Diary of a Girl in Changi is the moving personal account of a young girl living in the midst of hardship and adversity. Written on scraps of paper which were kept hidden in her quarters, Sheila Allan's diary is a record of the daily lives of those interned in Changi. On the one hand, these were years of wasted youth; on the other, they provided a rich learning experience in a community of close comradeship. Tolerance, humour and creativity, and above all, an undying hope for the future, colour her memories of this period.This third edition includes a new Preface and Conclusion, which tie up the 'loose ends' of the original Diary of a Girl in Changi. Also included is information on the Changi quilts. These embroidered squares, individually created and signed by the women internees, were sewn together into three separate quilts, and can be seen at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Australia

In 1941, at the age of seventeen, Sheila Allan's life was plunged into a nightmare. For the next three and a half years she was a prisoner of the Japanese in Changi Prison and Sime Road Camp. This book is the moving personal account of a young girl living in the midst of hardship and adversity. Written on scraps of paper which were kept hidden in her quarters, Sheila Allan's diary is a record of the daily lives of those interned in Changi. On the one hand, these were years of wasted youth; on the other, they provided a rich learning experience in a community of close comradeship. Tolerance, humour and creativity, and above all, an undying hope for the future, colour her memories of this period. This new edition includes information on the Changi quilts. These embroidered squares, individually created and signed by the women internees, were sewn together into three separate quilts. The quilts can be seen at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

A wartime diary kept by a 17-year-old woman (of Australian and Malaysian descent) imprisoned during World War II. Sheila Bruhn's account is a woman's view of war and the Japanese occupation of Malaysia.

Information on the Japanese Occupation of Malaya and Singapore is sparse, and Japanese-language materials are particularly difficult to find because the Japanese military systematically destroyed war-related documents when the war ended. The contributors to this volume participated in a Forum that spent four years locating surviving materials relating to the Occupation of Malaya. The group has three objectives: to collect primary sources, to interview Japanese military and civilian officials who took part in the military administration and people in Malaysia and Singapore who experienced the period, and to publish the results of the studies. Based on interviews with Japanese, Malaysians and Singaporeans who lived through the war years and materials gathered from archives and libraries in Britain, Malaysia, Singapore, USA, Australia, and India, the Forum has produced a number of Japanese-language publications. This book makes available some of their research findings in English. Topics covered include the Watanabe Military Administration, Japanese research activities in Malaya, Japan's Economic Policies, Malayan Communist Party Leaders and the Anti-Japanese Resistance, the Massacre of Chinese in Singapore, Railway Transportation during the Japanese Occupation Period, The Singapore internment Camp for Allied Civilian Women, and the Japanese Surrender. This volume is a revised version of Akashi Yoji, ed., Nippon Senryoka no Eiryo Maraya/Shingaporu (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten Publishers, 2001). Book jacket.

Bernice Archer's comparative study of the experiences of the Western civilians interned by the Japanese in mixed family camps and sexually segregated camps in the Far East, combines a wide variety of conventional and unconventional source material. This includes contemporary War, Foreign and Colonial Office papers, diaries, letters, camp newspapers and artefacts, post-war medical, engineering and educational reports, biographies, autobiographies, memoirs and over fifty oral interviews with ex-internees. Using contemporary personal accounts, the shock of the Japanese victories and the devastating experience of capture are highlighted. This book also covers wider issues such as the role of women in war, gender and war, children and war, colonial culture, oral history, and war and memory.

In spite of Singapore's small size, it has long had a major impact on the world because of its geographical location and its wealth. The British initially made the island a major port for the shipping of goods and later as an airline hub for the region. These factors, along with a steady government, have helped to contribute to the country's affluence. This multicultural, multiracial, and multi-religious island-nation is the envy of many countries in the world, which have tried to emulate the economic success of Singapore. The new edition of the Historical Dictionary of Singapore has been completely rewritten since the first edition was released 20 years ago. It relates the history of this country through a chronology, an introductory essay, an expansive bibliography, and over 500 cross-referenced dictionary entries on significant persons, events, places, organizations, and other aspects of Singapore history from the earliest times to the present.

In the early stages of the Second World War, the vast crescent of British-ruled territories stretching from India to Singapore appeared as a massive Allied asset. It provided scores of soldiers and great quantities of raw materials and helped present a seemingly impregnable global defense against the Axis. Yet, within a few weeks in 1941-42, a Japanese invasion had destroyed all this, sweeping suddenly and decisively through south and southeast Asia to the Indian frontier, and provoking the extraordinary revolutionary struggles which would mark the beginning of the end of British dominion in the East and the rise of today's Asian world. More than a military history, this gripping account of groundbreaking battles and guerrilla campaigns creates a panoramic view of British Asia as it was ravaged by warfare, nationalist insurgency, disease, and famine. It breathes life into the armies of soldiers, civilians, laborers, businessmen, comfort women, doctors, and nurses who confronted the daily brutalities of a combat zone which extended from metropolitan cities to remote jungles, from tropical plantations to the Himalayas. Drawing upon a vast range of Indian, Burmese, Chinese, and Malay as well as British, American, and Japanese voices, the authors make vivid one of the central dramas of the twentieth century: the birth of modern south and southeast Asia and the death of British rule.

When C.M. Turnbull's A History of Singapore, 1819-1975 appeared in 1977, it quickly achieved recognition as the definitive history of Singapore. A second edition published in 1989 brought the story up to the elections held in 1988. In this fully revised edition, rewritten to take into account recent scholarship on Singapore, the author has added a chapter on Goh Chok Tong's premiership (1990-2004) and the transition to a government headed by Lee Hsien Loong. The book now ends in 2005, when the Republic of Singapore celebrated its 40th anniversary as an independent nation. Major changes occurred in the 1990s as the generation of leaders that oversaw the transition from a colony to independence stepped aside in favour of a younger generation of leaders. Their task was to shape a course that sustained the economic growth and social stability achieved by their predecessors, and they would be tested towards the end of the decade when Southeast Asia experienced a severe financial crisis. Many modern studies on Singapore focus on current affairs or very recent events and pay a great deal of attention to Singapore's successful transition from the developing to the developed world. However, younger historians are increasingly interested in other aspects of the country's past, particularly social and cultural issues. A History of Modern Singapore, 1819-2005 provides a solid foundation and an overarching framework for this research, surveying Singapore's trajectory from a small British port to a major trading and financial hub within the British Empire and finally to the modern city state that Singapore became after gaining independence in 1965.

This is the diary kept by Jack Farrow, a 30 year old sergeant in the 5th Roayl Norfolks, who in 1941 was expected to go to India to train troops. However, the fortunes of war turned the world upside down and he found himself in the jungles of Malaya fighting for his life, not only against the Japanese Imperial Army but the jungle itself. Having made it back to Singapore in time for the surrender he was taken with many others to the notorious Changi jail where he was put in charge of the grim task of burying his less fortunate comrades.