Backyard Battlefields James De Leo

Kojanup Barracks is an important piece of Western Australian history. Built by British Redcoats of the 51st Regiment it was a staging post on the road to the strategically important town of Albany. Kojanup is located 256km South East of Perth, Western Australia. 

The Fremantle Artillery Barracks was built to service the forts defending the Western Australian port of Fremantle. Sitting atop Cantonment Hill on the corner of Burt and Tuckfield Streets, it is now home to the Army Museum of Western Australia.

The IJN Ibuki was a Japanese battlecruiser which in 1914 escorted the Gallipoli bound Australian and New Zealand troops from Albany at the Southern tip of Western Australia to the Middle East.

Now a backpackers hostel, the Old Swan Barracks on Francis Street in Northbridge, former headquarters and home to Perths Central Drill Hall, was an important feature of the pre-Federation military forces in Western Australia. 

Dilhorn is a Federation Queen Anne style house located in the Perth suburb of Highgate. It was designed by Soldier Architect Joseph John Talbot Hobbs in 1897.

Following the audacious Japanese midget submarine raid on Sydney Harbour in 1942 the remains of 4 Japanese submariners were recovered. The officer commanding Sydney Harbour Rear Admiral Muirhead-Gould ordered that the men be cremated with full military honours. This was done both out of respect for their bravery and in the hope that the conditions of the many Australians held in Japanese Prisoner of War camps might be improved. Nevertheless it was an extraordinary gesture at a time of heightened fear and anger and his decision was criticised in many quarters.
This is episode is an audio recording of the funeral most likely recorded by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.