Welcome… Benvenuto

Welcome to Footprints of Italian Prisoners of War a comprehensive archive of documents, artefacts, testaments, photographs and research relating to this compelling chapter in Australian history.

This is an international community history project involving Australian and Italian families from sixteen countries who have shared their stories so that this history is not forgotten.

The website operates as a ‘virtual museum’.

Over 18000 Italian Prisoners of War came to Australia from 1941 – 1945. Captured in theatres of war in North Africa, East Africa and Europe, they were transported to Australia via staging camps in Egypt, Palestine and India.

This research features Italian prisoners of war and their farming families in Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales. Articles cut across a range of topics: the battles in Libya, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Greece; the movement of prisoners from the place of capture to prisoner of war camps in Egypt and Palestine; interment in the camps of India; transport to Australia; repatriation from Australia and arrival in Naples.

The stories and memories of Italian and Australian farming families gives this history a voice. The diversity of photos and relics shared personalises what would otherwise be a very black and white official report.

The articles featured on the project’s website brings colour and personality to this almost forgotten chapter in Australia’s history.

list-of-articles-may-2021-2 Download

The Italian prisoners of war were more than just a POW. They were fathers, brothers, sons and husbands from across Italy and from diverse backgrounds and occupations.

Follow their journey…. Walking in their Boots

The Footprints Project

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Footprints of Italian Prisoners of War Project is a community project supported by Australians in six states and Italian families in sixteen countries.**

Did you know?

The website operates as a ‘virtual’ museum and library.

Over 300 articles have been written for the website.

The website has a wide reaching readership to over 120 countries.

What makes this research unique and diverse?

Perspective.

Contributions have come from far and wide: farmers, farmers’ wives, farming children, the town kids, families of Australian Army interpreters, children of Italians who were prisoners of war, Italians who were prisoners of war, the local nurse, the mother of an ex-POW, government policy and reports.

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What does the research encompass?

Website: italianprisonersofwar.com

Facebook Page: Prigionieri di guerra Italiani in Australia

Music Book: Notations for songs and dance music by Ciccio Cipolla.

Farm Diary: daily notations regarding farm life during war time including information on Italian POWs and Land Army Girls.

Feature article in Corriere della Sera [Italy] in March 2021.

Memories in Concrete: Giuseppe Miraglia from Enna Sicily and Adriano Zagonara from Bagnara di Romagna Ravenna.

Donations to the Australian War Memorial of two artefacts made by Gympie Italian prisoners of war

Two publications: Walking in their Boots and Costanzo Melino: Son of Anzano (in collaboration with Rosa Melino)

Journey of two Italian families from Italy to visit Queensland and ‘walk in the footsteps of their fathers’: Q1 Stanthorpe and Q6 Home Hill

POW Kit Bags: Adriano Zagonara and Sebastiano Di Campli

The Colour Magenta: The Australian prisoner of war uniform for Italians, Japanese and Germans.

Theatre Productions: Details of plays performed by the Italians

Handbooks: L’Amico del Prigioniero, Pidgin English for Italian Prisoners of War, Piccolo Guido per gli Italiani in Australia

Voices from the Past: testimonials from Italian soldiers who worked on farms.

Letters written by Italian prisoners of war to family in Italy, to their Queensland farmers and to the children of farmers, written by mother of an Italian POW to a Queensland nurse, written by the Italians to their interpreter, Queensland farmer to Italian, letters written between Italian POW places in different states.

Photographs of Italian soldiers in full dress uniform, Italian soldiers in Italian and Libya during training, Italians as POWs with their farming families, Italians on their Wedding Day and with their families, Italians in POW camps in India.

Handmade items: embroideries, wooden objects, cellophane belt, silver rings, paintings, cane baskets, metal items, chess sets, art work, theatre programs.

Contributions by Italian families whose fathers and family returned to Australia as ‘new Australians’.

Identification of buildings used as prisoner of war accommodation.

Publication of three guides for Italian families to assist in their search for information about their fathers and grandfathers.

Collaboration with numerous Italian and Australian families; local museums and family history associations; journalists; translators; collectors of historic postal items; local libraries.

Discussion about our Queensland research at conference in Catania Sicily May 2019 on prisoner of war experiences.

My Wish List

In the beginning:

I had one wish, to find one Queensland family who remembered the Italians working and living on their farm. Thank you Althea Kleidon, you were the beginning with your photos and memories of Tony and Jimmy.

My adjusted wish list, to find three photographs of Italian POWs on Queensland farms. Then came Rosemary Watt and Pam Phillips with their collection of photos, a signature in concrete and a gift worked in metal.

….

Now:

To have the three Finding Nonno guides translated into Italian.

If I win Gold Lotto, to have Walking in their Boots translated into Italian or an upgrade to the website.

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**Background

What started out as a personal journey to read about the Italian POW Camp outside of Home Hill has resulted in a comprehensive, diverse and rich collection of stories, letters, photographs, testimonies, artefacts, music, newspaper articles spanning over 80 years: the battles in the Mediterranean and in Libya 1940 to the present.

Over the past seven years, I have heard these words many times over, “but you have it wrong, there were no Italian prisoners of war in Queensland”.

And this became a focal point for the research: to record this chapter in Queensland’s history before it was completely forgotten.

But like ripples in a pond, Queensland’s history of Italian POWs expanded across and was part of a greater history and so the project extended and expanded: to other Australia states and to Italian families in sixteen countries around the world.

Join the journey and follow the footprints of the Italian prisoners of war.

Why?

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Why research Italian prisoners of war in Queensland?

Book Launch Joanne - Copy

Joanne Tapiolas – Accidental Historian

(photo courtesy of Michele Sinclair)

My research started with the Italian prisoners of war growing vegetables up river Home Hill. As a Burdekin local, I had heard stories about these Italians who had come from North Africa after being captured. Memories of the locals of the time are sketchy, ‘we knew about them’ ‘ we knew they were there but not much else’ ‘one didn’t talk about those things back then’. In my mind, there must have been a barbed wire enclosure housing 20 – 30 Italian POWs to grow vegetables.

A puzzle for my young 10 year old self was the image of the map in my school Atlas. North Africa was a long long way from Home Hill in northern Queensland. Questions beginning with WHY and HOW and WHAT stayed in my memory bank. Not too much of this made sense.

Map of World

When I found the time to do some research, I consulted an excellent publication on the Burdekin history : Black Snow and Liquid Gold by John Kerr. A section covering the years of the war provided me with the background and details. I found the names of two Italian POWs who twice escaped the hostel BUT I became frustrated because in an editing error, the names of these men were printed incorrectly. They are named as Pietro Di Vincenzo and Landolfi Pasquale. Their names are Vincenzo DI PIETRO and Pasquale LANDOLFI. The other Italians mentioned have their names correctly ordered.

My dad was as amazed as myself at the records I began to uncover. The research told a story of 250 Italian POWs who lived in barracks and grew vegetables for the armed forces in North Queensland. Now Q6 Prisoner of War Control Hostel Home Hill not only had a history but also a context. It was one of 10 prisoner of war control centres in Queensland and it operated as part of the Commonwealth Department of Commerce and Agriculture’s Vegetable Project : Home Hill and Ayr.

I became quite attached to MY Home Hill POWs especially when I could put a face to a name. I left a copy of my research with the local historical society hoping that one day, the children or grandchildren of a Home Hill POW would pass through Home Hill looking for some information. At least the list of POW names attached would verify that their father or grandfather had been at the hostel up river Home Hill.

I put aside other documents I found about the other nine centres in Queensland, just in case. I felt that if the Burdekin locals had little knowledge about the Home Hill POW hostel, then did people in the other nine districts know about their POW history.

Curiosity got the better of me and so I began digging for information. I found little bits of information BUT I was frustrated because the information in the public domain was scarce and incomplete. The only photographic evidence of Italian prisoners of war in Queensland is three photos taken at Calico Creek. They are housed in the John Oxley Library. Other records mention only six centres and there is no reference to the differences between a control centre: without guard and a hostel. Once such reference is: Prisoner-of-war control depots were established at Stanthorpe, Home Hill, Gympie, Nambour, Gayndah and Texas.(Fortress Queensland 1942-1945)

I believed that the history of Italian prisoner of war in Queensland needed to be more comprehensive, contain various perspectives, and include those who had a memory of the Italians an understanding of the context surrounding the placement of these men on the family farm.

It became obvious that this history was not found in the books of the libraries. This history is found in the memories of Queensland locals and Italian families. Letters to editors, newspaper articles, letters to historical societies, Facebook posts, cold call letters, website development, oral history interviews, face to face interviews and radio interviews.

Slowly but surely, Queenslanders and Italians have helped write this history.

And just as I had hoped, the son of a Home Hill POW did come looking for the footsteps of this father. Francesco (Ciccio) Cipolla was at the Q6 PWCH Home Hill from April 1944 to November 1945. His son, Nino, on previous trips to Australia had visited the PW & I Camps at Hay and Cowra but the notation Q6 Home Hill had remained a mystery. On a holiday to Melbourne in 2017, Nino searched yet again for some reference to this Q6 Home Hill. Nino found my research and Stepping Back in Time, Ciccio’s son was able to understand better his father’s time growing vegetables for supply to the armed forces in the north.

2017 Q6 36

Nino Cipolla Home Hill Railway Station April 2017

(photo courtesy of Joanne Tapiolas)

And back to the answer to the question: Why research Italian prisoners of war in Queensland?

Because it hadn’t been done… because if it wasn’t done now, the stories would be lost to time…because it needed to be done…Because it is a valuable part of Queensland history and this history should have a voice.

The rest they say is “HISTORY” and on these pages is this history.

Walking in their boots JPEG

Documenting the history

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Alan Fitzgerald’s book The Italian Farming Soldiers Prisoners of War in Australia 1941-1947 was the first publication in Australia about Italian prisoners of war. It was published in 1981 and it is a book I continue to refer to. There is specific information about the journey of Lieutenant Arnaldo Gatti and his son Luciano Gatti together with the “great” escapee Lieutenant Edgardo Simoni.

Bill Bunbury published Rabbits and Spaghetti: Captives and Comrades Australians, Italians and the War in 1995. It is specifically about Western Australia: Italian internees, Italian prisoners of war and Australian POWs in Italy.

In 2006 Biagio Di Ferdinando published his autobiography Odyssey. Biagio had returned to Australia post WW2.

Haywire (2006: Hay Prisoner of War and Internment Camps) and A Town at War (Graham Apthorpe 2008: Cowra Prisoner of War and Internment Camps) are comprehensive histories of the multi-layered nature of the camps accommodating both prisoners of war and Australian and international internees.

In Italy, Evandro Dell’ Amico published two books: L’Uomo Tornato Da Lontano in 2016 and Il Viaggio Australie in 2018.

Bocco… Mio Padre Carlo Vannuci was published by his son Enrico Vannucci.

Echoes of Italian Voices, Family Histories of Queensland’s Granite Belt by Francesco and Morewenna Arcidiacona presents information on the Italian POWs working on the Stanthorpe district farms during WW2 as well as family stories for those Italian POWs who returned to settle in the district post war.

Darren Arnott from Melbourne published No Regard for the Truth in 2019. An expose into the fatal shooting of Rodolfo Bartoli by Captain Waterston of Rowville Hostel.

A recent Australian publication A Cage in the Bush (2022) by Ernie Polis centres on Marrinup Camp in Western Australia, home to German and Italian prisoners of war.

Very importantly, families in Italy are self-publishing books about their fathers and grandfathers.

Every man has a story to tell and it is heartwarming to know that sons, daughters and grandchildren are acknowledging the individual journeys.

It is vital to remember that while these men were soldiers, airmen, marines and prisoners, they were also husbands, fathers, sons and brothers.

John Oxley Library Award 2020

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June 2020 was a special milestone for our project: Footprints of Italian Prisoners of War in Australia WW2. I was awarded the John Oxley Library Award which is part of the Queensland State Library Memory Awards.

My research into Italian Prisoners of War in Queensland (and Australia) has been recognised, but it is also recognition for the Italian and Australian families who have entrusted me with their memories. My virtual presentation begins at 3 minutes (link below)

Michelangelo Cutelle and Antonio Della Polla

(photos courtesy of Althea Kleidon)

Our community encompasses Italian and Australian families from 16 countries: Italy, Belgium, Poland, Scotland, England, USA, Canada, Denmark, The Netherlands, Argentina, France, Spain, Switzerland, Finland, Brazil and Australia.

This award has been made possible because of the generosity of the people in our ‘Footprints’ Community. You are all: L’Amico del Prigioniero

https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/get-involved/fellowships-awards-residencies/queensland-memory-awards

I remember Tony, Mike and Matt…

Uniform Regulations

A prisoner of war uniform

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One type of prisoner of war uniform is the light-coloured shirt with the black diamond patch on the back and the light-coloured trousers with black stripes down the outside leg. This uniform can be found in the photographic records:

Geneifa Egypt:

Geneiffa, camp N° 306. Une section du camps.

Camp 306 Geneifa Egypt ICRC V-P-HIST-00849-01

Zonderwater South Africa:

Camp de Zonderwater. Inauguration du bureau de poste.

Inauguration of Post Office Zonderwater ICRC V-P-HIST-03363-19A

Bangalore Camp 2 India:

Guerre 1939-1945. Bangalore. Camp 2. Prisonniers de guerre italiens. Communion donnée par un délégué apostolique. Word War II. Bangalore. Camp 2. Holy communion given by an apolostic delegate.

Bangalore Camp 2 ICRC V-P-HIST-03474-19A

Cowra Australia:

Cowra, NSW. 1944-02-03. Italian prisoners-of-war from No. 12 Prisoner-of-War Camp using a heavy duty pulley block and tackle to pull down a large tree in a paddock near the camp. (AWM Image 064137, photographer Geoffrey McInnes)

BUT…

one uniform has survived the passing of time. The uniform was saved from a bonfire of disposal prisoner of war uniforms by a camp guard. It is now in the hands of Anthony who has graciously shared photos.

Prisoner of War Uniform: Trousers (photo courtesy of AC)

Prisoner of War Uniform: Jacket (photo courtesy of AC)

Anthony has also shared photographs of Prisoner of War Capture Tags. Printed by the US Government February 1942, they raise the question:
Was a similar tag used for those Italian prisoners of war captured 1940 and 1941? Looking through archived photos of Italians captured at Sidi el Barrani, Bardia, Tobruk and on the move in Palestine, no capture tags are seen. Did the British forces in Libya, Eritrea and Ethiopia use capture tags?

It would be interesting to know if any Italians wrote about the capture tags in their journals or memoirs.

Prisoner of War Capture Tags US Government Issue

(photos courtesy of AC)

It starts with hope

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Maria Pepe from Oppido Lucano (Basilicata) hoped for the impossible and that one day, she might discover information about her father’s time on a farm in Australia.

Michele Pepe’s journey as an Italian solider and prisoner of war is like thousands of others: captured at Bardia Libya, sent to British POW Camps in India, arrived in Australia, sent to work on a farm, repatriated and arrived in Italy in 1947. But every Italian prisoner of war took home with them unique memories and sometimes photos.

Maria hoped that two photos her father kept, might help her locate the farming family. It is remarkable that not only has the Bruce family been found, but that both families have kept safe the same two photos. Mr KW Bruce from Riverton South Australia employed Michele to assist him on his mixed farm . “The broadacre crops grown on the farm were wheat, barley and peas. Mick helped to milk 25 cows every morning and evening. The farm also had 100 pigs, 500 sheep and about 100 chickens.” Heather Jackson (nee Bruce) recalls.

Michele’s Service and Casualty Form records that he was sent to farm work on 13.5.44 and left 7.3.46.

Michele Pepe with the Bruce family Riverton SA c. June 1945

***(photos courtesy of Maria Pepe and the Bruce family*)***

The two photos captured Michele with his farming family. In one photo he is happy, nursing a baby and standing with the farmer and his children. The other photo has Michele with Mr and Mrs Bruce and their four children. Maria Pepe writes, “My father always spoke about those three children so close to him. He often spoke about the suffering of leaving them to return to Italy. He told me, … [the young girl] cried when he left for Italy.”

Heather Jackson (nee Bruce) is the little girl in the photo and has provided invaluable information to Maria Pepe. “Michele (or Mick as the family called him) lived in a 4 room cottage in which he had the use of 2 rooms and a bathroom. This cottage was about 30 metres from the family home. Mick joined the family to eat all his meals,” Heather remembers. Maria remembers her father talking about, ‘the great humanity of Mr and Mrs Bruce who took Michele as one of the family.’

The Bruce siblings remember and reflect upon Sundays and Mick’s journey into town to attend church as Heather recounts: “Mick borrowed a horse and sulky to travel 5 kilometres into Riverton alone to attend the Roman Catholic Church service at 8 am on Sunday mornings. He would park the sulky and horse in the Methodist Church yard and walk to his Church. The Bruce family were Methodists, so he felt it only correct to park the horse and sulky in the Methodist Church yard. The Bruce family’s Methodist church service was much later in the morning, well after Mick returned from his church.”

A gesture of respect from a prisoner of war to a farmer.

The documenting of this history can be sometimes, one sided: an Australian farming family memories OR an Italian family memories. It is special when this history can connect both families. Maria has shared with the Bruce siblings, a little about Michele’s life after his return to Italy, and Heather has shared with Maria and her brothers details about farming life in the 1940s and special memories of Mick.

Wedding Photo: Elena and Michele Pepe 1948

(photo courtesy of Maria Pepe)

And Michele’s reflections of his time in Australia and being a prisoner of war will resonate with many Italian families: “Australia was beautiful and rich, but here in Italy, I feel like a king in my home.” (Maria Pepe)

* Heather Jackson (nee Bruce) believes that the photos were taken around the time of Michele Pepe’s birthday. The baby girl was born in April 1945 and Michele Pepe’s birthday was in June. This would have been Michele’s 28th birthday.

Remarkable…

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In November 1945 Giuseppe Quarta from Arnesano Lecce Italy lived with Mr and Mrs Dixon on their farm in Golden Valley Tasmania.

In November 2020 Jan Dixon, daughter of Reg and Elsie shared 75 year old photos with Giuseppe’s children Antonio and Anna.

This is remarkable.

Giuseppe Quarta celebrated his 24^th birthday, thirteen days before arriving in Melbourne from Bombay India. He was processed and photographed at Murchison PW Camp Victoria before travelling to Tasmania.

Giuseppe Quarta Murchison Victoria NAA: A376 T321

Giuseppe’s son Antonio had obtained a copy of his father’s extra file in the National Archives of Australia which contained the PWI58832 photos. This file also provided the name of Giuseppe’s farming family: RR Dixon Golden Valley. But the research stalled. A google map could provide Antonio with a geographic location for Golden Valley. But Antonio had a deep yearning to know something more about his father’s 17 months with the Dixon family.

On 30^th November 2020, Antonio’s dreams came true. Jan Dixon had seen a Facebook post on Tasmanian History and knew immediately that this man: Giuseppe Quarta was the man from her family stories and in her family photos.

Giuseppe was known as JOSH and while Jan was born after Josh had left her family’s farm, her parents often talked about Josh and referred to a few photos with Josh and the Dixon family.

Jan recalls her mother Elsie telling her, “Josh always called me Elsa.” Just as the Dixons had given Giuseppe an Aussie name, Giuseppe gave Elsie an Italian name. There is no doubt that Giuseppe was well looked after by the Dixon family as the photos show a healthy young man as a result of the good hospitality of the Dixons. Antonio agrees, “…senza ombra di dubbio , mio padre in quei due anni che ha trascorso presso la famiglia Dixon , si e’ trovato benissimo lo si puo’ vedere anche dalle foto che gode di ottima salute. belle foto.”

Giuseppe Quarta with Grandpa Dixon Golden Vally Tasmania 1945-1946

(photo courtesy of Jan Dixon)

Jan Dixon remembers that the farm had dairy cows and small crops hinting that fresh milk and butter were on the table; there was an abundance of bread made by her mother; and fresh vegetables came straight from the farm. The photos also hint at the acceptance and inclusion of Giuseppe into the Dixon extended family.

Giuseppe Quarta with the Dixon Extended Family 1945-1946

(photo courtesy of Jan Dixon)

For Antonio and Anna Quarta from Lombardy Italy, these photos are a special early Christmas gift. Speaking from the heart, Antonio writes, “e’ un bellissimo regalo di Natale , proveniente dalla lontana Australia dalla cara Joanne ,e’ stata anche una grandissima sorpresa che mi ha fatto tanto piacere , aprendo lentamente il messaggio ho capito subito che si tratta di notizie importantissime… mi ha invaso la commozione e la felicita’ con gli occhi di lacrime.”

There is a remarkable series of events which has brought together the Dixon and Quarta family. Most importantly, this research project, Footprints of Italian prisoners of war in Australia, is a community project. From Antonio Quarta who entrusted me with his father’s story, to John Towers in Tasmania who pointed me in the right direction and gave me links to the Facebook group Tasmania History, to the administrator of the Facebook group who approved my post, to Jan Dixon for recognising Josh and sharing her family photos: this is a remarkable story.

Anna Quarta adds, “Voglio Ringraziare tanto la signora Joanne Tapiolas , la Famiglia Dixon in modo particolare Jan di aver messo a disposizione le sue foto di famiglia e tutte le altre persone che hanno collaborato alla ricercar.”

1 hat (a)	1 hair brush
1 overcoat (a)	1 shaving brush
2 coats, medical detachment (a)	1 toothbrush
2 pairs of trousers, medical detachment (a)	2 pairs of short cotton underwear (b)
1 pullover, labour detachment (a)	1 comb
1 pair of trousers, labour detachment (a)	2 pairs of woollen and cotton underwear (c)
1 pair of shorts (a) (b)	1 jersey pullover (c)
1 pair of shoes	1 safety razor with blade (d)
1 pair of laces	2 flannel shirts
1 pair of braces	2 cotton singlets (b)
2 pairs of woollen socks	2 wool and cotton singlets (c)
2 towels	3 cotton handkerchiefs

Follow their journey…. Walking in their Boots

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Why research Italian prisoners of war in Queensland?

Joanne Tapiolas – Accidental Historian

(photo courtesy of Michele Sinclair)

Nino Cipolla Home Hill Railway Station April 2017

(photo courtesy of Joanne Tapiolas)

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(photos courtesy of Althea Kleidon)

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Michele Pepe with the Bruce family Riverton SA c. June 1945

(photos courtesy of Maria Pepe and the Bruce family*)

Wedding Photo: Elena and Michele Pepe 1948

(photo courtesy of Maria Pepe)

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***(photos courtesy of Maria Pepe and the Bruce family*)***