This post will be about the university of Changi. As a picture speaks a thousand words, I will be showing a cartoon drawn the Changi Cartoonist George Sprod below.

This picture depicts the people gathering books and also some people reading. In fact, even though this didn't seem like a University at all, it was one. The idea of the Changi University, was actually for preventing the prisoners from thinking abotu escape and to make the prisoners possibly like the Japanese more and also for them to pass time. Colonel Black Jack Galleghan, was the one who proposed to the Japanese Commandant that there be a University. He also let the commandant know where to get the books, and soon most of the books in the Singapore Library had been put in. Lorrys sent the books over at Changi.

There were lots of books, as compared to Australia, where many books had been banned for years. Australia was on par with Ireland during the WW2 days in terms of books banned, and thus the Australian prisoners were very interested to study in Changi because it was a once in a lifetime chance to be able to study so many books which could not be found at home. The people studied for their future, which they believed they would be free from the war and thus the Japanese Occupation and thus studied for a profession which they longed to take up after the war.

The 20,000 volumes arrived at camp and created the University of Changi, where there were classes for people to share knowledge in the various fields of study. Study slowly became a way of escape from boredom, and soon art of all kinds started to flourish in Changi after being educated by those books. There were multiple societies, and the largest was teh Changi concert party, which would be talked about in the next post.