New Zealand - Wellington
- Aerial view of Featherston
- #5 of 6
- 1981
Featherston
- A town in the South Wairarapa District
- At the eastern foothills of Remutaka Range
- The town of Featherston was first known as Burlings, after Henry Burling, who opened an accommodation house near the Māori settlement 1847.
- In 1856 the provincial government surveyed the spot for a town, naming it after its superintendent, Isaac Featherston.
- The Featherston Military Camp was a major training camp in World War I
- Established in 1916 and housing up to 8000 men
- The camp was larger than the town and included 16 dining halls, six cookhouses, 17 shops, a picture theatre, hospital, and post office.
- During World War II, in 1942 it became the Featherston prisoner of war camp, holding 800 Japanese POWs captured in the South Pacific.
- On February 25, 1943 an incident occurred where 122 Japanese Prisoners of War in the camp were shot (48 dead, 74 wounded).
- Tension had been building for weeks before a group of recently arrived prisoners staged a sit-down strike and refused to work.
- Guards fired a warning shot, wounding Lieutenant Adachi Toshio.
- The prisoners then rose and the guards opened fire. Wartime censors kept details of the incident quiet to prevent Japanese reprisals against Allied POWs.
- After the war, the first POW to return to Featherston burned incense at the site in 1974 and a joint New Zealand–Japanese project established a memorial ground.
(Reference: Wikipedia)
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Image source: LINZ CC-BY 3.0
Sourced from https://retrolens.co.nz/
Date taken: 12/10/1981 Survey Number: SN5954
Copyright: Crown Elevation: 5500
Run Number: A Photo Number: 2 Scale: 7800