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of three storeys with red-tiled roofs occupy a lovely bluff overlooking the sea. They will take
200 troops to each floor with ease, using also the spacious balconies.
'14 January 1943. Troops now organised and domestic routine is satisfactory. Parades,
however, are a great worry to me, as the troops fidget continuously and move about with a
constant buzz of conversation. The weather is simply lovely and the nights cool enough to
require a raincoat in addition to my canvas. This is a delightful spot with the sparkling sea of the
Straits stretching across to the green jungle of the mainland and the perfume of frangipani and
hibiscus, both of which abound here. The one thing missing is enough food: all the time one feels
ravenously hungry... There are quite a few admissions to hospital.'
On 20 January, Lt Col Dunlop was among three groups of 850 prisoners sent north to Thailand
by train, travelling in freight or box cars.
He wrote: 'Filthy dirty and smelly humanity massed approximately 30 to a box about 3m x 6.4m
with all equipment. No room for everyone to lie down, so
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we must try to sleep in a squatting position with a horrible aching in the bent knees. As people
get uncontrollably sleepy, their legs and arms tumble onto other forms... Morning - an almost
incredible effort of the spine required to get up... and everyone is black with soot and looking
like chimney sweeps... The weather is hot and fine... Last night was rather hellish, what with
fidgeting, movements, cramped positions, legs and arms exploring your body in a horrid way...
It was cold for the first time, with resultant shivering... In spite of the shortage of water, I and
some of the officers shave almost every day... After five days of appalling travel and
sleeplessness I was shocked to see my face in a shaving mirror - just a pair of haggard eyes
looking out of caked dust and sweat.1
They travelled via Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh to Padang Besar, a border town, then on to
Bampong, where they left the train, proceeding on foot and by truck to Tarsau and then on to
Konyu, where Dunlop's group were ordered to build a new camp half a mile from an English
POW camp. They arrived at Konyu on 25 January 1943.
Lance-bombardier Bill Clemence made the same journey, possibly at the same time, though
probably not in the same group as Dunlop. He left the train at Bampong.
'The rumour came through that there was a party going north, which we guessed was to
Thailand. Or Siam, at it was then. The Japs said there was a big rest camp up there, with sports
and better food, and so on. We didn't believe it. Nobody particularly wanted to go. I really
dreaded going on that one. I had never worried before that, but I just didn't want to go. I had a
feeling something was going to go wrong.
'It started on the train. Basically, the whole train was full of Australians. They put us into these
railway trucks with sliding doors. We started off from Singapore with the doors closed. But they
had to open them, as none of us would have arrived alive - it was so stinking hot. And there
were so many of us in each truck, about 28 men in each - which meant that you could only have
a few lying down, while the others were sitting or standing up. We used to take it in turns to lie
down, sit down and stand up. We relieved ourselves when the train was moving by urinating out
of the open doors. When the train stopped we were allowed out. And if it was a station where
they filled the engine with water, we were allowed to stand under the hose and have a bit of a
shower. I never felt so dreadful in all my life! At the time I had a bad throat -1 had pellagra -
and it was very sore. When we arrived at Kuala Lumpur they served an Indian curry. My gosh!
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