Saturday May 10, 11:07 AM
Aust to upgrade E Timor WWII memorial school

By Anne Barker

With a native population of 700,000, ruled prior to February 1942 by Dutch and Portuguese, East Timor is today ostensibly Japanese.

When the Japanese invaded Timor in 1942 they quickly overpowered the Australian "sparrow force", which was sent to defend the island.

More than 1,000 Australians were forced to surrender, but a smaller band of commandos stayed in the mountains of East Timor and waged a year-long guerilla war.

An old film by the famous war cameraman Damien Parer recounts the struggle, where eventually the sparrow force killed about 1,500 Japanese.

But the Aussie diggers never could have succeeded without the help of the local Timorese, who paid the highest price of all.

Dr Karl James, an historian at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, says the Japanese hand was often brutal.

"The Japanese would sometimes carry out raids, or punitive raids against Timorese, executing numbers who had helped the Australians," he said.

"During the course of the war it's estimated about 40,000 Timorese died."

A few years ago, returned soldiers funded a memorial school at Dare, just outside Dili, as a tribute to the Timorese who helped them in World War II, but the school is so basic, it can barely cater for the town's 300 children.
Gusmao lobbies



Kirsty Sword Gusmao, the wife of East Timor Prime Minister Xanama Gusmao, has lobbied Australia to upgrade the school.

"On my first visit, I guess I immediately had this vision of a memorial school which would honour the memory of the Australian soldiers, the Timorese credos that died in Timor during World War II," she said.

"[I wanted it to be] something which allowed for the children of that area to feel connected in a very special way with the acts of courage of their forebears."

Australia's Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Aid, Bob McMullan, will visit Dare and commit Australian funds to help refurbish the school and build a proper war museum near the site.

"There were two Australian units put in a terrific battle there, and a number of Australians died," he said.

"There's a memorial put there by the Department of Veterans Affairs that marks their effort, and we are hoping that this will be a contribution to peace and prosperity that the diggers would have been proud of."

With a dwindling number of Timorese or Australians still alive to remember the war, Ms Sword Gusmao believes the school is a fitting way to ensure their spirit lives on.

"It's apart from anything else, a great source of pride in the courage of the people," she said.

"I guess it complements the story of the more recent history, which is one also of tremendous sacrifice and of suffering."

Aust to upgrade E Timor WWII memorial school - Yahoo!7 News

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman.

thanks there ,jc. for puting this nice read up for all to see
well done thanks mate
best krieg

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for thow . will be ours someday.we shall have it all
... und mear.......

Thanks Falkenberg , this is a nice opportunity to remember the Timorese and the Aussies who tried to help them.


A littke blunder in the article however:

Today Timor is under Indonesian rule, not Japanese, or did something happen while I was asleep?

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Excellent as always mate, I know people not only tend to forget the smaller countries involvment in the war, but even more tend to forget about the native populations of those countries that wars were fought on such as the East Timorians and even the "Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels' the Papua New Gunieaeans.

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They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We shall remember them. Lest We Forget