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G. C. EMERSON
toilet and small shower. Most of these flats were occupied by six internees. A building which had housed single Indian warders before the war was turned into a hospital by the internees and called Tweed Bay Hospital. On a hill overlooking the prison grounds were two lovely homes, one for the Prison superintendent and one for the Prison Doctor; these were used as Japanese headquarters. Other buildings were used for housing, ration distribution centres, kitchens and other needs.
During the final hours before surrender on Christmas Day, very heavy fighting occurred on Stanley peninsula as the Allies were pushed back towards Stanley Fort. In buildings at St. Stephen's and within the prison grounds, hand-to-hand combat had taken place. Also, at St. Stephen's, Japanese troops had gone on a rampage of killing and raping at a hospital set up there for wounded soldiers. On the site today of that atrocity is the chapel of St. Stephen's College. I had been told by a former internee that a woman who had entered camp from the Peak had brought with her the altar cross from the Peak Church.* The first time I visited St. Stephen's chapel, in 1972, through curiosity I picked up the cross on the altar and discovered it to be the very cross brought into camp in 1942 and used throughout internment.
Two other areas of note in the camp were the cemetery and Tweed Bay Beach. During internment, the cemetery became a very popular place as it was an oasis of peace and quiet in the over-crowded camp. Many internees spent hours sitting there reading, chatting quietly with friends or just thinking. On a radio programme in 1961, one woman recalled:
When we wanted to get together, we'd always say, 'we'll meet you at the graveyard'. It sounded very funny but to us it was a wonderful spot. It was very peaceful there with the old trees and all the old graves. ... we could look out at the sea. We used to stare and stare and imagine we used to see ships coming in.
Also in the cemetery, some internees found a private spot for romantic liaisons, and here hundreds of internees gathered to watch the Americans and Canadians go out to the repatriation ships in June 1942 and September 1943.
Rural Building Lot No. 23. It was not rebuilt after the war.