media release
Parkes Place, CANBERRA ACT 2600
12 February 2010
The Dunera Boys: Seventy Years On
A special collection-in-focus exhibition has opened at the National Library of Australia to
mark the 70th anniversary year of the arrival of a group of wartime internees who were to
become known as the Dunera Boys.
In September 1940, Hired Military Transport Dunera arrived in Sydney having travelled
from Britain with over 2500 German, Austrian and Italian internees on board. Conditions
on the Dunera were appalling – it was overcrowded and some passengers were
mistreated. Many of the internees were of Jewish heritage and had escaped to Britain from
Nazi Germany in the 1930s only to be interned as enemy aliens in camps in Britain in mid-
1940 and then transferred to camps in rural Australia.
By the time the Dunera left Liverpool, Britain’s internment policy was already under
review and new laws were soon in place that would have exempted most of the Dunera
Boys from internment. This exhibition tells the story of these men and boys – one of
talent, hope and perseverance. It also celebrates the Dunera Boys’ significant contribution
to many areas of Australian society.
‘This exhibition is a great opportunity for the National Library to display its growing
collection of items relating to this important part of Australia’s history,’ Director-General
Jan Fullerton said. ‘We are also delighted that through the staging of this exhibition, we
have been in contact with people who have generously added to our collection, through
both their memories and their personal collections.’
Most of the items in the exhibition are drawn from the National Library’s growing
collection – prints, drawings, manuscripts, newspapers, books and music. Visitors can also
hear excerpts from unique oral histories recorded by some of the 850 internees who chose
to stay in Australia. Much of this material has never been exhibited before.
What: The Dunera Boys: Seventy Years On
When: Opens 12 February 2010
Where: Visitor Centre, National Library of Australia
Media Contact:
Sally Hopman, Media Liaison Manager, 02 6262 1704; 0401 226 697;
shopman@nla.gov.au
NEWS 
