During World Wars I and II, Australia held both prisoners of war and internees. In the Second World War, many prisoners of war, or POWs, were captured by or surrendered to the Allies in Europe and North Africa.
They were then shipped halfway across the world to Australia where they remained for the rest of the conflict.
Over 18,000 of them were Italian POWs from the North African theatres of war.
“Whenever I looked at our family photos, there was one picturing my father with other two fellow soldiers, holding hands with two little boys. That image was so far removed from my experience that finding years later who those boys were, gave me a sense of closure.”
Italian POWs in Liverpool prisoners or war and internment camp in Australia. Source: Australian War Museum
Nino Amante talks to SBS Italian on the phone from Italy, thousands of kilometres far from Australia, acknowledging that his father Angelo’s story has been “incomplete”.
Those missing chapters from his life were the years Angelo spent in Africa and Australia during his youth.
Angelo was born in 1921 in Fiumefreddo di Sicilia, a little village near Catania, Sicily. As a 19-year-old he enlisted in the Settimo Reggimento Bersaglieri and during WWII was sent to Libya.
Italian POWs being transferred to a camp in Australia. Source: Australian War Museum
During the North African campaign in 1941, the Italian army suffered a crushing defeat at Jalo, an oasis in the Libyan desert. Angelo was captured by the allies and his life turned upside down. From Libya, he was moved to Egypt, the next step of a journey that brought him to Australia for three years.
“Footprints of Italian Prisoners of War in Australia”, a project spawned from an intrigued child
In those years, Libya was a mysterious and almost unknown place for the average Australian.
Joanne Tapiolas grew up in Queensland listening to her father’s stories. He was a cane cutter during WWII in the region of Burdekin, south of Townsville. These stories’ main characters were Italians, a group of prisoners transported from Libya who managed to escape from the Australian detention camp of Home Hill.
“That always intrigued me, because in my atlas Libya was a long way from Home Hill, and I thought ‘why would they bring soldiers from North Africa to here?’,” Joanne tells SBS Italian.
The urge to answer this question in 2015 pushed Ms Tapiolas to start researching a detention centre for prisoners of war, which during the conflict was situated near Home Hill, Queensland. During her research, she realised that over 1,300 Italian prisoners of war were held in that part of the state and begun to appreciate the scope of the work waiting ahead.
Joanne Tapiolas con il suo libro, “Walking in their Boots. Italian Prisoners of War in Queensland 1943-1946”. Source: Courtesy of Joanne Tapiolas
Her research has since been collected on a website, , a Facebook page and a book titled “Walking in their Boots. Italian Prisoners of War in Queensland 1943-1946”.
I wanted to document this part of Australia’s history, which has been forgotten. I realised that if this information wasn’t documented, it would be lost
Browsing for information on her website, Nino Amante found a photo that he knew well. It was a picture from his father’s collection which nobody was able to identify in Italy.
“I bumped into this website while looking for my son’s articles up on the internet, he is a journalist. His name is Angelo, like his grandfather, and suddenly on this page, I realised that they were talking about my father Angelo, who was an Italian prisoner of war in Australia. My excitement was incredible!,” Nino tells SBS Italian.
Angelo Amante, 19 years old. Source: Courtesy of Nino Amante
The Italian POWs arrive in Australia
Angelo Amante wasn’t the only Italian soldiers who as a prisoner found himself in Australia.
In total, there were 18,432 Italian POWs, side by side with thousands of people in internment. These prisoners were Australian citizens with an Italian, German or Japanese background, and were considered a security risk.
When Angelo Amante arrived in Australia in 1943, he was first assigned to the Cowra camp in New South Wales and then transferred to the Gaythorne camp in Queensland. At the time 31 camps were active throughout six Australian states, along with 56 hostel facilities for POWs who were working in government projects and 96 farms.
Early in the war, prisoners had to stay in the camps and were permitted to leave to work only during the daytime. But in 1943, many Australians were conscripted to fight overseas, leaving only a small workforce in the country. The government then started a plan to send a few POWs to some of the farms where manpower was needed.
Italian prisoners or war in Hay, NSW, 1944. Source: Australian War Museum
POWs could sign up to work voluntarily and many did, to avoid being confined in camps.
The first meal I had, sitting at the table with the farmer’s family gave me my dignity back.
And they started living, cooking and socialising with their new Australian hosts.
“The Italians were making pasta from scratch, they used to make meals for their hosts, using flour, eggs and also making ragù. They taught children how to twirl spaghetti with a spoon, they taught kids how to count up to ten in Italian”, Joanne says.
The family historian found a diary where an Italian POW wrote: “The first meal I had, sitting at the table with the farmer’s family, gave me my dignity back.”
Angelo Amante (seconda fila, primo a sinistra) al campo per prigionieri di guerra di Cowra, NSW. 6 Febbraio 1944. Source: Australian War Memorial Image
Angelo Amante was sent to Redslopes, a farm owned by the Buchanan family in Goomboorian outside the Queensland town of Gympie, where he worked for about two years. The farm produced bananas, papayas, beans, cucumbers and tomatoes.
At the time, farmers used to fill entries in a diary to keep a record of the farm work and they often included details of the Italian POWs.
When Amante arrived on March 7, 1944, Neil Buchanan wrote: “Made trip to Gympie, taking in parts of tractor for repairs, & bringing out a load of empty case in addition to POWs. The new men are causing great confusion so far and no headway has been made in grasping their language. Hot fine day.”
Luckily communications improved over time, and the Italian man ended up “making a fair impression” on the farmer.
Italian POWs awaiting the commanding officer's inspection at the 16th garrison battalion POW detention camp. Source: Australian War Museum
With the support of the Dwyer family, Joanne added the diary notes to her website where Angelo Amante’s son eventually read them.
“Joanne offered me the missing pieces of the puzzle and added context to the fading pictures of my father’s years in Australia," he says. "I could at last see the Queensland countryside of the time, his life there. It has been Joanne’s most precious gift.”
War ends and the POWs return to Italy
The detention camps were active from 1940 until 1947. The last one shut its gates in 1951, as the prisoners were free to return home. Some of them tried to flee the camps well before their closure in order to stay in Australia but were recaptured and repatriated.
Many POWs had realised that Australia was the land of opportunity.
"There is nothing missing in Australia," stated Donato Caruso, a man who had decided to stay on a farm in Western Australia while writing to his family in Italy. "When harvesting wheat, the leftovers that remain on the ground would be enough to feed a family for a year."
17 Italians went into hiding until 1952, after escaping from a detention centre in 1946. Their cases with time were moved from the military to the immigration department, alloring the men to become naturalized citizens upon proving they could give a contribution to the Australian society.
Despite being at the beginning enemies of the country, living side by side created strong bonds between Italians and Australians. Many of them were invited to return to work in the farms and some did.
1 gennaio 1946: Salvatore, Angelo e Vincenzo lasciano Redslope. Source: Courtesy of the Buchanan Family
Mr Amante’s picture seems to confirm that, showing the prisoner holding hands with young kids in front of a house.
The day of the POWs departure from the farm was recorded In Buchanan’s diary with these words: “Jan 1, 1946 New Year’s Day but a sad day at Redslopes. Took the three POW to town and said goodbye. Farm is now badly understaffed with no prospects of further employees.”
Returning to Australia: the 'enemies' of the country become citizens
“Those boys waged war in Libya, in the desert, they passed through imprisonment in India where they all fell ill, and many died. Australia was a happy island for those who survived, they were prisoners, but they were also free to some degree", says Nino Amante, adding that “Australia for the young people of Southern Italy represented at that time the El Dorado."
Some former POWs managed to return to Australia years after the end of World War II. Among these, Paolo De Propertis, born in 1910 from Tocco da Casauria, in the province of Pescara (Abruzzo).
Mr De Propertis was captured in Middle East and sent to Australia. After spending some time at the Gaythorne Internment and Prisoner of War Camp near Brisbane, he was sent to the Aratula Scenic Rim, where he worked for the Dwyer family on their potato farm for 18 months.
Italian POWs interned at No. 6 POW group who formed themselves into the camp orchestra. Source: Australian War Museum
“Despite the fact he was a POW, he befriended the family and they became so close that they wanted to sponsor him to return after the war”, tells Mr De Propertis’s grandson Rob De Angelis.
His grandfather eventually returned to Australia, 10 years after the end of the war, making Melbourne his home.
The descendants of the Italian POWs in Australia came to know about the past of “nonno Quintino” - as the man was known by the family- again thanks to Joanne's research.
I documenti da prigionieri di guerra in Australia di Paolo De Propertis Source: Courtesy of Joanne Tapiolas
“Joanne’s work brought us all back together at the table to share his stories. A very poignant memory in her book was written by one of the Dwyer kids, who said the POWs benefitted from the situation but also the family did.”
Carmel Peck, Dwyer’s baby daughter at the time De Propertis was living at the farm, writes: “Many people today, do not have a knowledge of this history. I have told the story of Peter and Paul many times to people I meet, and they always are puzzled by a scheme which placed Italian prisoners of war on farms to live with Queensland families. While there were many benefits for the Italians to be on farm, the scheme had reciprocal benefits. Peter and Paul enriched our lives."
"Knowing the story of my grandfather story has really strengthened the idea of how lucky our generation in Australia has been and how much of this luck is also based on the sacrifices of people like my grandfather and other prisoners of war. Looking at our lives today, discussing and sharing these stories with my children, I realize that Italians – even the prisoners of war - have made great strides for Australia, steps we know today thanks to exceptional people like Joanne who they told them,” concluded De Angelis.
Dwyer Family, 1945. Back: JJ. Dwyer, M. Dwyer, Des Dwyer, Grandma Kelly. Front: Laurie Dwyer, Pietro Romano, Carmel Dwyer, Michael Dwyer, Paolo De Propertis. Source: Courtesy of the Dwyer Family
The website Italian Prisoners of War also offers a page called , with a host of information to help anyone in search of their family story’s missing pieces.
Listen to the story in Italian:
LISTEN TO
“Finding nonno”: sulle tracce dei prigionieri di guerra italiani in Australia
SBS Italian
21/04/202114:42
