Italian prisoners of war in Australia

Italian prisoners of war in Australia were Italian soldiers captured by the British and Allied Forces in World War II and taken to Australia.

On 10 June 1940, Italy entered the Second World War on the side of Germany. During the course of the war, Great Britain and their allies captured in Ethiopia and North Africa approximately 400,000 Italian troops, who were sent to POW camps all over the world, including Australia.

Between 1941 and 1945, Australia received custody of 18,420 Italian POWs. The bulk came from British camps in India. During this time prisoners wore burgundy/maroon clothing. Then, after Italy signed an armistice with the Allies in September 1943, the Australian authorities took between 13,000 and 15,000 Italian prisoners out of the POW camps and put them to work.

Over the period, several POWs escaped internment camps, at least one was shot for allegedly trying to escape from a camp, one committed suicide in a camp, fights between fascist versus anti-fascist supporting prisoners, and others was charged with criminal offences. At least one was named as a party to divorce proceedings.

Research undertaken of POWs in northern New South Wales indicated newspapers carried much anti-Italian sentiment: Unionists held concerns unpaid Italian POW labour would displace existing Australian labour; Inequality of Italian POWs had greater freedoms and better food than Australian POWs in overseas camps; and POWs should not be allowed to return to Australia post-war. On an individual level, rapport occurred between landowners and their POW labourers.

The Italian National Ossario at Murchison, Victoria holds the remains of 130 Italian soldiers and civilians who died while interned in Australia.

The Australian Federal Government is still yet, to apologise for interning Australian citizens because of where they were born, like what was done overseas with apologies given in such countries as the United States and Canada. A formal apology has been given by the state of South Australia and a motion passed in Western Australia, however to date no official apology has been given at the federal level for the injustices, but on March the 19th 2012, the house in the Federation Chamber during a private members session agreed to the acknowledgement of the injustice.