Changi prisoner of war camp identity discs

These identity tags belonged to Corporal Reginald Robinson who became a prisoner of war in 1942 following the Japanese attack on Dutch Timor.

Robinson was a member of the 2/40th Australian Infantry Battalion which had been assigned the role of defending the airfield at Penfui. Under-resourced and facing overwhelming Japanese force the majority of the battalion surrendered or were captured in early 1942.

Within a year the majority of Australians had been transferred to Changi prisoner camp or put to work in a Japanese labour camp. Despite the hardship faced by Australian prisoners Robinson, who, at 49 years of age and a veteran of the First World War, survived his captivity and was repatriated back to Australia at war's end.