Setting off on a jaunt to Marrinup

Hopeful of finding the P.O.W camp I came across a decade or more ago.
Hit and miss really.
When I came across it previously it was only because I spotted something white through the trees.
That proved to be the entrance to the camp.
Round about way to get there. Many tracks in the bush are not sign posted.
Once I leave the main road, Pinjarra-Williams road at Freeman rd it will be fingers crossed.
No phone/wifi coverage.
If I have not posted 8 hours from now, send in the troops. 🤪

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Gusman · 61-69, M

As I mentioned, there is very little left at the Marrinup P.O.W camp which is situated 30km, 18 miles from Pinjarra, which itself is 80km, 50 miles south of Perth.
[media=https://dwellingup.destinationmurray.com.au/culture-history/our-stories/marrinup-pow-camp/]
Road leading into the camp

Railway line that serviced the camp.

Steam Train Marrinup

Entrance to No 16 P.O.W camp Marrinup

As the camp appears today

With a post-war labour shortage, a network of camps and control centres was built across Australia for POW’s shipped from Libyaand India to help the Australian workforce, particularly inrural areas.
WA had 1 POW camp and 30 Control Centres. Number 16 POW Compound and Garrison was built to provide farm labour and cut firewood for Perth.
It was approximately 16ha in size and some of the foundations can still be seen.

The camp could accommodate 1200 men, including Army personnel and thousands of prisoners passed through its gates, mostly Italians or Germans with an average age of 30.
Many Italians were chosen for their rural working background and less troublesome nature, while some Germans were taken because of their skills as woodcutters.

Gusman · 61-69, M

Italian Prisoners of War - Marrinup

Barracks

Marrinup P.O.W. camp outlay

Australia’s WW2 P.O.W Bush Camps - MARRINUP No.16
[media=https://youtu.be/YKr9M7I7-Ek?si=zq2r5vS4QGFIOpSy]

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