Loveday – Part 3: Tunnel

Loveday – Part 3: Tunnel

Barmera, South Australia. 1943-03-11/17. Detention cells of the 10th Australian prisoner of war and internment camp, loveday group. (Australian War Memorial)

Loveday internment camp had many escape attempts, the most notable being a tunnel dug from under a tent near a permitter fence, which came out on the other side of the barbwire fence, hidden by a bush.
The tunnel was deep enough underground that trucks passing over the top on the road did not collapse it. To get around the large amounts of dirt being pulled from the tunnel excavation, prisoners asked for permission to make a mud brick hut, which was granted. Surprisingly, no officers questioned where the dirt was coming from.

Internees used kitchen knives to dig the tunnels, and handkerchiefs to cart the dirt from the tunnel. The dirt that wasn’t used for mud bricks was spread around the camp day and night, without soldiers guarding the camp realising.

On 30 April 1942 three internees reported to a guard that they believed there would be a mass escape that evening. The three men were removed from the camp for their own safety. An inspection of the entirety of Camp 10 revealed the tunnel. It was believed that within a few hours of the report to the guard, the tunnel would have been big enough for the escape of hundreds of detainees. Soldiers filled the tunnel with water and collapsed it to prevent escapes and seal the exit route.[1]

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2024

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[1] Max Scholz, ‘As I Remember: The Loveday Interment Camp,’ (Barmera, 2004), pp. 32-33. ; 'Last Prisoners Have Left Loveday', Murray Pioneer, (23 January 1947), p. 1.