PoW recalls Melbourne Cup day in S’kan camp
KOTA KINABALU: Thirtyseven Australians, including a 94-year-old former prisoner of war (PoW) and family members of PoW, are in Sabah for the Emirates Melbourne Cup 2015 tour in conjunction with the 70th anniversary of the Sandakan Memorial Day today.
The Australians have brought along with them a replica of the Melbourne Cup 1942 made at Sandakan PoW camp in North Borneo in 1942.
The Melbourne Cup horse racing event is an icon of Australian sporting and social history which was first held in 1861.
Sandakan PoW camp survivor Lt Leslie Bunn Glover, who is better known as ‘Bunny’, said the improvised Melbourne Cup day sweepstakes was organized by the entertainment group of the PoW in November 1942 to raise funds for hospital needs.
Bunny, a PoW for a year in Sandakan and two years in Kuching, said 1,500 Australian PoW came from Changi to Sandakan as part of B Force to build an airfield for the Japanese in July 1942. Their numbers were added by another 1,200 plus PoW.
“Almost everyone was killed or died there. 99.5 per cent died and the 0.5 per cent came out alive.”
Bunny suffered a broken neck in the prison camp and has spent the last 45 years receiving physiotherapy treatment twice weekly.
“A guy hit me on the back of the neck but I was a champion boxer and I ducked quickly.”
He said the full blow of the impact would have killed him, and he ended up with a broken neck which he had to straighten very slowly using an improvised brace.
Today, Bunny lives in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia and is a father of five children. He also has six grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
In the early days as PoW, Bunny recounted that Sunday was allowed as a non-work day for the camp to be cleaned and prisoners to get treated for damaged bodies.
“On these days entertainment was sometimes permitted – concerts, choirs, lecturers and church services.
“In 1942, we decided to have a Melbourne Cup race, which was called the Sandakan Melbourne Cup and we had a sweepstake,” he said when sharing about the history of the Melbourne Cup 1942 during a cocktail reception hosted by Sabah Tourism Board (STB) here on Wednesday.
In the improvised Melbourne Cup race, a sweepstakes was held by selling tickets, with winning tickets allocated a ‘horse’ in the race. Men stood in as substitute for the horses. On a rest day the event took place, horse numbers were picked from a bag, allowing them to advance until the finish line 50 paces away.
Tickets were sold at five cents for three pieces; the prisoners were paid about 20 cents a day. The funds went to the hospital, while the Cup winner received 15 per cent and the Melbourne Cup trophy, second place three per cent and third place two per cent.
The improvised Melbourne Cup 1942 trophy was made from a kitchen Bully Beef tin.
“On that day, the feeling was exciting, just like being at a Melbourne Cup day at home,” Bunny recounted.
On October 1943, the prisoners were transferred to Batu Lintang PoW and internee camp in Kuching Sarawak. This camp had a parade ground and in November that year, Australian officers built a circular track and competed for the Melbourne Cup again, using the same method.
“Lt Bill Peck won the Cup and he took it home to Melbourne.” The Melbourne Cup 1942 was later donated to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
As it was not possible to take the original Melbourne Cup 1942 to Sabah, Bunny’s son, Michael, who is the president of the Queensland Sandakan PoW Family and Friends Association, has made an exact replica of the Cup, which he graciously donated to the Sandakan Museum.
“It will rest in good company and be near those souls of the deceased PoWs who took part in the 1942 Melbourne Cup race event but never made it home.”
Looking back at the PoW days, Bunny believed that the Australians’ good sense of humour and strong mateship have helped the Australian PoW survived more than others.
“No British people survived. Those who survived were Australians, we have a very strong spirit and good sense of humour.
“We laughed at things. Even when serious things happened, we still found something to laugh at.”
Meanwhile, Sabah Toursim Board (STB) chairman Datuk Joniston Bangkuai thanked the tour for bringing the replica of the Melbourne Cup 1942 here.
“I hope this programme will further enhance the existing good relationship between Australia and Malaysia, particularly Sabah.”
The Australian tour members have also donated AUD105 in total, equivalent to slightly over RM1,000 for the earthquake victims in Ranau.
Also present at the cocktail reception were Sabah Museum director Joanna Kitingan and STB general manager Datuk Irene Benggon Charuruks.