Media Release

KAP Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter has unveiled a collection of extraordinary and valuable World War 2 ink paintings donated to the RSL at Ingham earlier this week.

The paintings, donated to the RSL by the Holman family depict humorous illustrations of life in the 1940’s in the shape of incredibly detailed cartoons.

Mr Katter described the hand-over as a very relevant and significant moment for the community of Ingham and Hinchinbrook.

“On a personal basis I want to sincerely thank the Holman family for their great generosity in donating such a fabulous piece of Australian history to the RSL and wider Hinchinbrook community.

“The importance of this moment is very relevant to this area. A number of residents of this community, including myself, served in the 49th Battalion a group of a thousand servicemen from both North and West Queensland. This moment is very significant.

“Our future children will be able enjoy this truly unique and remarkable piece of historic art and reflect on the memory of such a terrible period of our past.”

The ink paintings were created by a prisoner of war (PoW) under the nom-de-plume “AKKI”. The artist was imprisoned in the Japanese ‘Nakon Paton’ PoW camp on the Burma-Siam railway and he used cheap paper and home-made colours to construct the images.

The paintings adorned the walls of the PoW camp canteen to provide cheer to the heavily sick prisoners and they were collected and retained by the QX 1819 Gunner J.H Holman 2/10 FD Regiment upon camp liberation in 1945.

As of Monday January 14, 2013 the paintings hang in the Ingham RSL for all to view.