Plaque from Sandakan Prisoner of War Cemetery : Sapper S C Goldfinch 2/6 Field Park Company

Small aluminium plaque engraved on the obverse 'TO THE MEMORY OF BRITISH & AUSTRALIAIN (SIC) FALLEN IN MALAYA'. The reverse is roughly engraved '...ONER OF WAR CAMP SINGAPORE FEB 1942 ...X 7054 S.C. OLDFINCH R AE'. The aluminium appears to have been cut from a mess tin. A hole has been bored on either side of the plaque so that it can be attached to a larger object.

This plaque was found nailed to a rough wooden cross in the original cemetery attached to Sandakan Prisoner of War Camp in Borneo by NX167594 Private Raymond James Battram while he was serving with 31 War Graves Unit between 1946 and 1947. The unit was responsible for the location and exhumation of the bodies of prisoners of war (POWs) who died at Sandakan and on the death marches to Ranau, and their reburial in a Commonwealth war cemetery. 2,500 Allied POWs, mainly Australian, died at Sanadakan and Ranau. Only six Australian POWs survived. The plaque is thought to have been made by WX7054 Sapper Sydney Charles Goldfinch in Singapore, from part of his mess tin, and taken to Sanadakan by him. Goldfinch was born in England in 1900 and enlisted with 2/6 Field Park Company, Royal Australian Engineers, in July 1940. He died of disease and malnutrition on 13 July 1945.