It was 1.45 am when a bugle sounded, loudly breaking through the still, cold August darkness. it was immediately followed by 900 united Japanese voices shrieking "Banzai"!

This was the beginning of the infamous Cowra Breakout. It remains the largest Prisoner of War breakout in modern military history. 

Startled out of deep sleep and startled by the unprecedented turn of events, the guards, rushed to their posts. Privates Ben Hardy and Ralph Jones rushed off in their PJ's to the Vickers machine-gun. The lights in the camp had been cut, but prisoners had set fire to the prison huts and Hardy and Jones fired at the men backlit by the flames. It was pure mayhem. Within a short while they were overpowered, clubbed and stabbed. Just before dying they disabled the gun saving untold lives with their bravery.
  
Most of the Japanese POW's, armed with clubs studded with nails and hooks, wire garrotting cords and baseball bats ran to the perimeter fences and threw blankets over them to protect against the barbed wire as they fled under full fire of the guards. 

 During the next nine days, all escapees were rounded up. Many of the prisoners committed suicide in the surrounding hills rather than submit to recapture. Others hanged themselves in the camp. A total of 231 Japanese died and 4 Australian soldiers.

Prime Minister John Curtin was later to describe the actions of the Japanese POW's as a "Suicidal disregard of life". The pyjama clad privates Hardy and Jones were posthumously awarded the George Cross.

Such is the military history of Cowra. We enjoyed visiting the site and learning the story at both the site and the Visitor Centre. The breakout was so unexpected as all the POW's from other countries loved the camp and, the Italians in particular, had great relationships with the guards and the locals. They were given considerable freedom and we heard a story about one Italian prisoner swimming the river to spend time with his local sweetheart. He always swam back again and sneaked back in just in time for roll call.

While in Cowra we visited another museum with a private collection of, well, just about everything! Day to day items of the 19th & 20th centuries, transport, war, farming it was all on display.

While still in the mood for war history, and in the general vicinity (well 190 kilometres vicinity) we decided to have another visit to the Canberra War Memorial which houses the most informative and emotive displays and stories of Australia's theatres of war. New sections have been added since our last visit 10 years ago and as always there is never enough time to take it all in.

Now for a completely different slant on history, we headed off towards Balranald and the Mungo National Park to learn about Australia's ancient history in a UNESCO World Heritage Region. 

On the way we camped just out of Balranald for a night in the of Yanga National Park then next morning visited the attractive and historic homestead precinct. Yanga was one of the Riverina’s most productive pastoral stations and sits right on the beautiful Yanga Lake. A stop in Balranald for food then we were on our way, taking the Burke and Wills track to Mungo National Park. 

The Willandra Lakes Region and Mungo National Park is a barren, unearthly landscape that holds the key to Australia's past. Scientists have discovered aboriginal artifacts dating back at least 50,000 years.They have also discovered the oldest human remains in Australia, known as Mungo Man and Mungo Woman. 

What has further excited the scientists is that the region also provides the oldest evidence in the world of a human being ritually cremated. Mungo Man is the oldest skeleton buried using red ochre, a material which could only have reached the shores of Lake Mungo by trade from another region. This is the earliest known example of such a sophisticated and artistic burial practice.
  
We arrived, mid morning in 43 degree heat. We saw no other cars on the way, but were surprised to find a very modern visitor and interpretive centre and another (mad) tourist's car out the front. 

"Got an aircon in that?" the aboriginal tourism officer asked laconically as she leaned on the verandah of the visitor centre and eyed off our camper.

"No" we laughed and Avan went on to say "We're used to the heat". An American couple, obviously the people from the only other car, were on the verandah too, fanning themselves with brochures and we said our "hellos" all round.

" Our tent's staying in the trunk" said the woman in a Southern drawl. " it's too darn hot to camp. We've just got the key for the shearers quarters accommodation and we're getting in the cool and staying there" .

The tourism officer joined in " No you won't be wanting to camp. You won't be wanting to see anything today. Too much wind, too many flies, too hot!"

"but we are here now, and we are used to the heat. Can we come in and register for camping?" I said.

With an exaggerated know-it-all smile, she turned and opened the door into the- air-conditioned visitor centre and waved us to follow in after her. We said goodbye to the Americans and shut the door behind us to keep the cool in. I am not sure if it was because she was back in the air-conditioning or she had resigned herself that we were indeed used to the heat, but she seemed much friendlier now. We filled out our camping permit and she explained that the main attraction of the site was a 70 kilometre circular driving track of points of interest and she gave us a map of the site. We then spent some time in the interpretative area before braving the heat again.  
    
Whilst our camper was not air-conditioned, our car cab was, so the obvious first choice to do was the circular track and the various viewing spots. At every spot we stopped to view a marker or for a lookout, we got swarmed by flies, the wind howled, whipping up sand, and, yes it was VERY hot - just as predicted! We ate a picnic lunch in the car away from the insidious and all pervasive flies.

Back after our slow loop around the circuit, we set up camp at the unimaginatively named "Main Camp" and had it all to ourselves. Well not quite. Drought conditions were prevailing in this area and we had many skinny Kangaroos and Emus begging for food and water. It didn't really cool down much at all - but like we said to the Visitor Centre Officer - we are used to that! 

After a brief respite at dusk, the wind picked up in the night to a howling gale and shook the camper for the greater part of the night. At day break we were happy to say "been there done that" pack up and move on to Mildura, our next stop, before our visitor centre officer could say "told you so!". 

 Footnote: Willandra Lakes Region is UNESCO World Heritage Listed.