Loveday Internment Camp

The Loveday Internment Camp near Barmera in South Australia’s Riverland was established in 1941 during WWII and at its peak housed 5,380 internees of German, Japanese, and Italian descent.

More than 1,500 Australian military personnel also lived there.

It has been reported by some sources that at times prisoners of war were also held at the camp.

A hobby hut built by Japanese internees. They weaved baskets and built their own musical instruments for theatre production at the camp.

Source: Berri Library

The camp consisted of a group headquarters camp, Camps 9, 10, and 14 all based at Loveday.

It also featured three wood camps at Woolenook upstream from Renmark, at Katarapko near Loxton, and at Moorook West.

Lieutenant Colonel Dean was the Group Commandant of the camp for the duration of the war.

Internees were supervised by the Colonel and his staff to undertake a comprehensive agricultural planting program.

This video was compiled by Riverland Historian and Loveday Internment Camp Committee Curator Rosemary Gower. It features original colour footage of the Loveday Internment Camp taken during WWII by the late George Bolton, a film maker from Adelaide.

A birdcage entrance into one of the compounds for Japanese internees at Camp 10.

Source: Berri Library

A birdcage entrance into one of the compounds for Japanese internees at Camp 10.

Source: Berri Library

Wheat, vegetables, fruit, and seeds were grown at the Loveday Internment Camp.

The internees also grew opium poppies to produce morphine and pyrethrum daisies for insect repellent, for the use of the army.

The camp also bred pigs and poultry.

Many ruins of the internment camp, which was the biggest in Australia remain.

A heritage listed portion of the site around the Loveday Hall (previously the General Headquarters and Camp 10) on Thiele Road is under care and control of Berri Barmera Council, but the rest is in private hands.

Uniquely a 20-cell prison at Camp 14 was converted into a house in December 1956 and continues to be used as a family home.

Due to the growing interest in war history and internment in Australia, the council is investigating the feasibility of developing the Loveday Internment Camp General Headquarters site as a visitor or interpretive site.

Opium poppies were grown at the Loveday Internment Camp to produce morphine for the Australian Army’s medicinal use.

Source: Berri Library

Opium poppies were grown at the Loveday Internment Camp to produce morphine for the Australian Army’s medicinal use.

Source: Berri Library

The Loveday Internment Camp display at Barmera Visitor Centre.

Source: Barmera Central

The Loveday General Headquarters and a former nurses’ headquarters.

Source: Berri Library

Due to the growing interest in war history and internment in Australia, the council is investigating the feasibility of developing the Loveday Internment Camp as a visitor or interpretive site.

It is envisaged the camp ruins if preserved and promoted has the potential to bring tourists, both national and international, to the Riverland.

Tourists and the local community can presently learn about the camp at a display at the Barmera Visitor Centre.

This permanent exhibition features information on the camp’s history and memorabilia.

Berri Barmera Council is hoping to expand this collection.

A map of the Loveday Internment Camp General Headquarters site (Group Headquarters) provided with a report compiled by the camp’s Commandant Edwin Theyer Dean in February 1946.

The Loveday Internment Camp’s General Headquarters site owned by Berri Barmera Council is at 503 Thiele Road.

The Loveday Internment Camp’s Group Commandant, Lieutenant Colonel Dean, (standing), at an armistice day ceremony in the Loveday Hall.

Source: Berri Library

Berri Barmera Mayor Ella Winnall (left) Riverland historian and tour leader Rosemary Gower and John Wulff of Sydney, the son of a WWII German Internee from Persia (Iran) who lived at Camp 10 visited the General Headquarters site in March 2023.

Source: Berri Barmera Library

This website is being developed as part of a council funded project to explore the heritage tourism potential of the Loveday Internment Camp site.

The aim is to eventually provide a virtual tour of the internment camp and highlight what is left of this significant historical site.

The council’s Loveday Internment Camp Project Facilitator Christine Webster is working closely with the Loveday Internment Camp Commitee to explore the potential of turning the camp ruins into a heritage tourist attraction.

The advisory committee consists of direct descendants of internees and army personnel who were based at the camp and historians, librarians, and local councillors.

Please regularly check this website to keep in touch with the Loveday Internment Camp project and learn more about the internment camp.

Information about the internment camp from the Riverland community and descendants of those who lived there is also being sought.

For more information contact the Loveday Internment Camp Project Facilitator, Christine Webster, at cwebster@bbc.sa.gov.au