Community & Business
20 May, 2022
Book exposes WWII prison camps
A new book exposes tales of the prison camps, shrouded in secrecy for the last 80 years, that were used to detain ‘enemy aliens’ a short distance from Millmerran during WWII.
Christine Turner, who is president of the Millmerran & District Historical Society, decided to write The Western Creek Internment Camps of World War II (subtitled Millmerran’s Hidden History) after hearing about them from fellow Society member Cec Gibson.
Initially they were unable to confirm among locals if the camps had even existed and resorted to setting out into the bush to find evidence of them.
Then, slowly but surely, an avalanche of information and even images came to light.
After the bombing of Darwin during the war, Italian immigrants were suddenly considered enemy
aliens due to the fact that Mussolini was siding with Hitler.
The local camps are believed to have detained up to 500 mostly Italian immigrants from around 1942, including many who were naturalised Australian citizens and had been growing fruit and making wine in the now famous Granite Belt region.
They were set up secretly in the bush when official camps, such as Enoggera in Brisbane were full.
One shocking tale relates to 18-years-old Annibale ‘Joe’ Boccabella who was marched through the streets of Stanthorpe at gunpoint before being sent by rail to Millmerran.
“They would be driven around in army trucks for some time at night in order to confuse them and make them think they were miles further away from town than they really were,” Christine said.
Joe’s granddaughter, Zoe Boccabella, wrote of the event in her own book and was of great assistance to Christine with her research.
While investigating the camps, Christine delighted in learning a great deal about the area’s indigenous Bigambul people as well as the local flora and fauna, some of which is included in the book.
Many more of these insights will be detailed in her next book which she hopes will be finished by the end of the year.
The book was published by the Millmerran & District Historical Society with the support of the Lions Club of Millmerran, with copies available via the website millmerranmuseum.com.au
