During the Cowra Breakout 80th Anniversary events the Cowra Regional Art Gallery is presenting two unique exhibitions.

The first is Capturing the Home Front - Life at Home in a World at War an exhibition of 48 black and white culturally significant photographs from national and international collections by famous American photo journalist Dorothea Lange and Australian photographers Samuel Hood, Edward Cranstone, Hedley Keith Cullen and Jim Fitzpatrick.

These stunning photographs range from candid records that capture the intimacy of unplanned encounters between photographer and subject, to modernist techniques used to portray industry, to the deliberately composed scenes of soft propaganda.

They also reveal the remarkable parallels of life at home in WWII between Australia and the USA including in industry, family life, the role of women and Japanese internment. (A touring exhibition from the Australian National Maritime Museum. Supported by the USA Bicentennial Gift Fund).

The second special exhibition features several heritage items relating to the Cowra Breakout including the Bugle (on loan from the Australian War Memorial) played by Hajime Toyoshima to signal the start of Japanese prisoner-of-war breakout at Cowra on August 5, 1944.

The other object on display that epitomises the spirit of humanity is the jug used by Mrs May Weir to serve tea to escaped Japanese prisoners of war who appeared at the Weir family property, 'Rosedale', before they were returned to the camp by the Army after the Breakout.

Cowra in 2024 is a place of reconciliation between these former enemies in World War II.

The 80th Anniversary of the Cowra Breakout serves as a poignant reminder, as well as an occasion, for commemoration of the enduring friendship between Cowra and Japan.

Both exhibitions continue to Sunday August 11, 2024.

Admission is free.