From 4 to 5 Aug, staff from CLAIR attended the Cowra Breakout 75th Commemorative Events in Cowra, a town 320km west of Sydney. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Cowra Breakout. Many guests from not only Australia but also Japan visited Cowra to attend commemorative events, including representatives of Joetsu City, which has a peaceful friendship relation with Cowra Shire Council, and Fukuoka Prefecture, and a former Japanese prisoner in the Cowra Prisoner of War Camp who wished to pay his respects to his fellow soldiers.
Various events were held, such as the launch of the Cowra Voices App, World Peace Bell Ceremony, and Lantern Parade. On 5 Aug, the day of the tragedy, wreath-laying ceremonies were held in the Prisoner of War Campsite, Japanese War Cemetery and Australian War Cemetery to pay respect to the victims.
A Prisoner of War camp, holding prisoners of war from countries including Japan, was used in Cowra during World War II when Japan was one of the adversary countries of Australia. The Cowra Breakout occurred at around 2am on 5 Aug in 1944, when Japanese prisoners of war attempted to escape the camp, and 231 Japanese prisoners of war and four Australian soldiers lost their lives in this tragic incident.
The cemetery for the casualties of the Cowra Breakout had been neglected for some time after the war until it was restored with the assistance of the Cowra Returned and Services League as a mark of respect for the victims despite anti-Japanese sentiment at the time. This initial restoration by the Cowra Returned and Services League, with the cooperation of the Embassy of Japan, the Cowra Shire Council and the Australian Government since, has ensured ongoing, proper maintenance of Japanese War Cemetery, where the bodies of Japanese nationals who died on Australian soil during World War II were buried. The Prisoner of War Camp Site, Japanese Garden, Sakura Avenue, and World Peace Bell were later built, and now Cowra is a symbol of reconciliation and the friendship between Japan and Australia.
