RSL cottage upgrade making life easier for daughter of World War II veteran
Returned soldiers
The headline in the Melbourne Argus on Friday, September 14, 1945, reads “More names of Australian POWs at Singapore”.
“This list, which concerns Changi Camp, does not necessarily exhaust the names in each alphabetical group,” the Argus story states.
Among the soldiers freed from capture during World War II that day is one Pte Henry George “Harry” Harvey, from the small town of Bingara, NSW.
Meanwhile, a world away in Mossman, Far North Queensland, on Friday, August 28, 2026, a photo is looking down over Pauline Howell - a tenant in one of two cottages at the RSL Mossman Sub-Branch set aside for returning soldiers and their families.
The photo perched above Pauline is her father Harry Harvey, who spent almost the entire war in horrific conditions in Changi prison camp, Singapore, after being captured by enemy soldiers.
Japanese forces invaded Malaya in December 1941 and captured thousands of Australian, British, and other volunteer troops during the Malayan Campaign, as well as during the Fall of Singapore in February 1942.
The name Harvey sits proudly on the Bingara Returned Servicemen's Memorial Park Honour Roll at the memorial in the NSW town, while Harry’s daughter Pauline has now benefited from a more than $40,000 upgrade of her cottage thanks to a grant from the Federal Government Veteran’s Affairs Department.
Local dignitaries turned out last week for the opening of the new disability-access bathroom, including RSL Mossman Sub-Branch secretary Wally Gray and Cook MP David Kempton, who opened the cottage extension.
Mr Gray said he was grateful to the Federal and State Governments for helping secure the building upgrade through the Honouring Your Service grant scheme.
“I’m over the moon because it only took me about five years to get it all approved and to get the grant through,” he said.
“Honouring your service came up and we thought ‘well, let’s try it and see what happens’.”
Mr Kempton said the Premier and his Government were strong supporters of war veterans and their families.
“It’s important that they be acknowledged, and also looked after,” he said.
With his photo looking down from its position on the wall of the Mossman cottage, I’m sure Pte Harry Harvey would also have agreed with that sentiment.
