The Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial - Ballarat Victoria
The Australian Ex-Prisoners of War (POW) Memorial opened in Ballarat on 6 Feb 2004, and stands a memorial to those Australia's who were recorded as being a POW.
What is a POW?
The Trustees of the Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial have defined a Prisoner of War to be a person who was captured by a common enemy and/or interned in a neutral or non-combatant country.
To be defined an Australian Prisoner of War, the person needs to be either an Australian Born person serving in the Uniform of an Australian Service; or in the Uniform of a friendly country, or Born Elsewhere and serving in the Uniform of an Australian Service.
A Prisoner is a person who has lost personal privileges, suffers deprivation of liberty or is unable to return home or dies in captivity.
What does this Memorial Symbolise?
The Memorial symbolises that all Australian prisoners embarked to serve away from their homeland and acknowledges the hardship, deprivation, brutality, starvation and disease endured by Prisoners of War during their capture and the scars many continued to endure upon their repatriation to Australia.
The Gardens that the Memorial is in, is also a place of quiet reflection and a place to remember loved ones and to mourn those 8,600 Prisoners of War who died in captivity and remain buried on foreign shores.
To Log This Cache
At the posted co-ords find the inscription for GILES G.J. (my grandfather). When you find his name, simply take a photo of his inscription and add it to your found log. Please include in your photo something that identifies you...e.g. a personal item with your caching name, name badge etc
Feel free to also post a photo of any relative you may have whose name is on the wall, and maybe share their story as well.
Residents of Ballarat and the surrounding areas may have visited the memorial before, and will hopefully head back to complete this virtual. For non Ballarat residents and especially first time visitors to the memorial, I hope you enjoy your visit.
Note: This is not the inscription you are looking for on the wall. This is his headstone from the cemetery where he is buried.
Details of Giles G.J.
Date of Birth: 19 June 1902
Date of Death: 27 July 1943
Service: Royal Australian Navy
Date of Navy Enlistment: 2 February 1922 (2/2/22)
Place of Death: Burma (now Myanmar)
Place of Burial: Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery, Thanbyuzayat, Mon State, Myanmar
Service: Chief Stoker - HMAS Perth. HMAS Perth was sunk, along with USS Houston, on the night of 28 Feb / 1 Mar 1942 after engaging with the Japanese Invasion Fleet in Sunda Strait, located between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. Surviving the ships sinking, Chief Stoker Giles was captured by the Japanese and put to work on the Thai-Burma railway. He died from Dysentery on 27July 1943, aged 41.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.