1201 Basin Rd, Murchison, is part of the former 13th Australian Prisoner of War Camp from World War II.
A slice of Australia’s wartime history with a jaw-dropping past, including a link to a massive Nazi escape attempt, is for sale in regional Victoria.
A 40.87ha section of the former 13th Australian Prisoner of War Camp in Murchison has hit the market with a $650,000-$680,000 range.
Although the property is now used for sheep-grazing, it served as part of the nation’s largest POW camp in World War II.
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Known as Camp 13, it was established in 1941 and held about 4000 Italian, German and Japanese prisoners.
The original camp stretched 2.5sq km across northern Victoria.
Janelle Puppa Real Estate’s Natalie Kay said she was blown away upon first seeing the 1201 Basin Rd site which features a small brick hut from where the 23rd Garrison Battalion would keep watch for prisoners trying to escape.
There’s also original machine gun housing and a memorial built by prisoners who were rescued after the battle between the German raider Kormoran and HMAS Sydney.
All 645 Australian crew members and 82 Germans were killed in the combat off Western Australia in 1941.
The former hut where the 23rd Garrison Battalion, mostly made up WWI veterans, kept watch for prison escapees. Picture: Natalie Kay/Janelle Puppa Real Estate.
The prisoners were initially housed in tents and later built huts themselves.
The land is now home to three shipping containers.
A group of German prisoners of war photographed at the camp in 1945. Picture: Australian War Memorial.
According to the Victorian Heritage Database, there were numerous escape attempts from Camp 13 which included compounds surrounded by two rows of barbed wire, with coiled barbed wire in between, and elevated guard towers manned by armed soldiers.
In 1942, an “attempted massive Nazi outbreak” involved nearly 2000 POWs who intended to infiltrate and sabotage Australia’s war efforts.
A Heritage Council Victoria report stated the escape was foiled after the discovery of a 4.5m-long shaft concealed below a storage hut, with a ladder descending into a 219m-long tunnel dug by the prisoners.
In 1945, 19 German prisoners fled from the camp after tunnelling under the barbed wire but were soon recaptured.
Stumps of former WWII-era buildings remain at the property. Picture: Natalie Kay/Janelle Puppa Real Estate.
German prisoners of war in a mess hut at Camp 13.
The POWs built several structures, some of which were later torn down or relocated elsewhere while others remain standing. Picture: Natalie Kay/Janelle Puppa Real Estate.
Camp 13 was wound up in the years following WWII with the land later subdivided and returned to farming.
Ms Kay said there were currently three shipping containers on the property, which would remain there with the sale, along with several dams and sheep yards.
She noted that some buyers were keen to build a home on the site but doing so would require permission from the local council.
“There has been a fair bit of interest to live there and build there but that’s something I would encourage buyers to speak to the council about,” she said.
In 1943, a group of POWs interned at Camp 13 return to their quarters after a days’ work. Picture: Australian War Memorial.
A memorial built by German prisoners following the battle between the German raider Kormoran and HMAS Sydney. Picture: Natalie Kay/Janelle Puppa Real Estate.
An entrance to Camp 13, where prisoners of war captured in WWII’s western desert campaigns, were interned. Picture: Australian War Memorial.
Other potential purchasers want to run livestock at the address while one buyer has been particularly interested in the ex-POW camp’s historical holdings.
Ms Kay added remnants of the past remained scattered across the site, such as building stumps and pieces of tin.
The Heritage Council Victoria report mentioned that the former Camp 13 has “high potential to contain archaeological remains, features, deposits and artefact scatters”.
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