A Doctor's War: Rowley Richards, MBE; OAM; ED (June 1916 – February 2015)

After the end of World War II, Australia's Directorate of War Graves Services uncovered an extraordinary document hidden in a bottle buried in a grave in Singapore. It was a summary of the secret diary of Dr. Rowley Richards, a P.O.W. and medical officer on the notorious Burma Railway. Richards, just 23 when the war broke out, witnessed the horror of camp life first-hand and through his work treating fellow prisoners suffering in the harsh conditions. In a series of diaries he recorded the everyday brutality of the P.O.W camps as well as the courage, humour and mateship of his comrades. Just before being transferred to prison in Japan, he buried a summary of his contraband writings. Astonishingly, it was returned to him intact.