Julie Goucher ~ Anglers Rest

In July 1940 HMT Dunera departed Liverpool with more than 2,000 passengers, made up of Jewish refugees, Italian and German prisoners of War and guards.  The destination was unknown to the passengers. The conditions on board were harrowing and 57 days later the ship arrived in Australia, firstly in Melboune where the Prisoners of War disembarked before continuing it’s journey to Sydney.

Those passengers, who became known as the Dunera Boys were transported by train to a camp located in New South Wales in the town of Hay.

Today the location of the camp is desolate and located on the edge of town. Several of the railway carriages have been converted into a museum and it was here that we spent a couple of hours reading the various exhibits.

Between 1940 and 1946 the camp was “home” to over 6,000 German, Italian and Japanese Prisoners of War.

This final picture is of a small gathering of “Dunera Boys” painted at a recent reunion.

I have been to Canberra several times, but the highlight of this visit was the many hours spent at the Australian War Memorial. The main exhibition  – Nurses from Zululand to Afghanistan was of particular interest to my cousin, a nurse herself and we spent quite a lot of time in this exhibition before moving on through the rest of of the museum. So I am going to show a few photographs taken from inside the Museum – some do appear later on in the alphabet too!

The map of Australia was crafted from a German water bottle by an Australian soldier during the First World War, who engraved a message on it before sending home to his sister. 

Eternal Flame

Roll of Honour

Stained glass window in the Hall of Memory

On the way to Beechworth we stopped at a lovely, previously unvisited town of Bright. Oh what a delight!

Bright

Bright is situated in north east Victoria, on the edge of the Ovens Valley. We arrived here mid afternoon and took a couple of hours to explore the town and I simply knew that this little town, with a population of around 3,000 people will be on our list to be visited again. There was a lovely friendly, quirky feel to the town. They had a Christmas shop, open already in October! They also had a lovely Quilt shop and I simply had to buy a couple of pieces to bring home.

A town shot of Bright

The Christmas Shop – despite being mid October!

Bright War Memorial

The War Memorial was lovely, each side was commemorating town folk who had given their lives in whatever conflict was “supported”. I shall load these to Grave Encounters over the coming months.

We then drove onto, rather sadly I might add to Beechworth. We checked into a motel that my cousin and his wife had stayed at previously – highly recommended and I know we shall stay there again.

Beechworth

Again situated in the north east of Victoria with a population of around 3,000. Famous for being host to Ned Kelly who spent time at the Goal there and for it’s location and influx of inhabitants during the gold rush in the 1850s.

We stayed at this lovely motel. This is the view of our room from the patio to the small car park. It was lovely and green and those trees’s gave shelter to numerous birds who gave us a welcome good morning chorus!

We had had dinner at the pub next door and lucky just managed to get our order in before a coach of other tourists arrived. Our table was situated next to this lovely wall hanging, depicting the various scenes linked to Ned Kelly.

Kelly Women Quilt made in 2006

Beechworth Post Office

Street scene at Beechworth

One of the many Ned Kelly replicas

This is the third year that I have participated in the A-Z Challenge. Last year my posts had an Australian theme, based upon previous visits there and in anticipation of a visit last September and October. I enjoyed that theme, so this year I thought I would again focus on Australia using my last visit as a central catalyst.

So to kick off here are a few maps.

The first map is actually a postcard, published in 1916 and shows the clear links to the “British Empire” with the map of the UK added to the top left. I really love the busy aspect of this postcard, which reflects the growth of the Country. I also love the fact that Tasmania looks like it was added as an after thought!

This second map was published around 1923 and I love the detail of the Country. The busy feel and the vastness of such a Continent. I am curious of the tiny representation of Tasmania, and on this map it barely gets more than a mention.