No man’s land: A tale of love and longing during wartime

In early December 1942, in the Barossa Valley town of Tanunda, a small group of 16 German women, wives of Lutheran missionaries from New Guinea, lined up in front of the local police officer W.T. White, Lieutenant W.A. Langford from Military Intelligence, and an interpreter, Miss H.J. Samuel. The women gave the Hitler salute, then declared that they hoped Germany would win the war and that they held the same beliefs as their husbands. The party of three officials then moved on to Nuriootpa and Light Pass, where they interviewed another four women, asking them whether they were Nazi sympathisers, admired Hitler, loved Germany, hoped that Germany would win the war and desired to return there after the war. Officer Langford compiled a report on the incident and recommended the women and their children be interned. The spokeswoman of the group, he wrote, had stated 'that it was the best Christmas present that they ever had' and that they were looking forward 'with keen anticipation and pleasure to their internment'.1 Shortly before Christmas 1942, 20 women and 45 children arrived at internment camp Tatura 3, a cluster of barracks among wheat fields in country Victoria, about 20 kilometres south-east of Shepparton. Another group of 10 women and 14 children were brought to Tatura 3 in February 1943. [Chapter extract