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 almost frivolous at first.
“But then you look closer, and you see he has depicted himself. It’s the evocation of being trapped,” she said. “There was a lot of activity and a lot of creativity but a lot of frustration as well.
” The internees were so desperate for normality, that they set up schools, universities and classes at the camps at Hays, Orange and Tatura. Not only were they trying to benefit from their time, but they were also ensuring their minds were still active. One way they did this was by reading, which is reflected in animated sand drawings on the floor, featuring quotes that the internees would often say to each other.
Quotes like “Please remember that your mind is not interned, nor is it confined to this camp,” and excerpts from novels. “They talk a lot about reading Dickens and Agatha Christie in the camp because they were bored, but also to help improve their English,” Anemaat explained. As you move through the exhibition, even the soundscapes draw reference to the internees.
You can hear moments of Hebrew as prayers are sung and a mass that was composed in the camps is played. Internees would draw each other and their surroundings. They’d take bits of timber and things lying around and they’d use it to make art or furniture.
They were, as Anemaat puts it, “very resourceful”, even designing their own currency in Hay. Georg Teltscher, who studied at the Bauhaus art school in Germany, won the competition for the currency design, producing three notes. The Riverine Grazier, which is still the local newspaper in Hay, printed it for the internees.
The currency is on display as part of the exhibition, and alongside is a computer screen where you can decode a message Teltscher left. “He was very clever. He encoded a little message in the barbed wire which is: ‘We’re here because we’re here because we’re here.
’ Once you see it, you can’t unsee it,” Anemaat explains as she runs her finger over the screen revealing the words. The internees seemed to find beauty in the most mundane, everyday elements of life and that’s what’s reflected in the exhibition. Even artwork depicting the guard box against the backdrop of the vast, arid land is beautiful.
The exhibition is filled with works from Robert Hofmann as well, who was probably one of the most highly trained of the camp artists. Many of the initial portraits that are displayed as you first walk through the exhibition – and which are displayed online – are by Hofmann, and it’s his sketchbook that is displayed, portraying the journey on board the Dunera. Anemaat points out two more drawings which she really loves.
Two almost identical artworks, one by Hofmann and the other by Theodor Engel. The main difference is the subject. “It’s Hofmann drawing Engel and Engel drawing Hofmann on the same afternoon,” she laughed.
“So, they drew the camp and they drew each other.” They’re beautifully complementary, providing slightly different angles to the same landscape. The exhibition tells the stories of humanity, of purpose in the face of trauma.
As Anemaat said, “They found beauty in what they were going through.” It took almost five years of collecting before the library felt ready to share it, with Anemaat explaining that it’s actually an international story. “In terms of cultural collecting, it’s not that straightforward.
It was people coming from various countries to Britain ...
it was an arrangement between the British and Australian governments. It’s a national story because it was federal government. The camps were across two states in NSW and Victoria so it’s a state story,” Anemaat explained.
“But within all of that, there are endless individual stories as well.” And it’s the individual stories and how they all relate to each other that the exhibition gives visitors a glimpse into..
