Cowra’s weekend of reconciliation

Sydney
11 November 2001

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Cowra’s weekend of reconciliation

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By Cecile Herden

This year marks the 57th anniversary of the breakout of Japanese prisoners from the Cowra prison camp during World War II.

In all, 231 Japanese and four Australian soldiers lost their lives when more than 1,100 Japanese prisoners attempted to break out of the camp.

The camp had also held 1,100 Italian, as well as Koreans, Formosans and Javanese prisoners.

The peals of Australia’s World Peace Bell at Cowra, a replica of the Peace Bell at the United Nations headquarters in New York, marked the start of another historic event – born of peace and not war.

The Australian Japan Societies held their sixth national conference at Cowra at the same time as the annual meeting of the Cowra Breakout Assoc iation.

They were part of a weekend of pilgrimage, reconciliation and reflection.

Delegates had travelled from various parts of Japan and Australia to join the Ambassador for Japan, Mr Atsushi Hatakenaka, the national president of the RSL, Major-General Peter Phillips, Cowra deputy mayor Bill Murphy and Mrs Marion Starr of the Cowra Breakout Association.

The parish choir from St Raphael’s Catholic Church, Cowra, excelled by singing the Japanese and Australian national anthems at dinner on the first night.

Guests at the dinner included diplomatic staff from the Japanese Consulate in Sydney and delegates from Tokyo, Kobe, Hokkaido and elsewhere in Japan (a party of 25 attended from Kumamoto).

On Sunday, the parish held a moving commemorative Mass with the theme, Peace and Reconciliation.

All guests were involved in the liturgy.

Visiting dignitaries, veterans and their descendants – carrying peace candles – processed into St Raphael’s behind the Australian and Japanese flags.

Major-General Phillips and Ambassador Hatakenaka were joined by an Italian prisoner of war at Cowra in 1944, Mr Biagio di Ferdinanda, and widows and other relatives of Italian POWs – Mrs Colleen Camarda, of Wollongong; Mrs Sylvia Gallo, of Sydney; and Sebastian and Odette Galazzo, also of Sydney.

Prayers of intercession were read in several languages, reflecting the many nations represented by the congregation.

And a reflection written and read by Sr Roslyn Marks at the Mass typified the spirit of peace that blanketed the town with the warmth of friendship during the historic weekend.

Cowra’s Vietnam Veterans also hosted a special breakfast for the travellers after a dawn service at the POW campsite.

Later in the day wreaths were laid at the Australian and Japanese war cemeteries where the choir from Women’s Federation for World Peace, Sydney, sang Let there be peace on earth.

The weekend concluded with luncheon and entertainment.

From the ringing of Australia’s World Peace Bell at the opening ceremony to the last farewell wave, the anniversary weekend was hailed as a tremendous success in fostering a spirit of good will and “significant international relations”.

Cowra is proud of its reputation as place of history and heritage and as a place of pilgrimage and peace.