Innisfail soldier Lewis O’Farrell rarely spoke of his time as a prisoner of war (POW) in the infamous Changi Camp but 75 years on his family have decided it’s time to share some of his possessions.
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The O’Farrell family has loaned a number of items including railway spikes from the Burma-Thailand Railway, telegrams and letters, a canvas pouch, currency issued by the Japanese Government during its occupation of East Asia and a demobilisation booklet and medical records for display at the Innisfail Regional Library.
The display will be officially opened on Wednesday at 2pm and remain on display until 2 May.
Innisfail brothers Lew and Andrew O'Farrell said their late father Lewis O'Farrell's wartime possessions were a way to personalise history, especially for the younger generation.
“It’s 75 years since Singapore fell so we felt we needed to air it,” Lew O’Farrell said.
“We can’t just keep it away for all these years. We have kept it close to our hearts for some time.
“We need to show our relatives and friends and the community and it might help lift the spirit of POW families because they may not have materials like this.”
Lew O'Farrell said his father Lewis enlisted with the AIF as a 21-year-old in 1940 and was promoted to sergeant two years later after helping to defend the Malayan Peninsula from Japanese attack.
Just two weeks later after a period of intense fighting, Allied Forces surrendered Singapore and Lew became a POW interred in Changi Camp.
He was officially reported as missing in August 1942 and for 18 months his family didn't know what had happened to him.
Lewis endured hard labour under brutal conditions in his three and a half years as a POW and was one of more than 22,000 Australian servicemen captured by the Japanese, with one in three dying before the war's end.
Lewis was one of five of seven O’Farrell children who served.
Brothers Fred (Middle East and Borneo), Eddie (Torres Strait and Papua New Guinea) and Brian (Bouganville and Rabul) served while sister Joan was a gunner in the Royal Women’s Army and trained on the Tablelands and Brisbane.
On his return to Innisfail, Lewis completed an adult apprenticeship as a painter and also worked as a baker.
Many of the items will be digitalised so they can become part of the region's local history collection.
