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Sandakan Prisoner of War MemorialPrint Page 
The monument commemorates the 130 West Australian Prisoners of War who died while held at Sandakan in World War Two.
The Sandakan-Ranau death marches were one of the worst atrocities to affect Australian servicemen. In 1942, more than 2,700 Prisoners-of-War were moved from Singapore to Sandakan to construct and maintain an airfield for the Japanese. During the latter part of 1943, almost all the officers in the camp were moved to Kuching.
As the tide of war turned, fearing an Allied invasion, the Japanese marched the Sandakan prisoners-of-war to Ranau, 250 kilometres to the west. By September 1945 all but six of them were dead and they survived only because they had escaped. As well, the Japanese destroyed the camp at Sandakan in an effort to hide evidence of their brutality.
Location
| Address: | Abel Street, Sandakan Park, Boyup Brook, 6244 |
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| State: | WA |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -33.831394 Long: 116.385331 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Monument |
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| Monument Theme: | Conflict |
| Sub-Theme: | WW2 |
| Actual Event Start Date: | 03-September-1939 |
| Actual Event End Date: | 15-August-1945 |
| Link: | http://www.rslvirtualwarmemorial.or… |
Dedication
| Approx. Monument Dedication Date: | 1991 |
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Sandakan - Ranau
North Borneo
1942 - 1945
This memorial commemorates the 2000 Australians who died as Prisoners of the Japanese at Sandakan Camp, and on the death march to Ranau in North Borneo during 1944 to 1945. Of the 2500 Australian and British P.O.W in Sandakan only 6 survived.
Recorded are the names of the 130 West Australian P.O.Ws who died in Borneo. Its centrepiece is the original Memorial erected by Mr E. McLaughlin in Boyup Brook in 1991.
