This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
The Lost World Poetry Book in a War of Treasures
In Brisbane in 1946 Ray Bowen recalls buying a worn anthology, An Anthology of World Poetry, for ten shillings before enlistment. The volume travels with him through military service, shelters in Changi, and a perilous Japanese captivity, where it is chewed for tinder and used as packaging before reappearing in a tense exchange with a fellow prisoner, revealing the book’s enduring hold on memory and comradeship.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Workers’ Library
Edward Street
Ray Bowen
Brisbane
Irs
ALF
Ray
Singapore
Malaya
Mersing
Johore
Haversack
Singapore Island
Changi
Ray Howen
Thailand
Burma
Ray Bowen Taok
Ron Filiat
Elliot
Ron
Ron Elliot
Tamuan
Japan
Whea Rogers
Philippines
Rogers
Mina Arma
Dave
Cynara
Rayanal
Tarra
Hinteck
Tarpon