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Cowra War Cemetery

Cowra War Cemetery
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Cowra War Cemetery
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Cowra War Cemetery, history plaque
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Cowra War Cemetery
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Cowra War Cemetery
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Description / Background

Cowra War Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (C.W.G.C.) site, containing 27 burials of Second World War veterans. Each grave is marked with a Commission headstone, inscribed with the veteran's military service details and the emblem of their service branch.

The cemetery is neatly landscaped and features grassed areas, flowering plants, and shrubs. There are also concrete pathways throughout the space, giving easy access to each row of graves. A bronze plaque on site gives a brief history of Cowra's role during the war. 

Nearby is the Cowra Japanese War Cemetery, which contains a monument and an information panel about the Cowra Prisoner of War Camp and the Cowra Breakout. 

Inscription

History plaque

This cemetery contains 27 war graves from the Second World War, comprising of 26 Australian soldiers and one member of the Royal Air Force. Five Australian Army casualties of the Second World War and one from the First World War are buried in the Cowra General Cemetery. 

In 1940, a major infantry training base was established at Cowra, providing reinforcements for the 2nd A.I.F. Cowra was also the location of No. 12 Prisoner of War Compound, and it was there that 1,104 Japanese P.O.W.'s launched a mass breakout on 5 August, 1944. Although the Australian military guards were able to contain the escape attempt, four Australian soldiers and 234 Japanese P.O.W.'s were killed. 

The Australian dead lie in this war cemetery. The graves of the Japanese are in the adjacent Japanese War Cemetery. Among those [are] other Japanese war dead and civilian internees. 

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Address
Cowra Cemetery
Doncaster Drive
Cowra NSW 2794
Local Government Area
Cowra Shire
Setting
Garden/park
Location status
Original location
Memorial type
Other
Recorded by
Kent, Monument Australia
Conflict/s
Second World War, 1939–45