A tragic bureaucratic bungle delivers a rich historical trove

A massive exhibition at the State Library of New South Wales offers a rare eyewitness glimpse into a unique moment in the annals of Australia’s Jewish community.

Dunera: Stories of Internment tells the story of the transportation to Australia, and subsequent internment in Victoria and New South Wales, of 2546 men and teenage boys, two thirds of them Jewish.

Mostly from Germany, Austria and various other European countries, the migrants came via Britain seeking refuge from Nazi persecution.

In a case of massive bureaucratic bungling — and despite the fact that some of the German-speaking men had been imprisoned by the Nazis at Dachau, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen — they were regarded by British authorities as “enemy aliens,” a potential fifth column who could pose a danger to Britain in the event of a German military invasion. Thousands were arrested, interned in camps in England and despatched to Canada or Australia.

In July 1940 the Dunera sailed from the British port of Liverpool and docked in West Africa, Cape Town and Fremantle before reaching Melbourne and Sydney. Described by some as "a hellish voyage", the 57-day sojourn was marked by over-crowding, shortage of necessities, poor nutrition, insufficient toilets and cruel treatment at the hands of the British guards. Belongings were frequently slashed with bayonets and confiscated, destroyed or thrown overboard. Illnesses such as diarrhoea were rife. And among those on board were Nazi sympathisers.