While interned in Hay camp, the internees established a ‘university’, libraries and orchestras. They held concerts and theatre performances, published a newspaper and even minted a ‘Hay currency’ for use inside the camp.
The Dunera Boys who stayed on in Australia made huge contributions to the cultural, academic and economic life of the country. Among them were men who went on to become nationally and internationally recognised, including:
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artists Ludwig Hirshfield Mack and Heinz Henghes
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athletic coach Franz Stampfl – who coached the four-minute-mile runner Roger Bannister
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composers Felix Werder and his father Boaz Bischofswerder
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economist Fred Gruen
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engineer Paul Eisenklam
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furniture designers Fred Lowen and Ernst Rodeck
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philosophers Kurt Baier and Gerd Buchdahl
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photographers Hans Axel and Henry Talbot
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theoretical physicist Hans Buchdahl
References
P Bartrop and G Eisen, The Dunera Affair: A documentary resource book, The Jewish Museum of Australia and Schwartz and Wilkinson, Victoria, 1990.
S Everett, Not Welcome: A Dunera boy’s escape from Nazi oppression to freedom in Australia, Hybrid Publishers, Melbourne, 2010.
C Pearl, The Dunera Scandal, Mandarin Australia, Sydney, 1990.
1940: HMT ‘Dunera’ arrives in Australia with ‘enemy aliens’ on board, National Museum of Australia, http://www.nma.gov.au/online_features/defining_moments/featured/dunera-boys, accessed 1 June 2018.
1941 Dunera Boys Hay Internment Camp Collection, Migration Heritage Centre, http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/objectsthroughtime/dunera/index.html, accessed 1 June 2018.
HMT Dunera, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMT_Dunera, accessed 1 June 2018.
The Dunera Boys directed by Bob Lewin, Australia, Jethro Films, 1985.
Alex Byrne Printmaker 