Loveday, South Australia facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Loveday South Australia
Loveday Location in South Australia
Established	1 February 1940 (town) 12 August 1999 (locality)
Postcode(s)	5345
LGA(s)	Berri Barmera Council
State electorate(s)	Chaffey
Federal Division(s)	Barker
Localities around Loveday: Kingston-on-Murray Cobdogla Barmera Moorook Loveday Glossop Moorook South Spectacle Lake Winkie

Loveday is a town and area in the Riverland region of South Australia. It is located east of the Moorook Game Reserve. You can find it about 6 kilometers southwest of Barmera. It is also about 30 kilometers northwest of Loxton. Loveday is managed by the Berri Barmera Council. During World War II, Loveday was home to Australia's largest internment camp complex. It held around 5,000 people.

What's in a Name?

Loveday was named after Ernest Alfred Loveday. He was a surveyor for the South Australian Irrigation Department. Surveyors measure land and create maps.

A Look Back: The Internment Camp

Loveday is well-known for its internment camps. These camps were built during World War II. An internment camp is a place where people are held, often during wartime. They are usually held without being charged with a crime. The Loveday complex had three main camps. It also had three smaller camps for cutting wood. At its busiest, the camps held up to 5,300 male prisoners. These prisoners were mostly civilians. About 1,500 soldiers guarded the camps.

The first camp opened in 1941. It was the biggest internment camp in Australia. It covered a huge area, about 180 hectares. People from Germany, Italy, and Japan were held there. This included both civilians and POWs.

Some prisoners could choose to work for pay. They did jobs like farming or cutting wood nearby. For example, they grew special poppies or raised pigs. When they worked outside the camp, they had to wear coats dyed red. This made them easy to spot.

Many interesting people were held at Loveday. One was Oskar Speck, a German kayaker. He paddled all the way from Germany to Australia in the 1930s. Another was Miyakatsu Koike, a banker. He wrote a diary about his time in the camp. This diary was later published as Internment Diary: Four Years Life in a Red Coat. Famous Japanese POWs included Shigetada Nishijima and Hajime Toyoshima. Some Australians were also held there. This was because they supported certain political ideas during the war.

Loveday was the main place for holding civilians in Australia. Because of this, prisoners were often exchanged with other countries. Camps 9 and 10 closed in 1943. When Italy signed an armistice in September 1943, some Italian prisoners were released. More people were released or sent home when the war ended in Europe and Japan. The last camp, Camp 14, closed in December 1946. All the buildings and equipment were then sold off.

Loveday Today

Today, Loveday is a popular place for 4 x 4 adventure. It is also close to the Murray River lagoons. These lagoons are known as the "Loveday Lagoons."

The Cobdogla Irrigation and Steam Museum has a special display. It tells the story of the internment camp. The National Trust helps to keep this display going. You can check their website for visiting days.

Two historic sites in Loveday are listed on the South Australian Heritage Register. These are the Loveday Internment Camp General Headquarters Site and the Brick Boiler Stack, Loveday Irrigation Scheme Pumping Station.