Varley, Arthur Leslie MC (Brigadier, b.1893 - d.1944)

Collection relating to the Second World War service of Brigadier Arthur Leslie Varley. Collections consists of 6 original hand-written diaries kept as a POW on the Burma end of the Burma/Thailand Railway. Covering the period 1 December 1941 to 26 March 1944, they describe conditions, rations, illness, executions, work and movements. Also included in the collection is a typescript of the diaries, which doesn't commence until 12 May 1942.

These diaries were secretly compiled by Brigadier A L Varley (22nd Australian Infantry Brigade) when he commanded "A" Force, a group of prisoners of war including Australians, Americans, British and Dutchmen, working from Thanbyuzayat towards Three Pagodas Pass on the Burma portion of the Burma-Thailand road and railway in 1942-43. Varley, who had served also in the 1914-18 War, was drowned in 1944 along with many other prisoners when the ship Rakuyo Maru, in which they were being transported to Japan, was sunk in the South China Sea. The diaries were buried at Singapore for safe-keeping before embarkation and were recovered after the war.

• Diary of Arthur Leslie Varley, 1 December 1941 - 11 May 1942
• Diary of Arthur Leslie Varley, 12 May 1942 - 18 June 1942
• Diary of Arthur Leslie Varley, 19 June 1942 - 7 Dec 1942
• Diary of Arthur Leslie Varley, 7 December 1942 - 25 May 1943
• Diary of Arthur Leslie Varley, 27 May - 27 August 1943
• Diary of Arthur Leslie Varley, 2 September 1943 - 26 March 1944
• Transcript of the Diary of Arthur Leslie Varley, 1942-1944
• Museum Captions for the dispay of the collection of Arthur Leslie Varley