In September 1940, a ship arrived on Australian shores, transporting more than 2500 men and boys, aged from 16 all the way up to 66 from Britain. They were considered enemy aliens. In reality, they were people from all walks of life, every profession and representing many nationalities.
They were known as the Dunera Boys. After travelling over the ocean and being torpedoed twice by a German U-boat, they found themselves in the vast outback of Australia. It’s one of the first images that hits you as you enter the new exhibition at the State Library of NSW, with words by Dunera internee Klaus Loewald alongside it: “The train travelled through the night .
.. when the sun rose, we appeared to be in the desert, which made the sunrise spectacular .
.. we reached Hay, the end of the railway line.
” Some of the concrete slabs of the huts in Hay remain today. As does much of the magnificent artwork from the internees. “Almost every profession and trade were represented, but they also had a number of highly trained, already well-established artists and then aspiring artists as well,” lead curator, Louise Anemaat, tells me as we wander around the exhibition.
As we walk through, she points out some of the most interesting parts. Like the hand-crafted chanukiah and Christmas artwork displayed next to each other to represent the different faiths in the camps. And the works by Erwin Fabian, who later established himself as a sculptor in Melbourne, which, according to Anemaat, look al.