FIFTH COLUMNISTS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 223, 9 October 1940, Page 7

FIFTH COLUMNISTS

ARRIVAL AT SYDNEY INTERNMENT IN AUSTRALIA The second batch of German internees to reach Australian from Britain arrived in Sydney this wec!< and •'were taken to an inland intern- 1 ment camp for the duration of the war. They included young and old women considered too da'ngerous to be left in Britain, and their children had to be brought as well. The prisoners were fifth column civilians, and were transported by arangement between Britain and Australia, for the latter to keep these dangerous aliens in custody until the end of the war. Most of them were well dressed. Young men in spotless white suits strode down the gangway, some wearing tropical helmets. One was clad in blue shorts, with long white socks, but had no hat to cover his shock of fair hair. Young children, ignorant of the reason for their journey, walked beside their parents. There were young and fashionablydressed women, with the latest coiffures. Two or three of the women were old enough to be grand-mothers Some of the elderly German men were hard-faced, heavy-jowled, and | scowling, but they were the minority. Most of them left the boat/ in a picnic spirit, which even the presence of the Australian guards at strategic points failed to dispel. The internees were taken by ferry from their boat in midstream to a railway Avharf. They took a keen interest in their passage across the harbour, and in the police and naval launches that escorted the ferry boat to prevent attempt to escape. The guards helped mothers to push perambulators to the platforms of the train carriages. Nearly every child and parent carried toys, some of them expensive. Throughout the transfer from boat to train, the Germans were treated with courtesy and consideration by the guards and other officials.