Virtual tour captures memories of Hellfire Pass

The experiences of Australian Prisoners of War (POWs) at Hellfire Pass Cutting during the Second World War will be captured in a new website to be developed by the Australian Government in partnership with ANU. The website - announced on Friday by the Minister for Veterans? Affairs Warren Snowdon - will aim to take visitors on a 'virtual tour' through Hellfire Pass today and as it was during the Second World War. Mr Snowdon said Hellfire Pass in Thailand on the Thai-Burma Railway, has become synonymous with the Australian POW experience in Asia. 'They were forced to live in terrible conditions, often starving, with no medical supplies resulting in a very high death rate with more than 2,800 Australians perishing,' he said. Professor Joan Beaumont, Dean of Education in the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, and the historian conducting the research for the website, said the project will offer users a significant body of information in a uniquely accessible form. ?The site will provide a wealth of information about the prisoners who lived and died on the pass, with oral histories, eye witness accounts and personal profiles including that of renowned doctor Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop,? she said. The website is due to be completed in April 2013, to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Australians commencing work at Hellfire Pass.