I had previously been to Cowra a few times for work with NSW Water Resources and had remembered it as a pretty town, but had forgotten much of its incredible history based around the 2WW Prisoner of War Camp. Cowra has the only Japanese War Cemetery outside of Japan, as well as the only Peace Bell in the world outside of a capital city. It is truely a great place to visit, with so much to do. Shame it was Easter with much of the town closed.

We were at Cowra on 01 April and departed on 06 April 2021.

Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia

Getting There

We spent a night at Katoomba to see our lovely grand daughter Olive, Kerry’s son Stewart and Olive’s mum Lucy. We stopped at a couple of towns on the way.

Katoomba > Blayney (144km) > Carcoar (16km) > Cowra (61km)  ~  221kms

History

The original occupants of the area are the Wiradjuri people, one of the largest communities in NSW. Their history after European settlement can be read here.

The first European explorer to the Cowra area, George William Evans, entered the Lachlan Valley in 1815, following an aboriginal track over the Blue Mountains, now the Great Western Highway. In 1817 he deemed the area “rather unfit for settlement“.

A history of European settlement can be read here

Today, Cowra has a population of 10,063 and is become the commercial and administrative centre of a shire where livestock, wool scouring, vegetable growing and processing, vineyards and tourism are the main drivers of a thriving local economy. Its history is rightly celebrated.

Day 1 – 1 April – drive to Cowra

Very cold night at Katoomba, but a fine warm day.

A fairly routine drive over the Blue Mountains to Lithgow and then Bathurst. At Blackheath, we could see the trees starting to change colour – they will look incredible in a few weeks. 

The drive from Bathurst is through some really pretty country, easy drive, not much traffic. 

We stopped at Blayney, one of the coldest places in NSW in winter. We walked around the town and saw some lovely old homes and buildings.  And some delightful gardens.  Im guessing with the cold winters, roses thrive here.

We turned off the highway to visit Carcoar – a short diversion. This is a lovely historic village and you can read all about it here. Some gorgeous  building and the church at the top of the hill. Not much flow in the Belubula River – that’s what happens when you stick a dam upstream. And we found a good little museum across the bridge.

I got chatting to an elderly lady who was organising a garage sale for the local Community Centre…  She holds one every year… She appeared to be delighted by my interest in the town – which she clearly loves.  She had some magnificent dahlias, so tall I thought they were tree dahlias, but she just fertilises them a lot she said.

Approaching Cowra we saw a mass of smoke in the distance, and we realised that the road would take us right up to it. Fortunately is was a controlled burn on a single property. Looks like they are burning the stubble of the wheat to get the fields ready for planting again.

We are immediately struck by the town of Cowra – it seemed very busy with lots happening, and some lovely buildings. The location is great being on the side of a hill (Bellevue Hill), with the Lachlan River slowly flowing through it on the way to the Murrumbidgee.

We stayed at the Cowra Van Park at $38 a night over the Easter period. We got in early and were placed on a good big concrete/grass site on a corner. We could use the corner to straighten up the van and backed straight in. It is a small park and we watched it fill pretty quickly through the day – it was quite packed. The facilities were all very good and we would happily stay there again. The wi-fi was great to start with but then, as the crowds arrived, it got wobbley. The couple running this park are lovely – warm, friendly and very helpful.

The park is located at the end of the main road through the town (Kendal St) just before the bridge over the river. Very convenient for everything. After setting up the van, we drove across the bridge to the tourist information office and got all the directions and maps we needed for the next 4 days. At the Centre there is a scale model of the POW Camp and the POW theatre which is a nine minute hologram presentation telling the story of the breakout from the perspective of a local. 

Day 2 – 2 April (Easter Friday) – Japanese Gardens and PWCamp

Cool night but a beautiful warm day.

I started with my morning walk, but only a short one today. I walked around town and then up Bellevue Hill. I saw some really lovely homes and so many that had a quaintly historic look to them. The catholic church and attached school are massive. I took Kerry up there later when we went to the nearby Japanese Gardens. 

I have to say, some of the houses here are absolutely magnificent…. worth leaving the Northern Beaches for?  Maybe to such a lovely town, but maybe not for us with so many of our family in and around Sydney.  And so many very beautiful gardens.

 

There are great views from Bellevue Hill showing just how big Cowra is.

There is also a great adventure park close to the top – our grandchildren would love a few hours enjoying the slides and my favourite – the water flow exhibit. you could pump out water at the top and used a system of movable barriers to change the flow direction. Brilliant. And a clear example of what dams do to rivers and the natural environment.  The slippery dip was tempting, but white shorts and mud down at the bottom changed my mind.

There was also analemmatic clock to allow you to tell the time from your shadow. You stand on the month with your back to the sun and raise your arms which then point to the time. It worked – never seen anything like that before. 

The Japanese Gardens are just brilliant – one of the best and biggest we have seen. Entry was $13 with Seniors concession. We did see that there were golf carts for people to use – presumably by bookings only.

Just inside was a Japanese Bonsho Bell – a beautiful sound – and to one side a Bath House. We learnt that these baths are purely for soaking and relaxing – people shower before they get in.

There was also a traditional Edo Cottage, an authentic open air Tea House and a Bonsai House. We really enjoyed these vast gardens and these pictures do not do it justice. It is a beautiful place and great to see a careful mix of Japanese and native trees and plants spread over 5Ha. And the colours – the Ashes were just starting to change… both the Claret and Golden were magnificent.  It would be a real treat when the flowering Prunus were in full bloom.

To see our video for the Japanese Gardens click here

In the afternoon we went to see the War Cemeteries – always a bit sobering. This contains graves of the 234 Japanese involved in the POW Breakout, as well as other internees and those involved with the battle of Darwin.  This is the only Japanese War Cemetery outside of Japan. There is one section with so many plaques with the date 5 – 8 – 1944, the night of the breakout.

The Australian section commemorates those who died in training at the local military camp, as well as the four Soldiers who were killed during the breakout.  Sadly, one of these soldiers, was judged not to have been participating in physical combat, (because he wasn’t in the “real” Army – so his wife received NO HELP from the government, and was forced to give up her 3 children to foster care…. very sad and very sobering.

Next up was the Prisoner of War Camp and the Garrison. The story of the Camp and the breakout can be read here. It must have been an incredibly difficult task to make the Camp work effectively. There were the Japanese for whom being captured was utterly a personal and family humiliation, so they had no interest in contributing to the Camp management. There was also the Italians, who were friendly and effective workers (other than the Fascists who were separated) and who could eventually be posted out to farms to assist in food production. Then there were the Indonesian families that were not POW’s, but political detainees, and were later released. What a complex mix of issues!!  

We viewed the Camp area the wrong way around. We should have started at point 11 on the Cowra map – POW Campsite, where you get a really good overview of the remains of the Camp  – not much, most was sold by auction after the war. We started at point 12 – Garrison Gates – and walked down to the remnants (being restored) of the Electrical Switch Hut, and on to the concrete foundations for the Detention Cells.

 

The Camp was divided into 4 sectors: A & C were the Italians, B was for Japanese and D was for Japanese Officers and the Indonesias, and others (Koreans, Formosans and Italian Fascists). It is hard to imagine how it all was – shame there is something not laid out on the ground with explanations.

 

Finally, for the day, we went to see the Australia’s World Peace Bell, made from melted down coins donated by the 106 member countries of the UN. We gave it a good strike. Nearby is the Court House.

Day 3 – 3 April – Railway Museum

Cool night but a beautiful day.

We had a relaxing day – a morning walk for me, then later a tour of the Railway Museum. But first we went under the road bridge to see the Aboriginal art works on the pylons and to see the flood height markers. The old single lane timber bridge is still in use.  The flood heights are amazing – hard to imagine raging flood-water water that high.

Later we went to the Railway Museume. The Lachlan Valley Railway (LVR) is a non-profit, railway preservation society, formed in 1974 initially to preserve locomotive 5917 and four carriages. It soon acquired other locomotives and linked up with the Lachlan Vintage Village, Forbes. It then operated rail tours, including an interstate tour from Parkes to Peterborough in South Australia.

The main engines are stored in the historic Roundhouse. “Rosie” is currently their restoration priority. However, their key workers are currently in Sydney working on another project. 

 

Day 4 – 4 April (Easter Sunday) – Conimbla NP

Cool night but a beautiful day.

Yambira mountain and its surrounding forested ranges rise nearly 500m above the plain, forming a ‘bush island’ amid the central west farmlands, home to  Conimbla National Park. There is a large diversity of orchids in the park, but these are only out in spring.

The Park is easy to get to from Cowra. Travel 9km west along the Mid-Western Highway towards Grenfell, then turn right onto Barryrennie Road, following the signs to the Park. Continue for 17km, mostly on bitumen but some good gravel roads as well.

The NPWS advice is to go to Wallaby picnic area first but we turned off at The Ironbarks – the first place you get to. From there we could start either of the walks. It is also the start of the Cherry Creek Fire Trail.

We first did the Wallaby walking track, an easy walk of 1.5km that runs between Ironbark picnic area and Wallaby picnic area. There is nothing spectacular on this walk  – its just a very enjoyable walk through the Ironbarks and gums. The track is marked by tree markers and is only roughly formed. There were people camping at the Wallaby picnic area  – it is adjacent to the gravel road. We took that road to get back to the Ironbarks, making it a loop walk. A lot of the bush had been burnt which was sad, but so much was coming back.

Kerry’s bad foot was playing up so I did the Ironbark walking track on my own. This is a pleasant 4km loop walk through dry eucalypt forests, ironbark, black cypress pine, scribbly gum, red stringybark and heathlands. It is better formed than the Wallaby Track and more interesting as it has views to a gorge.  I got chatting to a family at the car park – The Grandad had lived in the area for years and said he knew most of the countryside – being an avid bushwalker. Really interesting talking to them all.

It winds its way along a ridge and up onto a broad flat plateau, which overlooks Cherry Creek. Here, you get good views looking out east to Cowra and the mountains and farmlands beyond. Beyond that there is a sign to a viewing point which is a short diversion to get to the gorge. 

This has quite a sheer drop so it is difficult to get a good pic. 

Back to the track, it loops around to the Cherry Ck fire trail, which takes you back to the start. 

Day 5 – 5 April (Easter Monday) – do nothing day

Guess what – it was a cool night but a beautiful day. The weather has been perfect.

My morning walk took me back to the POW camp. I found that there is a series of walking trails starting from the Japanese Garden all the way to the Camp. So I explored all of that starting from the van park. At the Camp I spent more time studying the panels to get a better appreciation of how it was, and walked around the perimeter. 

Later we just walked around town a bit – shame everything is closed.

We were going to the Imperial Hotel for dinner but it was shut. So we went to the Bolo to find a massive queue to order food. The meal was pretty bad.

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To see photos for this blog, click here

To see our video for the Japanese Gardens, click here

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