JAPAN-AUSTRALIA GRASSROOTS EXCHANGE PROGRAM

2026 Grassroots Exchange Program

This program, fostering reconciliation and friendship, continues to build bridges between our nations. The following two applicants have been selected for the 2026 Japan-Australia Grassroots Exchange Program and will be travelling to Japan in early 2026.

Mr Colin Montefiore – RSL WA

Colin Montefiore is the son of POW Arthur Eric Montefiore.

Arthur enlisted in the 2nd Australian Imperial Force in Claremont, WA, on 5 January 1942. He departed Freemantle on the SS Marella on 30 January 1942. Six weeks later, he was captured in Java and became a Prisoner of War. In June 1944, he was sent to Japan on the Tamahoko Maru, which was torpedoed by the American submarine USS Tang (ss-306). The Tamahoko Maru sank in minutes, and the prisoners who had not perished immediately found themselves in the water in the middle of the night. They clung to wreckage and rafts. Around 0700 hours, a small Japanese whaling ship picked up the remaining prisoners. Around 560 men lost their lives that night. The surviving 211 prisoners arrived in Nagasaki and were given basic medical treatment. Lorries arrived to transport the prisoners to Fukuoka 14 Camp, in the Mitsubishi factories.

Arthur worked at the Mitsubishi Steel Foundry with 24 other surviving Australian POWs. On 9 August 1945, he was working in the steel yard and heard an aircraft come over at great speed, flying so high it couldn’t be seen. He watched as two parachutes opened up, and then he dived for cover. Next thing he felt was a surge of heat. He saw a telltale mushroom cloud and scrambled up the hillside, hauling a Japanese guard who had been badly injured up the hill with him, as a fire started ripping through the valley.

After surviving the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, he was returned to Australia on the HMS Formidable via the Philippines. He took his discharge after arrival in Sydney in October 1945. Arthur lived to be 79 years of age and passed away just short of his 80th birthday. He suffered for most of his life from injuries received in the sinking of the Tamahoko Maru, the atomic bomb and the effects of his incarceration.

His son, Colin, watched and lived with his father as he continued his life with the injuries and nightmares he suffered from his war service and imprisonment. Colin says his father held no grudge towards the Japanese and taught him to be tolerant, as the Japanese civilian population had also suffered greatly. Colin is looking forward to seeing Nagasaki and the Peace Park there. Especially the plaque listing the name of his father and the other internees of Camp 14.

Mr Barry Dwyer – RSL NSW

Barry Dwyer is the son of POW Francis Joseph Dwyer (Army).

Francis, known as Frank, went to fight in the war, leaving behind his wife, Imeda and two young children. He was captured and became a POW in Changi and then in Camp 4 in Thailand. He was later moved to Ikashima Island, Japan, to work in the coal mine. After the Atomic Bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Frank was returned to Australia on the aircraft carrier HMS Speaker at the age of 24, along with other POWs. They were taken to Ingleburn Army Camp to recover, physically and emotionally. Frank was suffering from beriberi, one of many signs of the hardship he’d endured.

He, like many others, came home from the Second World War forever changed. He made his way back to Casino, New South Wales, where he was reunited with Imelda and his two children from before the war, Norm and Maureen. Barry came along in 1949, just two years after his brother Patrick - the "post-war babies." They moved around a lot and led a very unsettled life. Barry recalls that “Something inside Dad never seemed to rest.” By the time Barry was eight years old, he had moved six times.

The scars of war lingered, and home life was often difficult. Frank relied on alcohol, and his relationship with Imelda became strained. At the age of 60, he was admitted to Concord Repatriation Hospital, suffering from the long-term effects of alcohol. He passed away just three weeks later.

When Barry turned 17, he joined the Citizens Military Forces in Penrith. He recalls dressing in uniform for parade nights and the pride he saw in his Dad’s eyes in these moments. He served for 33 years in the Army Citizen Military Forces (CMF) and the Army Reserve, including two years of National Service. Additionally, he volunteered for five years with the State Emergency Service (SES).

He is looking forward to visiting Japan and learning more about where his father was imprisoned and what it was like for survivors of the atom bomb.