While the themes of Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms cover racial segregation, the White Australia Policy, and wartime hardships it is a story ultimately of friendship, love, hope, and the redemptive power of compassion, this novel cleverly achieves the twin feats of highlighting Australia’s recent history of racial segregation, and emphasising social and political themes of particular relevance in contemporary Australia, such as immigration and displacement.
Source: The Cowra breakout: remembering and reflecting on Australia’s biggest prison escape 75 years on [https://theconversation.com/the-cowra-breakout-remembering-and-reflecting-on-australias-biggest-prison-escape-75-years-on-120410]
Erambie Mission 1937
‘We are treated like prisoners too, at Erambie. We shouldn’t be on rations. We should all be paid the same for the same work and have enough money to buy food for our families – not just flour, tea and sugar rations and whatever we can hunt or manage to grow. It’s not fair for anyone. The prisoners of war are just like us’. Banjo Williams