RIOTING SOLDIERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25804, 27 March 1945, Page 5

RIOTING SOLDIERS

AUSTRALIAN DETENTION CAMP

ATTEMPT TO BURN BUILDINGS (Rec. 7 p.m.) BRISBANE, Mar. 26. Australian soldiers under sentence tried to burn down part of the Grovely army detention camp on Saturday night. Many shots were fired by the guards before the disturbance was quelled. The fire is understood to have been started after a futile attempt had been made by some of the soldiers to break out of camp. Petrol was poured over a section of the grounds and set ablaze. The fire brigade put out the fire. Some of the accommodation huts were badly damaged when soldiers ransacked them. Army officers so far have declined to make a statement.

The mutiny at Grovely detention camp on October 7, 1943, was the subject of an inquiry recently by Mr Justice Reed. As the result of his interim report Private J. Derrick and Sappper A, Chalmers were released on March 9 from gaol, where they were serving sentences of five years. Serious allegations of ill-treatment of soldiers under detention at the camp were made during the sittings of the inquiry, and Mr Justice Reed will deal with these in a further report to the Federal Government.