Indonesian connection recognised

This connection was marked again at a ceremony at the Cowra General Cemetery on Saturday, March 19 during a visit by the Indonesian Consul General General Vedi Buana and members of Indonesian community from Canberra and Sydney.

The Cowra cemetery is the final resting place of 13 Indonesian Freedom Fighters who were sent to the Cowra POW Camp during World War II.

The Freedom Fighters have been recognised with a memorial which reads "This memorial marks the graves of Indonesian Freedom Fighters and their offspring who died of natural causes during their internment at the Cowra Prisoner of War Camp during World War II. In the early 1940s, Indonesians involved in the uprising of 1926-27, were still in exile in Dutch New Guinea. The Dutch Government believed the Freedom Fighters might join with the invading Japanese and requested the Australian Government to imprison them. They agreed, but after they arrived in Australia, a protest movement took up their case and lobbied the Australian Government complaining that the Indonesians were political prisoners not prisoners of war. Shortly afterwards they were released. Some worked for the Australian military in Sydney and Melbourne, others in nursing and others on farms to Mackay in Queensland. They returned to Indonesian at the end of WWII. There were 1200 Indonesians including men, women and children and merchant sailors in the Cowra Camp."

"It's a pleasure to welcome you here to this very special place," Cowra mayor Bill West told the consul general and visitors from Sydney and Canberra.

"This very special part of Cowra reflects on acknowledging and having a final resting place with dignity for those who came to Cowra during war, not of their own free will and accord but because they were political prisoners.

"The 13 here, who we acknowledge and recognise today, have their final resting place in Cowra, something that we acknowledge and respect and for years to come we will continue to do so.

"We will continue to acknowledge this small component of Cowra soil which is so strongly linked to the community and people of Indonesia.

"I hope we have many more of these occasions where we meet as friends, share experiences but acknowledge those who have a final resting place here and never went home," Cr West said.

Mr Buana thanked the people of Cowra for their support of the Indonesian Freedom Fighters and the Indonesian community.

He also made mention of the promotion of social and economic co-operation between Australia and Indonesia.

"This is strong evidence of the relation between Australia and Indonesia," he said of the Cowra memorial.

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