Guide to the Papers of John Harrison, 1942-1958

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Summary

Collection number:
MS 8756
Creator:
John Harrison
Extent:
1.54 metres and (11 boxes, 1 folio box)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of John Harrison, National Library of Australia, MS 8756, [series and/or file number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:
The collection comprises diaries and notebooks kept in Changi Prison in Singapore, correspondence, personal notebooks, desk diaries, Federation of Malaya Police publications, photographs and Harrison's autobiography. An oil portrait and watercolours are located in Pictorial.
Biographical Note:

John Noel Douglas Harrison spent 25 years in Malaya and China, surviving several years in Changi prison camp and a murder attempt by bandits, before settling in Tasmania in 1958.

Harrison was born in 1911. He left England at the age of 22 to take up an appointment as probationary Assistant Commissioner in the Malaya Police Service. In 1933 he was sent to China to study Cantonese for two years, and he was later to teach this language to fellow prisoners in Changi. He was a POW in Changi in 1942 and 1943 before being moved to Sime Road in May 1944 until his release in 1945. While imprisoned he used his talent for drawing, his sketches and paintings depicting many aspects of prison life. He was later to exhibit in the Royal Academy and the Paris Salon.

In 1948, at the beginning of the Malayan Emergency, Harrison was appointed Superintending Officer of Police at Tapah, one of the areas worst affected by Communist terrorism. Two months after his appointment as CPO, Negri Sembilan, in May 1949, he was ambushed at Durian Tipus and lost part of his right hand. For a year from April 1952 he was in charge of retraining all police officers and men, and then served two years as CPO, Perak. His final posting before retirement was to Alor Star, Kedah/Perlis in 1955 as Chief Police Officer. John Harrison died in October 1980.

Provenance:

The papers were donated to the Library in 1994.

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2011738).
Conditions Governing Use:
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of John Harrison, National Library of Australia, MS 8756, [series and/or file number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact:
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