda for many years and can almost invariably be swayed by the agitator. … There is little doubt that the Japs would find many of them willing helpers.162

Because of the vulnerable position of Thursday Island (TI), on 27 January 1942 it was decided to evacuate its entire civilian population immediately. On the following day 459 residents left the island taking what they could carry on the Zealandia and Ormiston for centres as far south as Brisbane. Armed forces personnel occupied the hastily evacuated homes.163 Of the 459 evacuees, 280 were “coloured” and 20 Chinese. The non-white population of the island was evacuated to Cherbourg Aboriginal Settlement near Maryborough.164 The Indigenous people of the Torres Strait were left to fend for themselves, but during February and March 1942, TI women and children were evacuated and most were sent to Cherbourg.165

The Security Service in Queensland was particularly concerned with four women in the Cherbourg Settlement whom it considered “pro-Japanese”.166 Jean Shibasaki was one of them. She was born in 1908 to Malay parents on Horn Island near Thursday Island and was married to Kyukichi Shibasaki, a pearl diver, who had already been interned at the outbreak of war.167 On 27 August 1942 the Maryborough police reported:

This woman stated that the white people treated the coloured people well but did not mix with them the same as the Japanese who treated them very well … she appears very much to be in sympathy with the Japanese and never misses an opportunity of telling the aboriginals how good they are to the coloured people … I am of the opinion that this woman is definitely sympathetic with the Japanese … I strongly recommend this woman’s removal to a place of internment.168

On 4 December 1942 this recommendation was accepted by the Director General of Security. The Deputy Director of Security, Queensland, wrote:

As her influence over the natives in this Settlement could be such that these persons may be made Japanese sympathisers it is considered that her removal is essential.169

In early 1943 Jean was temporarily moved to Gaythorne Internment Camp with her six children aged from 2 to 15.170 A 15-year-old son, Jamel, told about his experience:

You live on Thursday Island. You never been anywhere else. There are 300 Japanese divers living there. They talk to you. You talk to them. Then all of a sudden, it’s wartime and you’re picked out as a spy or mixing with the enemy. Makes you think. I was born in this country. I don’t speak Japanese. I know nothing about spying. As a young fellow, I was so confused …171

Three other women arrested at about the same time were Anima Ahmat, Lear Barba of Malay origin, and May Woodhead of Malay and Islander origin. According to Lear Barba, “There were some women of Malay/Islander origin who were living with a Japanese pearl diver on Thursday Island. Only three were married − Shibasaki, Takai and Fujii.”172 Before the war, Lear and her older sister, Sopia, were shop attendants in a Japanese-owned refreshment shop on the island. Lear was living with Seijiroo Machida who was interned at the outbreak of the war. She had three children from different Japanese fathers. Sopia was married to Iwazoo Takai, a pearl diver from Wakayama, and had three children by him. Takai went back to Japan and died there in 1939.173 She was not interned. Lear said:

We felt sorry for them (the Japanese on the island). They were good to us. We found Japanese men likable … They (the authorities) just took the outspoken ones. They didn’t intern my sister or others who were living with Japanese men …174

Jean Shibasaki complained to the authorities about the conditions at Cherbourg mission and asked permission to move to Mackay where her parents were living. She continued:

Police came to the house in Mackay to arrest me. Me and the kids were taken to Gaythorne. My parents moved to Brisbane just to be near me. They came to visit us at the camp … I felt depressed seeing my parents through the bars. I said to myself, “What did I do wrong?” My kids didn’t like it.175

Hisako, Jean’s youngest daughter, vividly remembered the camp:

I will never forget … the stretch of wire fence surrounding the camp which seemed to go up endlessly into the sky. Only because I was very little at the time.176

In February 1943, before they could be transferred to another camp for permanent internment, their cases were heard by an Aliens’ Tribunal in Brisbane.177 Jean Shibasaki claimed that if she was released she would be supported by her father who was working as a cane-cutter near Bundaberg.178 Despite doubts about his ability to support her, the Tribunal revoked her detention order in April 1943 on the proviso that she should reside in the immediate vicinity of Bundaberg, report monthly to the local police, and “not voice any opinion which may give offence to loyal citizens”.179 The three other women were also released around the same time.180

In all 1,141 Japanese were arrested in Australia and its territories and most were interned in permanent camps. Three thousand, one-hundred and sixty overseas Japanese were interned, making a total of 4,301.181 Some were treated courteously by arresting officers, others were made to feel that they had committed crimes. Local internees were generally treated humanely, while overseas internees have grim memories of arrest in their various countries.

Notes

  1. BP 242/1, Q39362, 9 Dec. 1941. ↩
  2. Sydney Morning Herald, 9 Dec. 1941. ↩
  3. Canberra Times, 9 Dec. 1941. ↩
  4. Taijiroo Ichikawa, Fujisawa, Japan, 29 Jan. 1987. ↩
  5. Sydney Morning Herald, 9 Dec. 1941. ↩
  6. Harry Suzuki, Sydney, 22 Aug. 1987. ↩
  7. Evelyn Suzuki, the wife of the late Harry Suzuki, letter, 14 Aug. 1992. ↩
  8. Sydney Morning Herald, 9 Dec. 1941. ↩
  9. Shiro Kikuchi, letter, 10 Dec. 1941, held by Mrs Boylson, Sydney. ↩
  10. Statement of Kurozumi, interviewed by Mr. Naomasa Oshimoto, cited in Oshimoto, Naomasa, “Nichi-Go Shinzen ni Kokenshita Nihon Imin [Japanese Immigrants Who Contributed for Friendly Relations Between Australia and Japan]” in Iju Kenkyu [Emigration Studies], Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Tokyo, No. 19, 1982, p. 19. ↩
  11. Albert Ueno, Yokohama, 16 Jan. 1987. ↩
  12. Ibid. ↩
  13. Ida Hasegawa, Geelong, 16 Aug. 1987. ↩
  14. Ibid. ↩
  15. Bob Freeman, Brisbane, 26 Aug. 1987. ↩
  16. Ibid. ↩
  17. C123, Criminal Investigation File, General instruction to police carrying out the duties of internment of listed aliens. ↩
  18. Bob Freeman, 26 Aug. 1987. ↩
  19. Arthur Yamaguchi, Pioneer, 16 Jul. 1992. ↩
  20. Ibid. ↩
  21. AP 308/1, 18, 1944. ↩
  22. Name withheld, Brisbane, 25 Aug. 1987. ↩
  23. BP242/1, Q 24301, 9 Dec. 1941. ↩
  24. Ibid. ↩
  25. Truth, 14 Dec. 1941, BP242/1, Q 39362. ↩
  26. Ibid. ↩
  27. BP242/1, Q 30579, 30 Apr. 1942. ↩
  28. Ibid. ↩
  29. Ibid., 1 Dec. 1941. ↩
  30. Harumi Ahloy née Yamashita, Thursday Island, 1 Sept. 1987. ↩
  31. Tamiya Nakata, letter, Thursday Island, 10 June 1988. ↩
  32. Statement of E. Ware Snr. quoted in Torres Straits at War: a Recollection of Wartime Experiences, Thursday Island State High School, 1987, p. 34. ↩
  33. BP 242/1, Q 39362, 15 Dec. 1941. ↩
  34. Evelyn Suzuki née Yamashita, Sydney, 22 Aug. 1987. ↩
  35. Statement of Ettie Pau, quoted in Torres Strait at War, p. 34. ↩
  36. Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography, Vol. I: –1945, p. 218. ↩
  37. The Bulletin, 18 Feb. 1992, p.41. ↩
  38. Masuko Murakami, Darwin, 19 Aug. 1986. ↩
  39. Joe Murakami, letter, Yokohama, 16 Jul. 1988. ↩
  40. Ibid., 28 Sept. 1991. ↩
  41. Bain, p.318. ↩
  42. Joe Murakami, letter, 16 July 1988. ↩
  43. Western Australian, 10 Dec. 1941. ↩
  44. BP 242/1, Q 39362, Nominal Roll of Japanese Internees Ex Darwin. ↩
  45. Joe Murakami, letter, 16 Jul. 1988. ↩
  46. Masuko Murakami, Darwin, 29 Aug. 1986. ↩
  47. Joe Murakami, letter, 16 Jul. 1988. ↩
  48. Statement of Harumi Ahloy née Yamashita, quoted in Torres Strait at War, p. 35. ↩
  49. Evelyn Suzuki, Sydney, 7 May 1992. ↩
  50. MP 729/6, 63/401/416, No date. ↩
  51. MP 1103/1, Box 1; BP 242/1, Q 30579, 10 Apr. 1942. ↩
  52. Wilson, p.383. ↩
  53. Tsutsumi’s Diary, 8 Dec. 1941. ↩
  54. Wilson, p.346. ↩
  55. Yoshi Nabeshima née Kanegae, Sydney, 22 Aug. 1987. ↩
  56. Bain, p.320. ↩
  57. M.de Castilla, interview by Bain, Perth, 1976, in Bain, p. 321. ↩
  58. Tsutsumi’s Diary, 9 Dec. 1941. ↩
  59. Yoshi Nabeshima née Kanegae, Sydney, 22 Aug. 1987. ↩
  60. Masatora Okamura, Broome, 25 Aug. 1986. ↩
  61. Ibid. ↩
  62. Tsutsumi’s Diary, 18 Dec. 1941. ↩
  63. Ibid., 9–25 Dec. 1941. ↩
  64. Jimmy Chi, Broome. 25 Aug. 1986. ↩
  65. Ibid. ↩
  66. Tsutsumi’s Diary, 21 Dec. 1941 ↩
  67. Ibid., 22 Dec. 1941. ↩
  68. Alf Shiosaki, Perth, 21 Aug. 1986. ↩
  69. Peggy Carlie nee Shiosaki, Derby, 26 Aug. 1986. ↩
  70. Yoshi Nabeshima née Kanagae, Sydney, 22 Aug. 1987. ↩
  71. Tsutsumi’s Diary, 24 Jan. 1942. ↩
  72. Ibid. ↩
  73. Ibid., 25 Jan. 1942. ↩
  74. Ibid., 29 Jan. 1942. ↩
  75. Ibid., 1 Feb. 1942. ↩
  76. Ibid., 11 Feb. 1942. ↩
  77. McKernan, All In, p. 110. ↩
  78. Tsutsumi’s Diary, 15 Feb. 1942. ↩
  79. Alf Shiosaki, 21 Aug. 1986. ↩
  80. Tsutsumi’s Diary, 17 Feb. 1942. ↩
  81. Peggy Carlie née Shiosaki, 26 Aug. 1986. ↩
  82. Alf Shiosaki, 21 Aug. 1986. ↩
  83. Masu Tsutsumi, Nagasaki, Japan, 17 Jan. 1987. ↩
  84. BP 242/1, Q 30579, Extracts from G.H.Q. Intelligence Summary No.172, 10 Apr. 1942. ↩
  85. A 373, 11505/48, 2 Oct. 1946. ↩
  86. Michael Sugitaroo Asanuma, Brisbane, 29 Nov. 1992. ↩
  87. MP 742/1, 255/10/12, 21 Nov. 1942. ↩
  88. Tony Asanuma, Brisbane, 15 Jan. 1993. ↩
  89. Ibid. ↩
  90. AWM 54. 780/1/6, Vol. 1, Part 1, p. 17. ↩
  91. Ibid. ↩
  92. MP 1103/1, Box 3. ↩
  93. Salome Palmer, granddaughter of Seigoro Fujita, Adelaide, 25 March 1986. ↩
  94. AWM 54, p. 19. ↩
  95. MP 1103/1, Box 2. ↩
  96. AWM 54, p. 16. ↩
  97. Yuri Murayama, Tokyo, 30 Jan. 1987. ↩
  98. A.7.0.0., 9/11/10/2, Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pacific War Files, 16 Feb. 1942. ↩
  99. Ibid. ↩
  100. AWM 54, 788/1/6, p. 18. ↩
  101. Ibid. ↩
  102. Miyakatsu Koike, Yokuryuu Nikki [Diary of Internment], a memoir, Tokyo, 1987, pp. 2–4. ↩
  103. Ibid., p. 4. ↩
  104. Ibid., p. 5. ↩
  105. Ibid., p. 8. ↩
  106. Ibid. ↩
  107. Alice Pao, Taipei ↩
  108. Taishiroo Mori, Saga, Japan, 17 Jan. 1987. ↩
  109. Shigeru Nakabayashi, Tokyo, 12 Dec. 1986. ↩
  110. Ibid. ↩
  111. Masaichi Nabeshima, Kobe, Japan, 16 Jan. 1987. ↩
  112. Ibid. ↩
  113. Ibid. ↩
  114. AP 613/1, 90/1/101, Jan. 1942, Tony Imaizumi, 19 May 1985, and Shigeru Nakabayashi, 12 Dec. 1986. ↩
  115. Kenichi Goto, Haraguchi Takejiro no Shogai [Life of Haraguchi Takejiro], Waseda University Press, Tokyo, 1987, p. 210. ↩
  116. Ibid., p. iv. ↩
  117. Ienaga, Saburo, The Pacific War, 1931–1945, Random House, New York, 1978, p. 143. ↩
  118. Tony Imaizumi, letter, Osaka, 19 May 1985. ↩
  119. AP 613/1, 90/1/101 (Hereafter referred to as Saitoo’s Diary), 9–23 Jan. 1942. ↩
  120. Taishiroo Mori, 17 Jan. 1987. ↩
  121. Shigeru Nakabayashi, 12 Dec. 1986. ↩
  122. Goto, p. 213. ↩
  123. Miyakatsu Koike, p. 55. ↩
  124. Koike, p. 55. ↩
  125. Masaichi Nabeshima, 16 Jan. 1987. ↩
  126. AWM 54, p. 258. ↩
  127. Saitoo’s Diary, 29 Jan. 1942. ↩
  128. Bert Whitmore, 8 Sept. 1984. ↩
  129. Saitoo’s Diary, 30 Jan. 1942 ↩
  130. Miyakatsu Koike, p.59. ↩
  131. A.7.0.0., 9/24/2, 15 Feb. 1943. ↩
  132. MP 1103/1, Box 3. ↩
  133. AWM 54, p.19. ↩
  134. McKernan, All In, pp.132–134. ↩
  135. Bevege, p. 258. Bevege lists the Orange Lodge of Leichhardt, NSW; the Anti-Enemy Alien Association of Punchbowl, NSW; War Patriotic Committees and branches of the Australian Natives’ Association; and the Royal Society of St George as other pressure groups. ↩
  136. A 373, 2026, 18 Feb. 1942. ↩
  137. Ibid., 9 Mar. 1942. ↩
  138. Saunders, “Inspired by Patriotic Hysteria”, p. 26. ↩
  139. CRS C123, Criminal Investigation Files, 1 July, 1942. ↩
  140. Cooley, P.J., letter, Condobolin, 18 Nov. 1991. ↩
  141. AP 308/1, Files 12 and 18. ↩
  142. Name withheld, 10 Mar. 1990. ↩
  143. D 1919, SS 994, Attorney-General’s Statement on Security Matters, Sept. 1942, p.1. ↩
  144. Ibid. ↩
  145. Ibid., p.2. ↩
  146. Ibid., p.51. ↩
  147. Name withheld, Brisbane, 25 Aug. 1987. ↩
  148. AP 308/1, 12, 1941B43. ↩
  149. Name withheld, Sydney, 31 Jan. 1993. ↩
  150. Name withheld, Brisbane, 24 Aug. 1987. ↩
  151. Ibid. ↩
  152. Patrick Ahmat, Perth, 22 Aug. 1986. ↩
  153. Hasluck, p. 595. ↩
  154. BP 242/1, Q 24301, 29 Jun. 1942. ↩
  155. BP 242/1, Q 30579. ↩
  156. AWM 53, 8/7/43, 19 Dec. 1944. ↩
  157. D1919, SS994, p. 3. ↩
  158. Ibid., p. 4. ↩
  159. Saunders, “Inspired by Patriotic Hysteria”, p. 28. ↩
  160. A 373, 5903, 24 Mar. 1943. ↩
  161. Ibid. ↩
  162. Ibid., 16 Apr. 1943. ↩
  163. Ibid. ↩
  164. Saunders, K. and Finch, L., “Northern Australian’s Fears of Invasion”, The Battle of the Coral Sea 1942, Conference Proceedings 1992, Sydney, Australian National Maritime Museum, 1993, p. 112. ↩
  165. Ibid. ↩
  166. BP 242/1, Q 24780, 12 Aug. 1942. ↩
  167. Ibid., 27 Aug. 1942. ↩
  168. Ibid., 27 Aug. 1942. ↩
  169. Ibid., 4 Dec. 1942. ↩
  170. Jamel Shibasaki, Thursday Island, 1 Sept. 1987. ↩
  171. Staples, Joan and Ken O’Shea, “Thursday Island’s Asian Heritage: An Oral History”, unpublished research paper, Thursday Island, 1995, p. 15. ↩
  172. Lear Lam Sami née Barba, Mackay, 6 Jul. 1992. ↩
  173. Sopia Caprice, Mackay, 6 Jul. 1992. ↩
  174. Lear Lam Sami. ↩
  175. Ibid. ↩
  176. The late Hisako Jenkins née Shibasaki, Brisbane, 5 May 1986. ↩
  177. BP241/1, Q24780, 24 Feb. 1943. ↩
  178. Ibid. ↩
  179. Ibid., 27 Apr. 1943. ↩
  180. One of the three women, name withheld, 19 Nov. 1990. ↩
  181. AWM 54, p.93. ↩