This Crowd Beats Us All (1960) By Bishop Leo Scharmach
 
When the Japanese invaded Rabaul on New Britain in January 1942, a group of 45 F.M.I. Sisters refused to give up their faith. Instead, they risked their lives to help save hundreds of Australian and European missionaries and civilian detainees who were held captive by the Japanese for three and a half years, first at Vunapope and then in the dense jungle of Ramale.
 
More than 75 years later, Lisa Hilli, an Australian artist of Gunatuna (Tolai) heritage, discovered their little-known story while researching Australia and Papua New Guinea’s shared war history as part of a creative commission for the Australian War Memorial, supported by the Anzac Centenary Arts and Culture Fund.
 
It was while she was researching in Rabaul that she first learned of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate, or F.M.I. Sisters, of the Vunapope Catholic Mission. These remarkable Tolai, Bainings and New Guinea Islands women had helped to save the lives of hundreds of men, women and children in New Britain during the Second World War.
 
“Vunapope in my language of Kuanua means place of the Pope,” she said.  “It was a Catholic mission, which was established by European missionaries, so a lot of European and Australian missionaries were based there from the late 1800s. When Japan invaded Rabaul in 1942, a lot of the Australians were evacuated, but the ones who stayed behind evacuated to Vunapope, and so Vunapope became this refuge, or safe haven, for a few months.”
 
Vunapope was eventually taken by force by the Japanese, and in October 1942, the Japanese set up an internment camp to hold the Europeans, Australians and mixed-race children.
 
“It was only due to the courageous acts and efforts of Bishop Leo Scharmach that their lives were spared at all,” Lisa said. “He was Polish, but he managed to convince the Japanese that he was German and they should spare the lives of the missionaries and the mixed-race children who were there at Vunapope.”
 
The bishop is said to have told the Japanese he was the Adolf Hitler’s representative in New Guinea and that they had to respect his status and those under his care.
 
At about this time, the Japanese declared that the Indigenous people of New Britain, including the F.M.I. Sisters based at Vunapope, were ‘free’.
 
“When the Japanese invaded the then Australian territory of Papua and New Guinea, they ‘liberated’ all the Papua New Guineans and held all the Australians and Europeans captive,” Lisa said.
 
“The Japanese said, ‘You’re free; you don’t have to worship your western masters’ religion anymore’ … but the F.M.I. Sisters were completely loyal to their faith, and to their religion, and to their service to the Catholic missionaries.
 
“The F.M.I. Sisters basically risked their own lives and provided food for the Catholic missionaries and for the Australians and Europeans whilst they were held at Vunapope. They refused to give up their faith.”
 
When Vunapope was destroyed during the Allied counter-offensive in June 1944, the Japanese marched 300 men, women and children six kilometres away into the dense jungle valley of Ramale.
 
The internees represented 17 different nationalities and came from countries such as Germany, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Italy, Ireland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, America, Canada, Britain and Australia.
 
Despite Japanese efforts to stop the F.M.I Sisters from engaging and practising Christianity with the Australian and European Sisters, the women continued to devote themselves to God. They were determined to help keep the Australian and European missionaries alive by growing and harvesting fresh produce and delivering heavy baskets of it over gruelling distances, up and down a steep incline.
 
“They disobeyed the Japanese, and they stayed true to their vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, even in war,” Lisa said.
 
“They started building gardens and growing food, and every day they would bring heavy bags of fresh produce, carrying them on their heads.
 
“The Japanese would stand guard at the top of the valley, and inspect the food to make sure they weren’t smuggling anything else in.
 
“They would then take the best of the food, and the Sisters would walk back down into the valley and give the rest of the food to the prisoners of war. And they did that every day.” 
 
The Ramale camp was liberated by Australian troops on 14 September 1945 when troops of HQ 11 Division occupied the area following the surrender of the Japanese.
 
Soft Cover
295 pages
In Fair Condition