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Reduced to a Symbolical Scale: The Evacuation of British Women and Children from Hong Kong to Australia in 1940
In July 1940, the wives and children of British families in Hong Kong, military and civilian, were compulsorily evacuated, following a plan created by the Hong Kong government in 1939. That plan focused exclusively on the process of evacuation itself, but issues concerning how the women and children should settle in the new country, communication with abandoned husbands, and reuniting families after the war were not considered. In practice, few would ever be addressed. When evacuation came, 3,500 people would simply be dumped in Australia.
The experience of the evacuees can be seen as a three-act delivery to Australia creates tension, five years of war and uncertainty intensify it, and resolution comes as war ends. However, that drama, unlike the evacuation plan, did not develop in a vacuum but was embedded in a complex historical, political, and social environment. Based on archival research of official documents, letters and memoirs, and interviews and discussions with more than one hundred evacuees and their families, this book studies the evacuation within that entire context.
Tony Banham is the author of Not the Slightest The Defence of Hong Kong, 1941; We Shall Suffer Hong Kong’s Defenders Imprisoned, 1942–45; and The Sinking of the Lisbon Britain’s Forgotten Wartime Tragedy. He has studied the Battle of Hong Kong for a quarter of a century and has written on the subject, aided in the production of television documentaries, and helped many children of veterans in their researches into their parents’ war years.
‘Reduced to a Symbolical Scale is an original and interesting addition to the evacuation literature. Tony Banham has done a masterly job of integrating archival documents with other forms of communication. The stories of individual evacuees and their families are very skilfully woven into the narrative.’
—John Welshman, Lancaster University; author of Churchill’s The Evacuee Experience in Wartime Britain
The experience of the evacuees can be seen as a three-act delivery to Australia creates tension, five years of war and uncertainty intensify it, and resolution comes as war ends. However, that drama, unlike the evacuation plan, did not develop in a vacuum but was embedded in a complex historical, political, and social environment. Based on archival research of official documents, letters and memoirs, and interviews and discussions with more than one hundred evacuees and their families, this book studies the evacuation within that entire context.
Tony Banham is the author of Not the Slightest The Defence of Hong Kong, 1941; We Shall Suffer Hong Kong’s Defenders Imprisoned, 1942–45; and The Sinking of the Lisbon Britain’s Forgotten Wartime Tragedy. He has studied the Battle of Hong Kong for a quarter of a century and has written on the subject, aided in the production of television documentaries, and helped many children of veterans in their researches into their parents’ war years.
‘Reduced to a Symbolical Scale is an original and interesting addition to the evacuation literature. Tony Banham has done a masterly job of integrating archival documents with other forms of communication. The stories of individual evacuees and their families are very skilfully woven into the narrative.’
—John Welshman, Lancaster University; author of Churchill’s The Evacuee Experience in Wartime Britain
324 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 17, 2017
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 6, 2023
Well written with serious data/literature mining and compilation.
資料考據認真，筆觸尚佳。
被要求撤離的女性身在福中不知福，不知道回港只會被摧殘、饑餓、疾病和匱乏交煎，相反歐亞混血者亟欲離港而求不得，要自己找辦法前往他國，不為採白澳政策的澳洲所接納。歷史之諷刺，莫之為甚。在澳英籍婦女竟稱她們是被騙往澳洲，全然不顧戰火，令人不禁思考好死不如賴活的說法。許多人在硝煙之下僅求生存，香港大批華人、猶太人等湧到澳門。作者在書末講到一個重點︰就是港府用了錯的方法，做了大體上對的事情。如非提早撤離婦孺至澳洲以存其性命，那些流落菲律賓的白人婦女就知道在戰俘/拘留營中滋味如何了。與丈夫分隔固然難受，但人在危急關頭難道不應該先為自己打算嗎？苟存性命徐圖後計，也不損害什麼尊嚴，有若干偷偷回港者落得與丈夫同關在赤柱的下場，都是自找的。
資料考據認真，筆觸尚佳。
被要求撤離的女性身在福中不知福，不知道回港只會被摧殘、饑餓、疾病和匱乏交煎，相反歐亞混血者亟欲離港而求不得，要自己找辦法前往他國，不為採白澳政策的澳洲所接納。歷史之諷刺，莫之為甚。在澳英籍婦女竟稱她們是被騙往澳洲，全然不顧戰火，令人不禁思考好死不如賴活的說法。許多人在硝煙之下僅求生存，香港大批華人、猶太人等湧到澳門。作者在書末講到一個重點︰就是港府用了錯的方法，做了大體上對的事情。如非提早撤離婦孺至澳洲以存其性命，那些流落菲律賓的白人婦女就知道在戰俘/拘留營中滋味如何了。與丈夫分隔固然難受，但人在危急關頭難道不應該先為自己打算嗎？苟存性命徐圖後計，也不損害什麼尊嚴，有若干偷偷回港者落得與丈夫同關在赤柱的下場，都是自找的。
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