Skip to main content
  • dva.gov.au
  • anzaccentenary.gov.au

The Anzac Portal

Home
Home
  • Home
  • History
    • Conflicts
      • Gallipoli and the Anzacs
      • Australians on the Western Front
      • Australia and the Second World War
      • The Burma-Thailand Railway and Hellfire Pass
      • The Kokoda Track
      • Australian involvement in South-East Asian conflicts
      • The Korean War
      • Australia and the Vietnam War
    • Special features
      • Veterans' stories
      • Great War memories
      • Victoria Cross recipients
  • Education
    • Education
      • Year 9 History resources
      • Year 10 History resources
      • Anzac Day resources for primary schools
      • All education resources
    • Competitions
      • Anzac Day Schools' Awards
    • Curriculum units
    • Online activities
      • Coming Home: An investigation of the Armistice and Repatriation
      • Keeping the Peace: Investigating Australia's contribution to peacekeeping
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Documents
    • Images
    • Publications
      • 1916—Fromelles and the Somme
      • 1917—Bapaume and Bullecourt
      • 1917—Ypres
      • 1918—Amiens to Hindenburg Line
      • 1918—Villers-Bretonneux to Le Hamel
      • A Bitter Fate—Australians In Malaya & Singapore
      • Ancestry—Stories of multicultural Anzacs
      • Audacity—Stories of heroic Australians in wartime
      • Australian Flying Corps
      • Australian Light Horse—Palestine 1916–1918
      • Bomber Command
      • Candour: Stories in the words of those who served 1914—18
      • Chinese Anzacs
      • Comradeship—Stories of friendship and recreation in wartime
      • Curiosity—Stories of those who report during wartime
      • Decision—Stories of Leadership in the Services
      • Devotion—Stories of Australia's Wartime Nurses
      • Forever Yours
      • Gallipoli
      • Greece and Crete
      • Home Front
      • Laden, Fevered, Starved—the POWs of Sandakan
      • Memories and Memorabilia
      • North Africa and Syria
      • North Beach Gallipoli 1915
      • Operation Jaywick
      • Resource—Stories of innovation in wartime
      • Royal Australian Navy
      • Royal Australian Navy in the Atlantic and Mediterranean
      • The sinking of the Centaur
      • United Kingdom
      • Valuing our veterans
      • World Wide Effort: Australia's Peacekeepers
    • Videos
  • Anzac Day Schools’ Awards Winners
  • Conduct an event
    • Multimedia
    • Resources
    • Sample Speeches
  • Resources
    • #1MS (1 Minute's Silence)
    • 3-nine-39 radio and video series
    • 60th Anniversary of the Korean War
    • 70th Anniversary Tobruk 1941
    • 70th Anniversary of the battles for Greece and Crete
    • 70th anniversary of the Kokoda campaign
    • 70th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin
    • 95th Anniversary of the landings on Gallipoli
    • ADSA 2019 Poster
    • Anzac Centenary School Link Program
    • Anzac Day Poster 2019
    • Anzac Day poster
    • Anzac Day poster
    • Australia and the Vietnam War
    • Australian Prisoners of War
    • Australian Service Nursing: Wartime snapshots No.25
    • Australian Women in War
    • Australians at War Film Archive
    • Australians in the Merchant Navy
    • Australians on the Western Front
    • Battle for Leyte Gulf October 1944
    • Centenary of the Flanders Offensive
    • Centenary of the Royal Australian Navy
    • Centenary of the Sinai–Palestine campaign
    • Centenary of the Somme
    • Commemorating Australian Forces in the Vietnam War
    • Commemorating Australian forces in the Korean War
    • Commemorating Australian forces in the Vietnam War 1962–1975
    • Commemorating Australian prisoners of war on the Burma–Thailand Railway
    • Commemorating the Centenary of the Gallipoli Landings
    • Commemorating the Malayan Emergency and Indonesian Confrontation
    • Commemorating the centenary of the Armistice: Wartime Snapshots No. 24
    • Commemorating the first convoy of Australian troops to the First World War
    • Commemorating the return of Australian forces from Afghanistan
    • Control
    • Discovering Anzacs Exhibition Tips and Tools (Learn Area)
    • Discovering Anzacs School and Community Toolkit (Learn Area)
    • Discovering Anzacs Video Tutorials and Timeline (Learn Area)
    • Gallipoli and the Anzacs
    • Great Debates: The Anzac Legend
    • Great Debates—Conscription
    • Here they come—A day to remember
    • INTERFET: History in Focus
    • INTERFET—International Forces for East Timor
    • Indigenous Service
    • Investigating Gallipoli
    • Kokoda: Exploring the Second World War campaign in Papua New Guinea
    • Korea—A Cold War conflict (1950–1953)
    • M is for Mates—Animals in Wartime from Ajax to Zep
    • Ode of Remembrance: Wartime Snapshots No.26
    • Reflections: Capturing Veterans' Stories
    • Remembering Them app—Education Activities
    • Remembrance Day Poster 2019
    • Remembrance Day Posters 2018
    • Remembrance day
    • Schooling, Service and the Great War (Primary Resource)
    • Schooling, Service and the Great War (Secondary Resource)
    • Symbols of Commemoration Cube Education Activities (Secondary)
    • Symbols of Commemoration Cube—Education Activities (Primary school resource)
    • The Flanders Poppy—A symbol of remembrance
    • The Nominal Roll of Australian Korean War Veterans
    • The Nominal Roll of Australian Vietnam War Veterans
    • The Nominal Roll of Australian World War 2 Veterans
    • The Sinking of HMAS Sydney
    • The War that Changed Us Education Activities
    • Their Spirit, Our History
    • Wartime snapshot #23—1918-2018: Centenary of the Final Campaigns
    • We Remember Anzac (Primary Resource)
    • We Remember Anzac (Secondary Resource)
    • We'll Meet Again
    • Women in War radio series
  • Gallipoli and the Anzacs
  • Australians on the Western Front
  • Australia and the Second World War
  • The Burma-Thailand Railway and Hellfire Pass
  • The Kokoda Track
  • Australian involvement in South-East Asian conflicts
  • The Korean War
  • Australia and the Vietnam War
  • Australia and the Second World War
  • Events
  • Resources
  • Australia and the Second World War
  • Events
    • Libya and the Siege of Tobruk 1941
      • Bardia
      • Remembering Jack
    • Greece and Crete April–May 1941
    • Syria and Lebanon June 1941
      • Frank Hurley
    • Japanese advance (December 1941–March 1942)
      • Invasion of Malaya
        • The 'maimed and bloodstained' group: Parit Sulong
        • Stick to your post
        • The RAAF in Malaya
      • Fall of Rabaul
        • Left to their fate...
        • A miserable scene
        • Hungry and ... cold
      • Fall of Singapore
        • Ordered to leave
        • The final hours...
        • Unconditional surrender
      • Fall of Ambon
        • Driver Doolan...
        • Massacred at Laha ...
        • A life nobly given forever remembered
      • Fall of Timor
        • 'Badly need boots, quinine, money and Tommy-gun ammunition'
        • 'Ted was the sort of boy who would do anything for his mates'
        • Men of Timor
      • Fall of Java
        • Qantas in Java
        • Blackburn VC
        • 'Perth and Yarra sunk during Java action'
      • The defence of Moresby
        • Lost...and found...and lost
        • SS Macdhui
        • The 'Moresby Microbes'
    • Australia under attack 1940–1945
      • Air raids
        • Broome
      • Sydney Harbour
      • Coastal menace
        • City of Rayville
    • Coral Sea, Kokoda and Milne Bay May–September 1942
      • The Battle of the Coral Sea
        • The RAN at the Battle of the Coral Sea
        • The carrier battle
      • Kokoda
        • Fuzzy wuzzy angels
        • Thank God for the Salvos
        • Track 'n teeth
        • Remembering Isurava
      • Milne Bay
        • Maiogura
        • Polly
    • El Alamein October–November 1942
      • Ali Baba and his 20,000 thieves
    • Little-known operations 1939–1945
      • POWs in Eritrea
      • Cutting cables
      • The far east
      • Parer's last reel
    • Beachhead Battles (Papua 1942–1943)
      • The Battle of the Beachheads
        • Ben's diary
        • Medics attacked
        • Starving
    • The Japanese retreat 1943–1944
      • Bloody ridges: Wau-Salamaua
        • 'Bull' Allen
        • 'A war of rain and blood' – Ivor Hele's New Guinea art
      • To Shaggy Ridge
        • The Boomerang
      • Huon Peninsula—Rats in New Guinea
      • Island hopping
    • War at sea 1939–1945
      • Ironbottom Sound
      • Kamikaze
        • The old war horse
      • Landings
      • Lost at sea
        • HMAS Sydney
        • HMAS Parramatta
        • HMAS Matafele
    • Air war Europe 1939–1945
      • Australians in Bomber Command
      • Coastal command
        • Bill Moore
      • Fighter command
    • Last battles
      • Jungle Island
      • Long green shore
        • Aitape-Wewak campaign – Indian POWs
      • In the shadows of Bougainville
      • Return to the Philippines
      • The landings at Borneo
        • Black magic
        • Wally Dyer
    • Victory (8 May 1945/15 August 1945)
      • Death camp
      • 'A' bomb
        • British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF)
      • Surrender
      • Coming home
      • War crimes
      • A family at war: the Lucas family
  • Resources
    • All in—The Australian homefront 1939–1945
      • Emergency: home defence
        • Yanks down under - 'Over-sexed, over-paid and over here'
      • From wool to wirraways
      • Living with war
        • More war work
      • Leaving home
      • Indigenous service
      • Aliens
        • Break out
        • The fox
      • A town at war
    • The Coastwatchers 1941–1945
      • Supply drops
      • Cornelius 'Con' Page
    • Australian Prisoners of War 1940–1945
      • The dixie
      • Gunner Cleary
        • The marches
      • Found
      • Forced marches

You are here

  • Home
  • History
  • Conflicts
  • Australia and the Second World War
  • Resources
  • All in—The Australian homefront 1939–1945
  • Aliens

Break out

The morning after the Cowra breakout revealed bodies on the ground and blankets draped over the barbed wire fences, Cowra, NSW, 5 August 1944
The morning after the Cowra breakout revealed bodies on the ground and blankets draped over the barbed wire fences, Cowra, NSW, 5 August 1944. [AWM044172]

From 1941, Cowra in western New South Wales was the site of a major prisoner of war camp. The camp housed various nationalities, including German, Italian and more than 1000 Japanese prisoners. The Japanese, unlike many of the others who seemed to accept their fate, brooded on the dishonour they had brought to themselves, their family and their country by being taken prisoners of war. In 1944, the Australian authorities were informed of an escape planned by the Japanese at Cowra POW camp. They decided to separate the prisoners. On Friday afternoon, 4 August, as required by the Geneva Convention they notified the Japanese prisoners that the officers and NCOs were to be separated from the rest of the men. The men would then be transferred from Cowra to the Hay Prisoner of War Camp on Monday 7 August. Their leaders protested at the separation of the men and they held meetings that night to plan their strategy. A number of the men decided that this could be the opportunity to regain their honour with a glorious death. Just a few hours later hundreds of the Japanese prisoners stormed the camp defences at Cowra.

At 1.45 am on 5 August 1944, fighter pilot Toyoshima Hajime, the first Japanese to be captured on Australian soil, blew a shrill blast on his bugle. Almost 1000 Japanese POWs, armed with home-made weapons, threw themselves at the camp fences with shrieks of ‘Banzai!’ The surprised guards, members of the 22nd Australian Garrison Battalion, rushed to their posts when the alarm sounded. Privates Ben Hardy and Ralph Jones dragged their coats on over their pyjamas and pushed their way through the rioting prisoners to a machine-gun. The lights in the camp went out but the prisoners had set fire to the prison huts and Hardy and Jones fired at the men backlit by the flames.

Private Charles Henry Shepherd, 22nd Garrison Battalion who died during the breakout is commemorated on a memorial in Anderson Park, Young, New South Wales
Private Charles Henry Shepherd, 22nd Garrison Battalion who died during the breakout is commemorated on a memorial in Anderson Park, Young, New South Wales. [Image courtesy of L Shepherd]

The prisoners flung themselves over the barbed wire straight into the guards’ fire leaving the fence line of the camp littered with bodies. During the next nine days, young recruits from a nearby army training camp assisted in rounding up the escapees. Many of the prisoners committed suicide in the surrounding hills rather than submit to recapture. Others hanged themselves in the camp. More than 100 of the prisoners were wounded and approximately 230 of them died.

Both Hardy and Jones continued to fire their Vickers gun until they were overpowered. Hardy was clubbed to death and Jones was fatally stabbed by one of the prisoners. Both men were posthumously awarded the George Cross for their actions.

Two more of the guards died during the breakout. Charles Shepherd was stabbed by one of the prisoners and Lieutenant Harry Doncaster, 19th Australian Infantry Training Battalion, was killed trying to catch a group of escapees.

Related content

A copy of a telegram handed to the Minister for Army by Mr J P Breen, the local Member of Parliament

A copy of a telegram handed to the Minister for Army by Mr J P Breen, the local Member of Parliament.

[556/2/1094 SP1048/7/0 NAA]

Identification photographs of Sergeant Hajime Toyoshima, the first Japanese prisoner of war

After his capture by local Aborigines on Melville Island, Sergeant Hajime Toyoshima, the first Japanese prisoner of war taken on Australian soil, gave a false name to his interrogators. [AWM 068530]

PDF icon Cowra break-out (pdf 471.98 KB) (471.98 KB)
PDF icon Akira Kanazawa’s declaration (pdf 204.64 KB) (204.64 KB)
PDF icon Documents relating to the trial of Hiroshi Yoshida (pdf 232.25 KB) (232.25 KB)
  • Home
  • History
  • Education
  • Multimedia
  • Anzac Day Schools’ Awards Winners
  • Conduct an event
  • Resources
  • Site info
  • Research tips
  • Contact
  • Copyright
  • Events
  • Accessibility
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy
  • Links
  • Bibliography
  • Anzac Centenary program

Follow us on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to us on YouTube