Batu Lintang Camp - Compounds

Compounds

Living conditions within the compounds were cramped. Each person was allotted a very small space within a barrack building within which to sleep, keep the few personal possessions they had with them, and also to eat, as there was no communal area within the barracks.

British officers and NCOs

This was described as "perhaps the most commodious" compound, with a fair amount of workable land. At first the officers were with the British other ranks, but they were separated out into this compound on 5 February 1943. Including the three huts, the compound was 2½ acres (1 ha) in area with 1½ acres (0.6 ha) of cultivable land. The Officer in Charge and overall British Military Authority was Lt.-Col. M. C. Russell, until his death on 5 June 1943; Lt.-Col T. C. Whimster took over the role thereafter. The compound held 134 men in September 1944.

Australian officers and NCOs

On liberation, 178 Australian officers and NCOs were held at Batu Lintang, in a compound which was without sufficient land for cultivation. The Officer in Charge was Lt.-Col. A. W. Walsh. The Australian other ranks were held in a camp at Sandakan.

Dutch officers and NCOs

This was without sufficient land for cultivation. The Officer in Charge was Lt.-Col. Mars.

British other ranks

British soldiers were "kept in grossly over-crowded barracks, with inadequate kitchen, lighting, water and sanitary services." They had no land for cultivation. Initially the compound held 1,500 POWs, with additional soldiers arriving thereafter taking the total to around 2,000, but by the end of the war the figure had been reduced to about 750. The Officer in Charge was RSM (later 2nd Lt) S. T. Sunderland.

British Indian Army other ranks

Soldiers from 2nd/15th Punjab Regiment were interned at Batu Lintang. The Indian POWs were housed in two huts, with no land for cultivation.

KNIL soldiers

Indonesian soldiers were housed in a small compound close to the British other ranks' compound.

Roman Catholic priests and religious men

The Catholic priests, brothers and religious men, mostly Dutch and Irish, lived in a separate compound, with a large plot of land to grow vegetables. They numbered 110, including 44 Capuchin friars, 5 Mountfort missionaries, 22 Broeders van Huijbergen (Brothers of Huijbergen) and 38 Mill Hill Missionaries. At liberation, there were 395 civilian men, which included the priests.

Male civilian internees and some boys

In 1943, approximately 250 male civilian internees (excluding Roman Catholic Mission personnel) were held in this compound. From July 1942 until 14 November 1944 the camp master was C. D. Le Gros Clark (brother of Wilfrid Le Gros Clark), the former Chief Secretary, Sarawak Government; Lt.-Col. W. C. C. Adams (of the North Borneo Constabulary), who had been assistant camp master, then served in the role until liberation. Accounts mention a British civilian internee named Don Tuxford whose eight year old son was in the compound with him, while Tuxford's wife and daughter Julia were in the women's compound; other sources state that Dutch boys over the age of ten were sent to the men's compound rather than being placed with the women, as the Japanese considered them men at that age. The total number of male children held in the men's camp is uncertain.

Female civilian internees (including nuns) and children

This compound was located at the western part of the camp, slightly removed from the other compounds. The internees were mostly Dutch and British, with a few Eurasian and Chinese women, and four American women, including Agnes Newton Keith. Their quarters were described by an internee as "new and fair" and "they had a reason area for cultivation." The camp mistress was initially Mother Bernardine, an English Roman Catholic nun, but when she became ill Mrs. Dorie Adams, wife of the master of the men’s camp, took over the role. The women were housed in five very small barracks and each person was allotted a space of 6 feet by 4 feet (1.8m by 1.2m) in which to live and store his or her possessions. A chapel was constructed at one end of one of the huts.

In March 1944, the women’s compound comprised 280 people: 160 nuns, 85 secular women and 34 children. By September 1944 the population had declined to 271; at liberation there were 237 women and children in the compound. Of the nuns, the large majority were Dutch Roman Catholic sisters, with a few English sisters. Initially there were 29 children in the compound, but by April 1943 there were 34. The oldest of these was seven when she entered the camp. None of the children died in the camp; the women often went without provisions to ensure the children's survival. A Roman Catholic priest from the nearby priests' compound came to the women's compound daily at 7am to say mass, and the children were taught by the nuns.