Military Supply Depot - Hay, NSW, Australia
S 34° 30.368 E 144° 50.638
55H E 302066 N 6179612
On the southern end of the War Memorial Hall is a Historical Marker for the Hall.
Waymark Code: WMZN6B
Location: New South Wales, Australia
Date Posted: 12/05/2018
Views: 1
While the Historical Marker is at the southern end of the War Memorial Hall, it is facing Lachlan Street. It has a historic photo of the building as it was in the World War Two, with a supply truck, for the HAY POW Camps. The sign reads:
" The Memorial Hall was originally built in 1913 as a drill hall, the contractor being Mr J. Frizelle. it was opened in 1914 not long before the start of the first world war. During the second world war, the building became the supply depot for the nearby military POW and internment camps established at Hay, handling the provisions for up to 3000 prisoners and and nearly a thousand personnel attached to the garrison.
" The Hay camp, under the command of Col. C.S. Thane, saw the arrival of the first prisoners September 7th 1940. These were civilian internees, mostly German Jews, sent from UK to Australia on HMS Dunera. Nearly 2000 spent nine months in Camps 7 & 8 at Hay, before being sent on to Tatura. Italian internees arrived in November 1940 to Camp 6, and Italian POWs began arriving in May 1941. The first Japanese internees arrived at Hay on Christmas Day 1941. All Japanese merchant seamen held in Australia were sent to Hay. Thousands of Japanese POWs were also held here, including many survivors of the 1944 Cowra outbreak. The camps closed late 1946.
" Shortly after the end of the war, Hay's first War Memorial Hall burned down, and this building was selected to replace it. A new brick facade and memorial porch were erected and the opening took place in 1955.
[Sponsored by Lucy and Roger Elliott (UK) and researched by the Hay Historical Society.]
Address: 204 Lachlan St, Hay NSW 2711
Visited: 0823, Friday, 1 June, 2018