Stolen Years: Australian prisoners of war
Outram Road Gaol
The Japanese used Outram Road Gaol in Singapore as a place of punishment for all those who broke their rules – prisoners of war, internees and local people.
It was a place of starvation, torture and terror, a place of madness and, for many, death. Those who survived Outram Road displayed exceptional qualities of endurance, mental and emotional fortitude.
In Outram Road I think I counted about 1,400 deaths.
Dr Jim Taylor, civilian internee and survivor of Outram Road
The place was a hell hole … Many men and a few women died in this place from ill-treatment, both soldiers and civilians.
Lieutenant Maurice Felsch, 2/20th Battalion, a survivor of Outram Road Gaol
Close confinement coupled with inadequate diet not only cramps the muscles it compresses the mind. Thought has to be squeezed from a constipated brain.
Bill Young, 2/29th Battalion, a survivor of Outram Road Gaol