Australia's First University Press

On A POW's Survival

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  • Published 22-03-2016
  • ISBN 9780522870527
  • Pages 100
  • Subjects History
  • Imprint MUP Digital

The MUP Masterworks series celebrates distinguished Australian writers and ideas. Other writers in the series include Manning Clark, A.A. Phillips, Donald Horne, Janet McCalman and Brenda Niall.


At risk of death, prisoner of war Ray Parkin secretly kept a journal of the months in 1943-44 he spent working on the Thai-Burma Railway. His account, first published as Into the Smother, received international acclaim for its restrained but realistic depiction of POWs living, working and dying in a Japanese camp deep in the Thai jungle. It was hailed by the legendary literary critic Max Harris as 'probably the finest POW writing in English'.

Ray Parkin

About The Author

Melbourne-born Ray Parkin (1910-2005) was an omnivorous reader and gifted artist who largely educated himself and became a fine maritime painter. He spent eighteen years in the Royal Australian Navy, including three years as a prisoner of war of the Japanese during World War 2. After the war he became a waterfront tally clerk and…

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