Bruny Island Internment Camp

[Guest]

A cover from a Prisoner of War from the internment camp on Bruny Island is being auctioned in Prestige Philately #147 Lot 297:

bruny island internment camp cover.jpg (79 KiB) Viewed 11324 times

"1915 stampless cover to the Red Cross in Switzerland endorsed on the flap "Prisoner of War/Bruni Island/Camp", light 'CH1/[crown]/PASSED BY/CENSOR' h/s applied at Hobart, Geneva arrival b/s where unusually taxed because the required POW endorsement was omitted from the face. A great POW rarity. [This camp was so insignificant that Emery didn't mention it in either of his books & neither does the Bruny Island Historical Society website!]".

Another P.O.W. item from Bruny, a postcard, was sold by TSA and written up in The Courier a few years ago. Very few such Bruny items are known. There is a history of Bruny Island Quarantine Station written by Kathy Duncombe which will probably mention the internment camp.

[Alex Green]

Some 58 internees were held on Bruny Island by May 1915 - the smallest Australian camp for German internees.

There is some background information at http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/dnutting ... rnment.htm

An article in the Mercury of 21 December 1916 claims that the German internees had been employed on Bruny Island clearing land.

In the Legislative Council it was revealed that in the previous year (i.e. 1915) some £210 2s. was spent on land clearing by the internees. The timber had been sold and the land was being surveyed in preparation for being sold.

[John Hardinge]

There was a telegraph office at the internment Camp at Bruny Island as early as 1904. It remained at this status until briefly raised to the status of receiving office in 919 when used for infulenza quarentine, before being closed completely in late 1919. I have the exact dates but am at work at the moment so will have to chase them.

John

[Ross Ewington]

I sold this interesting postcard at auction a number of years ago the existence of which was reported at the
time in The Courier. The lucky purchaser has recently provided me with an image for posting in this forum.

bruny island censor 1.jpg (88.88 KiB) Viewed 12446 times

The postcard has been endorsed "Prisoner of War" and sent from the internment camp Bruny Island to a nurse
at the Hobart General Hospital. A light but obvious impression of the Hobart "CH1" civil censor handstamp has
been applied to the centre of the card.

I believe this to be the only known example of civil censored item of intrastate mail of Tasmanian origin
from the WWI era.

Here's a view of the other side of the card published by Brownell Bros. (a large Hobart department store at the time).

bruny island censor 2.jpg (69.39 KiB) Viewed 12446 times

[Kathy Duncombe]

It has been great to find this interesting site. My name is Kathy Duncombe mentioned in above posts and yes I wrote a book 'Bruny Island Quarantine Station in War & Peace which includes the german internment there in 1915. It also includes the envelope mentioned above referring to Geneva, courtesy of the purchaser (a philatelist) with whom I still correspond.

I notice your postcard section and we have been lucky enough to have been sent one by David Wilson and we are desperately seeking more of this type of memorabilia. If anyone out there has one sent by a prisoner of war I would love to hear from you please.

During the busy period of the Quarantine Station’s activities, June 11th 1919 until August 3rd 1919, the Barnes Bay Station was registered as a Post Office, and had its own post-mark stamp. I have not yet been able to source this.

There is now a group 'Friends of Bruny Island Quarantine Station' and the station is open to the public 5 days a week Thursday - Monday between 10:00 - 4:00.

[Ross Ewington]

Hi Kathy,

welcome to the TPS online forum ...it's nice to see another example of civil censored mail used within Tasmania during WWI

in regard to a datestamp being in use at the Quarantine Station in 1919, this is all the information that I have to hand...

barnes bay quarantine station.jpg (43.6 KiB) Viewed 11324 times

It appears unlikely that a datestamp was issued to the office during it's brief period of opening with PO status. There are other examples
of this occurring during this period e.g. Lanaba (1914-16)

I hope that this information is of assistance

regards - Ross Ewington (TPS BB Moderator)

P.S. it's interesting to note that both items from the Internment Camp illustrated above were mailed on the same day!!