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Number One Internment Camp
1320 STEWART ROAD and 1275 CRAWFORD ROAD DHURRINGILE, GREATER SHEPPARTON CITY

All information on this page is maintained by Vic. War Heritage Inventory. Click below for their website and contact details.
Vic. War Heritage Inventory
h02048 1 camp 1 dhurringile cafe wellbleeh oct1999
h02048 1 camp 1 dhurringile cafe wellbleeh oct1999
h02048 1 camp 1 dhurringile cafe wellbleeh oct1999
h02048 camp 1 dhurringile rebound wall oct1999
h02048 camp 1 dhurringile skittle alley 1 oct1999
h02048 camp 1 dhurringile skittle alley 2 oct1999
h02048 camp 1 dhurringile ruin oct1999
h02048 camp 1 dhurringile site photo
h02048 camp 1 dhurringile tower
h02048 camp 1 dhurringile site plan
Camp Dhurringile Site Plan
h02048 revised diagram 2048
On this page:

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
Number One Internment Camp is located on the eastern side of Waranga Reservoir, 20 kms south of Tatura. It was Australia's first purpose built internment camp for housing enemy aliens and/or prisoners of war. Camp 1 was established in 1940 and was closed in 1947. The camp housed male civilian internees, first of German origin and later of Italian origin who had been resident in Australia. The camp is a superb archaeological site with most of its features such as huts, ablution blocks, kitchens, tennis courts, gardens, ponds, skittle alley, cafe, hall, sewerage works and security fencing easily recognised.

How is it significant?
Number One Internment Camp is of historic, cultural, social and archaeological significance to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant?
Number One Internment Camp is historically significant for its association with the Australian internment policy of the first half of the twentieth century. Camp 1 was the first of eighteen purpose-built camps, a number of which were constructed in the Goulburn Valley. Crucial to the significance of the camp is its capacity to demonstrate to all visitors a direct impact of World War II on Australia. Although many of the internees were Australian residents, they were thought to be a potential security risk to the nation because of the country of their birth or their affiliations. The ruins and the landscape illustrate clearly the physical environment faced by internees and the organisational arrangements of World War II internment camp.

Number One Internment Camp is historically significant due to the impact it had on persons of German origin in Victoria. Germans represented one of the major national groups in the early waves of immigration to Australia. Although numerically fewer than British or Irish settlers, they nevertheless had a substantial impact in forming the Australian society. Internment demonstrated to them that they were not considered a part of Australian society, which was at that time dominated by British values and politics.

Number One Internment Camp is archaeologically significant because it contains an abundance of archaeological evidence on the layout and operation of the camp and life within the camp. Local historians have recorded the memories of former German and Italian Internees who have returned to "revisit" a period of their live which had a profound effect on them. The compactness of the camp, and the quality and depth of surviving sources of information (archaeological, historical and oral history) bestows the ruins with tremendous social significance as touchstones to the experience of wartime internment.

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    • Veterans Description for Public

      Number One Internment Camp - Veterans Description for Public

      Number One Internment Camp is located on the eastern side of Waranga Reservoir, 20 kms south of Tatura. It was Australia's first purpose built internment camp for housing enemy aliens and/or prisoners of war. Camp 1 was established in 1940 and was closed in 1947. The camp housed male civilian internees, first of German origin and later of Italian origin who had been resident in Australia. The camp is a superb archaeological site with most of its features such as huts, ablution blocks, kitchens, tennis courts, gardens, ponds, skittle alley, cafe, hall, sewerage works and security fencing easily recognised.

      The camp is significant for its association with the Australian internment policy during the Second World War. The camp was part of a wider network of internment camps, which included camps in Victoria (eg. camp 2 at Dhurringile, camp 3 and 4 at Rushworth) as well as in other Australian states (eg. Hay in New South Wales). The overall number of internment and prisoner of war camps constructed in Australia during the Second World War indicates the political and cultural ties with Britain, as additional camps would have had to be built to cater for the number of internees Australia agreed to accept from Great Britain.

      Permit Exemption Policy

      Number One Internment Camp - Permit Exemption Policy

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      PERMIT EXEMPTIONS & THE HERITAGE ACT 1995

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      Exemptions from permits under the Heritage Act 1995 are outlined in Section 66 (part 4).

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      STANDARD EXEMPTION CONDITIONS

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      All Exemptions for places or objects on the Victorian Heritage Register should be prefaced with the following:

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      General Conditions: 1. All exempted works are to be planned and carried out in a manner which prevents damage to the fabric of the registered place or object.

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      General Conditions: 2. Should it become apparent during further inspection or the carrying out of works that original or previously hidden or inaccessible details of the place or object are revealed which relate to the significance of the place or object, then the exemption covering such alterations shall cease and the Executive Director shall be notified.

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      Note: All heritage places have the potential to contain significant sub-surface artefacts and other remains. In most cases it will be necessary to obtain approval from Heritage Victoria before the undertaking any works that have a significant sub-surface component.

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      General Conditions: 3. If there is a conservation policy and plan approved by the Executive Director, all works shall be in accordance with it.

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      Note: The existence of a Conservation Management Plan or a Heritage Action Plan approved by the Executive Director provides guidance for the management of the heritage values associated with the site. It may not be necessary to obtain a heritage permit for certain works specified in the management plan.

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      General Conditions: 4. Nothing in this declaration prevents the Executive Director from amending or rescinding all or any of the permit exemptions.

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      General Conditions: 5. Nothing in this declaration exempts owners or their agents from the responsibility to obtain relevant planning or building permits from the responsible authorities where applicable.

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Public contributions

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