Torres

Horn Island and the key role it played in World War II.

Twenty plus years ago, a young woman, Venessa Seekee, began to gather artifacts found on the island. She pieced together information about the war effort and collected individual veteran’s accounts over the years. The result is a small but mighty, emotional and inspiring museum which tells the remarkable story of Horn Island during WWII. It is still run by her and her husband, Liberty. Additionally, Vanessa fought for these Veterans to receive pensions and has organized several reunions over the years. Sadly, all have passed away now.

A little of the story here:
The Forgotten Isle… Till Now

Horn Island, March 1942, the Japanese begin their first aerial onslaught upon the tiny island, located to the north west of the tip of Cape York. It had not taken the Japanese very long to discover the enormous strategic importance that this island held. If they could control this launching base for their own aircraft, then they could attack locations as far down as Melbourne. However, if the allies retain the base, they could launch attack against Japanese held targets in Papua New Guinea.

Not many remember, or even know about, the tiny island until now… The men who served here were known as the “forgotten army“, which is true even today. Men who served here after June 1943 have never received a service pension, and, although Vanessa worked hard to ensure that this was rectified through providing research materials, as evidence, they have never received any service pension. What is more important to the veterans now is that people come to see what they did, and where, and at the sites that were once home to them are conserved.

Torres Strait Heritage Museum
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