MILLION DOLLAR TREASURE HUNT
January 26, 1998 at 04:52:58MILLION DOLLAR TRESURE HUNT BY ALAN HASSELL copyright 4/11/92
Most detectorists can only dream about the probability of one day taking part in a treasure hunt that could be worth a Million Dollars or maybe more. the possibilty of such an event happening to myself seemed highly unlikey except for a strange series of events that would lead me to a million dollar treasure. Before anyone can even start writing about any subject, one must research the subject and gain as much information as posible before pen can be put to paper. Writer's spend many days,weeks or even months researching a subject before the story is finally put together. Little did I realise that when I started researching Australia's P.O.W. camps it would end up in a million dollar treasure hunt. It all started with a visit to Cowra, a medium sizes country town situated in NEW SOUTH WALES. During the Second World War, the Australian defence forces built a Prison of War Camp not far from the town. Cowra was chosen owing to it's isolation and difficulties prisoners would face trying to escape captivity. It was at the Cowra P.O.W. camp that the biggest prison breakout in World History occurred. At 2 am Saturday 5th August 1944 1,100 Japanese Prisoners of War in B Compound made a dash for freedom, or for Death. To be taken prisoner was the gretest humiliation a Japanese soldier could endure, whilst death in battle was the greatest honour according to their warrior code. During the breakout, 231, Japanese died as the small outnumbered garrison opened fire with machine guns. Cutting them down as they tried desperately to breach the wire fences of the Compound. 107, were injured or wounded during their bid for freedom. They finally overpowered one opf the machine guns killing the guard, but but not before he was able to disable his weapon and throw parts of his gun into the darkness. Four Australian were stabbed or bludgeoned to death and another four wounded. Within nine days all escapees except 25 who had been shot attempting to escape had been rounded up and captured. A cloak of secrecy was then placed over the affair by the Army. The truth of the breakout became public knowledge only after a journalist found the records when browsing through de-classified documents 30 years later. Looking over the peaceful fields where the camp once stood, it is hard to imagine that the bloodiest massacre in Australia's history took place there. My interest in the camp at Cowra was not what had happened but the possibility of a search for Lost Internment Camp Coins or Tokens. I was returning to Melbourne after a visit to Bathurst and thought Cowra interesting enough to have a look. I didn't have a detector with me at the time because this was purely research. The old camp is still there, although all you will find are the concrete foundation slabs that were once the shower and toilet blocks. There are also many tokens lost by the inhabitants waiting to be unearthed. About a month later I happened to be in Hay, N.S.W. with some time on my hands I went to visit the local museum, which by coincidence happens to be the old Hay Gaol. It was here that I learnt about that another P.O.W. camp had been situated. In one of the old Cells artifacts including a large map of the compound were displayed. It didn't take me too long to find out that the most knowledgable person in the town was Mick Beckwith of the Crown Lands Office. I knew there had been several camps in Australia but had never heard of one in Hay before. On july 25th 1940 the 16th Garrison Battalion was formed in Sydney and given the task of guarding internee's due to arrive on the Dunera from England. At the outbreak of war, german and Italian nationals were rounded up and transported to Australia. Not as P.O.W.s but as internee's. Here they would spend the duration of the war. Japanese prisoners some from Cowra after the breakout and others born in Australia were also sent to Hay. The M/V Dunera arrived in Sydney on the 6th September with the first of the internee's. Unloading started at 11 a.m. and lasted until midnight. The prisoner's were loaded onto four trains which would take them to Hay. On arrival at Hay, the trains were unloaded one at a time and the internee's marched to the new camp under armed escort. Security was tight at the railway station and the whole area was sealed off from the public by the local police. The new camp consisted of three compounds, named 6,7, and 8 all of which were capable of housing 1000 internee's per compound. The camp was guarded by 1.100 members of 16th Garrison. Compound 6 held the Japanese, interned from the islands and around the Northern Territories. Compound 7 housed the Germans, whilst compund 8 consisted of italians, some of which gave themselves up in their thousands in the Western Desert rather than fighting. The Italians loved life and were happy to be away from the futility of war. the food and living conditions were good and they soon adapted to their new surroundings. Two dams were constructed on the camp using nothing more than picks, shovels and wheel barrows. These tools were used for everyday needs, as well as the production of vegetables such as soya beans, cotton, Sunflower's, tobacco, pea's, beans, and many other crops. In the ten months from july 1943 till April 1944 One million pounds weight of vegetables were grown on the camp. 41,000 gallons of milk, 19,000 dozen eggs, 3 tons of Cotton, 170 tons of Oat and hay, 341 bags of wheat and a piggery started. The camp was not only self sufficient, it supplied produce to some of the other camps. For their efforts the prisoners were paid One shilling and sixpence per day or about 10 shillings per 7 day week. Roughly 26 pounds per year. Money was quite plentiful beleive it or not. No P.O.W. camp would be complete without escape attempts and a very elaborate tunnel was constructed in compound 8. When it was eventually discovered, it was found to contain beds for the night shift. It was also completely electrified and wood had been removed from many huts to shore up the tunnel and make it safe. The most successful escape, was that of Colonel Edgardo Simone who after his escape trekked 80 kilometres to Balranald. He was recaptured in Melbourne 6 months later by a very observant policeman and gave up peacefully. During his period of freedom, he had been working as a salesman and even won an award for producing the best figures for one month. Owing to the isolation of the camp, many of the internee's worked outside the camp with little or no supervision. On numerous occassions the internee's would arrive back only to find the camp doors closed. They would hammer on the door until it was opened and allowed back inside. When the breakout at Cowra took place, some japanese who had burnt their huts were transfered to Compound 7 with the Germans. At one stage a similar breakout was feared. West Hay was issued with an order to evacuate the area and the towns folk spent the night in the Town Hall, returning to their homes only when it was considered safe. A murder took place in Compound 8, a man named Sinatra, no relation to Frank was stabbed with a knife several times. The knife was never found despite 3 thorough searches of the camp. Whilst metal detecting in Compound 8, the knife was finally unearthed by myself. In reality it was an old file that had been shaped into a knife but still capable of killing someone. Having no value to myself it was handed to Mick Beckwith for display in the museum. Where it remains to this day. Now your probably wondering after reading all this stuff, Where Does the Million Dollar Treasure Come into all this history. Well, I was lucky enough to bump into the friendly old guy who manages the showgrounds at Hay. The Showgrounds and race track are where the the old internment camps used to be. Harry Cox had been sent there by the Army after he returned from New Guinea during the closing down stages of the camp. During the many discussions I had with Harry, I asked a very important question? "What did they do with all the internment camp money after the war Harry"? Looking at me straight in the eye but puzzled by my question he replied". "They (referring to the internee's) changed whatever money they had to Australian Currency. They were not allowed Australian currency in the Compounds in case of escape. The coins would hoefully result in an early recapture." I then asked Harry what happened to the coins or tokens? to which he repied, "Oh, the paper money was burnt, I burnt it myself in an old 44 gallon drum. What actually happened was the Commonwealth Bank set up an office here and as the internee's handed over their tokens, they were given the equivilent in Australian Currency. The token's were then put into several 4 gallon Kerosene cans which I buried with a lot of old camp tools in a pit over there. I asked Harry to take me to the spot where he had buried the kerosene cans. We stood on a spot that showed slight subsidence in the ground. "This used to be one of the two water tanks, it was 30 foot long, 12 foot wide and eight to ten feet deep from memory" he said. "We recently had to fill again owing to subsidence, this time we used 25 to 26 cubic yards." There I was dumbfounded, speechless standing on or rather above a Million Dollar treasure hoard, just a little over 10 feet below me. If you have access to Renicks Coin and Banknote guide, on the last pafe you will find the values of those internment camp coins. Then Penny is worth $60 each, the five shillings are worth $250.00. Simple calculations on this one to make it easy. 3000 internee's, if each one only had 6 coins, thats 18,000 coins. A quick calculation 18,000 times $60 = One million and eighty thousand dollars. Wait on a moment, how about the other denominations there were four coins in the series a complete set is worth about a $1000. They earnt 18 pence a day those millions will just have to keep on appreciating. For despite all my efforts and the efforts of many other individuals seeking to dig up the treasure no one's allowed too. You see, I told you it was now a racecourse, well million dollar thoroughbreds now train and run over the same pit where the coins were dumped many years ago. Who knows what the future might bring, one day I might return to Hay when I figure out a way to dig a tunnel to recover the treasure without the authorities knowing whats going on underneath the finish line. It's enough to make you sick. Incidentally the treasure is Still intact, several guys ended up in jail trying to dig it up. People do live on the site and very suspicious about strangers. if you enjoyed reading this let the author know Hassell1@hotmail.com
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