Around 4000 POWs were housed at Camp 13. Image from the Australian War Memorial.
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A little-known chapter of the region’s wartime history faces an uncertain future, as the former Camp 13 prisoner-of-war site near Murchison remains on the market.
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The 40.87ha property has been listed between $650,000 to $680,000 since December, leaving the historic site’s future in the hands of its next owner.
Janelle Puppa Real Estate agent Natalie Kay said the property had attracted strong interest, with a sale hopefully “not too far away”.
“We do have some strong interest in it at the moment, from people with a couple of different viewpoints on what will happen to the land,” she said.
Among the remnants of the camp, which once housed about 4000 German, Italian and Japanese POWs, are a memorial, machine-gun house and a bridge built by the internees.
Tatura Historical Society president and researcher Sue Schmitke said she wished more people knew about this part of the region’s heritage.
“A lot of people still don’t know about the site,” she said.
Ms Schmitke said preserving what remained of Camp 13 was important.
“It would be nice to have it preserved but I think the cost is too much,” she said.
“It needs to be looked after for what it is, not what someone wants it to be.”
Camp 13 held POWs from Italy, Germany and Japan. Image from the Australian War Memorial.
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Operational between 1941 and 1947, Camp 13 was one of seven POW and internment camps in the Murchison and Tatura area.
Life interned in Australia would have been a harsh adjustment, but Ms Schmitke said POWs built a community within the camps.
“It was like living in a village surrounded by barbed wire,” she said.
After the war, some former internees returned to the region to resettle and escape the difficult conditions of postwar Europe.
“There’s many families who live here now who are descendants of the camps,” Ms Schmitke said.
Camp 13 also has a connection to what the Australian War Memorial records as the greatest loss of life suffered by the Royal Australian Navy.
In 1941, the German raider HSK Kormoran sank the HMAS Sydney off the Western Australian coast, killing all 645 people on board.
The Kormoran was also sunk in the battle, with its surviving crew held as POWs at Camp 13.
While interned, they built a memorial to honour their fallen comrades, which remains on the property today.
Ms Schmitke said descendants of those connected to the Kormoran could not freely access the memorial because the site was privately owned.
Real estate agent Ms Kay said it was sad that many people were unaware of the site’s history.
“I certainly hope the integrity of the land stays intact,” she said.
“It holds something very special, not only for the past prisoners of war, but their families.”
POW Camp 13 was located near Murchison near six other internment camps. Image from the Australian War Memorial.
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Ms Kay said the region’s other former camps were also privately owned.
“There are private owners out there that hold beautiful bits of land with relics on them that they get to hold on to for ever and appreciate,” she said.
The property has a heritage overlay, meaning any future owners will need to follow specific policies and guidelines relating to the site.
Ms Kay said that only the relevant council could answer questions regarding the heritage overlay and what could be done with the property.
Tatura Historical Society vice-president Kerry Gross said preserving the history before it was lost remained important.
“No-one really cares about history until it’s too late,” she said.
“After the war everyone just wanted to forget.
“Now we’re trying to get that back.”
Murchison POW camp 13 south workshop where German POWs made furniture from salvaged materials
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