Address & Contact
Hiles Laggon Rd
Terowie SA 5421
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"I came out of Bataan, and I shall return."
March, 1942 - Singapore had been captured in the rapid Japanese advance,
Darwin had been bombed, the islands of the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies were rapidly falling to the invaders. Nothing stood between the Japanese and Australia.
General Douglas
Macarthur had been ordered to leave the besieged defenders in the Philippines to assume overall command of Allied forces in the South West Pacific Area. The Australian government and people welcomed him and the American forces he could call upon as the only hope the nation had.
The little town of
Terowie was to play its part in these momentous events for it was here that the famous General gave his first press conference and first uttered those often-quoted words, "I shall return".
Why here? Because in those days this was a major rail
junction where three different rail guages met. The General changed trains here for the last leg of his journey from Bataan to his new command headquarters in
Melbourne.
A cairn on the now diused platform remembers this event. The town its self is slowly dying and is worth a long look