A calendar for 1946 by Wray Gibson and Desmond Bettany

MLMSS 9445

fonds

1946

1100046

0.01 metres of textual material (1 folder)

After the surrender of Singapore to the Imperial Japanese Army in February 1942, over 40,000 men, mostly British, Australian and Indian troops were incarcerated at the Selerang military base near the village of Changi. This prisoner of war camp became known as Changi.

Des Bettany was born in Lancashire in 1919, and developed an interest in art and music during his school life. In 1939 he joined the Territorial Army (Royal Artillery) and fought in France and Belgium with the 88th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery he served in various locations in southern England, in preparation for the anticipated German invasion. He was then shipped to the Far East where he fought the Japanese at Ipoh and Alor Star in the Malayan campaign. In the company of the Australian 8th Division and the Indian 9th Brigade, he saw most of the major actions in Malaya until capitulation in Singapore in February 1942. He was moved to Changi gaol where he joined various working parties. Des carried small sketch books with him, and recorded aspects of the actions in Malaya and Singapore, in various media including pencil, ink, water colour and pastel. He continued his artistic endeavours during his life as a P.O.W. As well as documentary sketches, he produced a series of cartoons, some of which satirised his captors. He also became part of a ‘production line’ producing programmes for the many theatrical and musical entertainments which were produced during the years of captivity, as well as assisting with designing and building theatrical sets for plays. In 1958 Des and his family emigrated to South Australia and he took up a position as an art teacher in Whyalla. He was then transferred to the School of Art in Adelaide, rising to the position of Assistant Principal and finally Acting Principal before retiring in 1974. Des Bettany died in 2000.

Wray Gibson was a fellow internee at Changi and also a keen musician/actor participating in a number of theatre programs in Changi.

Wray Gibson and Des Bettany produced this calendar at the risk of their own lives, any prisoner found to be in the possession of writing materials were subjected to extreme forms of punishment, as the making of drawings or records of any kind was strictly forbidden by the Japanese.

Reference:
Douglas Stewart Fine Books brochure
The Changi POW artwork of Des Bettany. http://changipowart.com/about-des. (Accessed February 20, 2014)

From the estate of British serviceman, Warrant Officer W. Ball imprisoned in Changi 1943-1945

The illustrations in this calendar depict incidents (many of them captioned) which occurred in the lives of camp prisoners since 1942. Among events illustrated are the forced march of prisoners to Changi, the award of one tin of pineapple per 10 men in honour of the Japanese Emperor's birthday and the construction of an airfield for the Japanese. There are also humorous scenes, such as a prisoner eyeing a well fed chicken, and a snoring prisoner's 'one man concert'. The final illustration is captioned 'Lest we forget, this must not happen again or we perish', and shows prisoners lying on their wooden beds arranged in rows outside a reed hut.

Copyright status:: In copyright