Dunera 80th anniversary event goes virtual
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Dunera Association has been forced to rethink their 80th anniversary plans.
On August 30th the Association will be holding a major virtual event honouring the Dunera Boys and highlighting the amazing achievements of one of the boys, Leonhard Adam, judge, anthropologist, and artist.
Leonhard Adam self portrait
The event, presented together with Emanuel Synagogue will feature Dunera Association president, Ron Reichwald, a virtual tour of the Tatura Museum. Leonhard Adam’s daughter, Mary-Clare Adam in Israel will be revealing the fascinating stories behind some of her father’s art.
Earlier this year as a tribute to the spirit of the Dunera Boys and the creativity and ingenuity that they displayed even while in captivity, Emanuel Synagogue launched Dunera (www.dunera.org.au), a virtual platform designed to provide access to a wide range of educational and cultural events.
A brief history of the Dunera Boys:
As the clouds of war gathered in the late 1930’s, thousands of German refugees – either Jewish or politically opposed to the Nazis – fled to Britain for sanctuary.
Some were soon deported, together with other Germans and Austrians who had lived in Britain for some time, to Australia on the ship HMT Dunera in one of the more notorious incidents in British maritime history.
The ship had a capacity of 1,600 including the crew. It set sail from Liverpool 80 years ago on 10 July 1940, crammed with some 2,000 mostly Jewish refugees, aged 16 to 66.
Alongside them were around 500 Italian and German fascists, meaning the ship was hugely overcrowded.
18 April 1940, the third transport pulls out accompanied by cheers and seagulls. Dunera, Melbourne. Image courtesy of the National Archives of Australia. NAA- A11666,
Dunera boys exercising at Tatura by Leonhard Adam
View of Tatura Internment Camp – Australian War Memorial
After a 57-day journey in appalling conditions, during which the ship was hit by a torpedo, the internees eventual arrival is regarded as one of the greatest influxes of academic and artistic talent to have entered Australia on a single vessel.
The fascists as well as around 100 “Dunera boys” were put ashore at Melbourne and taken to Tatura detention camp in Victoria.
Arriving in Sydney, the remaining Dunera Boys were first interned in Hay in New South Wales. In 1941 they too were brought to Tatura.
Join the Dunera Association from 3:00pm to 4:30pm on Sunday 30 August for this historic online event.
Register now: www.emanuel.org.au/event/dunera-80
