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The eldest of the group was Kakio’s youngest son Peter, aged 70, who was born in 1943 in Camp Four, where his parents were interned.

Peter has cancer and is receiving treatment so his wife, son Troy and granddaughter, cousin Eltsa Foy and her partner David Dureau and niece Robyn decided to travel with him from Broome back to Tatura to revisit the place where he was born.

Unfazed by the torrid heat, they spent the afternoon at the museum looking at photos and books written about Japanese families interned in 1942, when Japan entered the conflict on the side of the Fascists.

The following morning they walked around the old Camp Four site with Historical Society members Bill Ballantyne and Kaye Watson, before returning to Tatura Museum for another afternoon of research with Brian Williams.

It was a sad story of a family uprooted and sent into internment. Peter’s father was separated from his wife and four children and sent to Hay in NSW when his status was changed from civilian internee to prisoner of war because he worked as an engine-room hand on the Japanese merchant ship Kokoku Maru for a year prior to 1942.

This caused great stress to his wife who was transferred to an Adelaide hospital, while the children were sent to Balaclava Racecourse Camp in South Australia for a time, and then transferred to Melville Island.

Kakio was returned to Camp Four in 1946, alone, and seeking his family, and refused to accept his release until his wife and children were returned to Broome.

The family was eventually reunited in 1948.

The visit was memorable not only for the Matsumoto family, but also for all who met them, a strong resilient family who shared their story with the museum.

Another story told of the effect war had on civilians who may or may not, be security risks in time of war.

— Lurline Knee