A BENDIGO digger's experiences as a prisoner of war are documented in a new book.
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Acclaimed oral historian, author and broadcaster Tim Bowden has released a new book titled, Stubborn Buggers: The survivors of the infamous POW jail that made Changi look like heaven.
The book features 12 stories of Australian prisoners of war who endured the hardships of the Singapore Outram Road Gaol during the Second World War.
“When people think of prisoners of war they think of Changi,” Mr Bowden said.
“But if you were at Changi you were lucky. You barely saw a Japanese (soldier).
“Outram was by far the worst camp. Starvation, tiny cells and executions… It was just an awful, awful experience for these men.”
One of those prisoners was Bendigo man Bert Rollason, now 93, who remained in Outram Road Gaol until the end of the war.
“I first interviewed Bert in the early 1990s,” Mr Bowden said.
“He got eight years in Outram, but it was his upbringing that was truly shocking – he was illegally adopted and his stepfather gave him regular beatings.
“But Bert just shrugged it off, he told me his childhood toughened him up and that’s why the Japanese couldn’t do anything to him.”
Mr Bowden believes that the prisoners of war featured in his story were able to stay alive through the sheer determination to survive.
“If you were able to keep yourself sane, you had a much better chance of survival," he said.
"But that was very difficult when you were getting tortured every day, especially if you were in solitary confinement.”
“These men didn’t consider themselves heroes. They just considered themselves stubborn buggers.”
This Anzac Day Mr Bowden will reflect on the diggers who fought for our country by attending a dawn service in his local community of Pacific Palms, New South Wales.
“Although most of them shrug it off, these young men lost the best part of their lives,” he said.
Bert Rollason is now retired and still living in Bendigo.
Stubborn Buggers is by Tim Bowden and published by Allen & Unwin.