Australian Army
p. 13 · Read in the full issue
Did Not Forget
£7,000 Surprise for Borneo Natives
IN mid-July Major H. W. S. Jackson of the Australian Ordnance Corps left for Borneo with £7,000 which he will distribute to 100 natives of Borneo and bandakan.
The natives will receive the money in accordance with the risk they took in helping and feeding Australian soldiers who fought in Borneo and who escaped from the Sandakan-Ranau death march.
Three years ago, Major Jackson made a survey in Borneo and Sandakan and on that trip gave about 185 natives an interim payment of £5. He said that it was dear then, however, that about 100 of these natives deserved a great deal more than £5 for what they had done and the risks they had taken.
The Australian government has spent months assessing what the risk that these men took was worth. By some means best known to themselves, they have arrived at the sum of £7OO each, which will be riches to these natives.