Airfield Internment Camp
An internment camp was established at the Airfield Camp on 11 June 1940, largely for Italians but also for some Germans. It was a short term solution until a purpose-built internment camp was constructed in Harvey. Japanese civilians were also held in internment camps throughout Western Australia and the country but not so much on Rottnest.
‘Internees’ and ‘prisoners-of-war’ tend to be used without distinction, particularly in historical reports and records. There is a distinction between the two, particularly that of internees tending to be civilians based on their nationality and prisoners-of-war being those captured by enemy military forces.
Further distinctions include their different rights and how authorities treat them. Prisoners of war could be forced to work but internees had to be paid for any they did.
(Historical events have been included to provide context)
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Italian POW's at Liverpool Internment Camp (1945)
Timeline
1936
October - An alliance called the ‘Axis powers’ is signed by Germany and Italy in October 1936, which has the effect of linking the two countries together, both politically and militarily. Japan is unwilling to sign it, as they are more interested in forming an alliance against the Soviet Union and not against the United Kingdom and France.
1940
June 4 - The Italian ship 'Remo' berths at Fremantle Port (AWM2020.71.7559)

Italian ship Remo (Copyright unknown)
June 10 - Italy declares war on France and Great Britain.
June 11 – Remo is seized by the Australian Government as a prize of war. Crew members are sent to Rottnest Island and the officers to Harvey, to be interned as enemy aliens.
A wire fence is erected around the Rottnest Camp that will become the internment camp for the Italians sent to Rottnest. Members of the 10 Garrison Battalion move out of the Camp and lodge in the old Government House.
Major Herman Kuring, leading a team of 9 officers and 121 other ranks from the 10 Garrison Battalion, takes the train from Perth to the Goldfields to assist in the arrest of Italians (AWM2020.71.7559).
June 14 – A train arrives at the Fremantle Wharf at 12.50pm with 210 Italians, who are then loaded onto the Auxiliary Schooner King Bay for Rottnest. A second train arrives at 2.05pm with a further 196 internees who are also loaded onto King Bay. One internee commits suicide by cutting his throat. King Bay sails for Rottnest at 3pm, after experiencing great difficulty leaving the wharf due to squally weather (AWM2020.71.7559).
Internees have no chance of escaping from Rottnest.

Auxiliary Schooner King Bay
June 16 – 223 Italian internees arrive in Fremantle from the Wiluna district and are taken over to Rottnest. There are now 732 Italian internees being held at Rottnest (AWM2020.71.7559).
Internees share a tent with seven others. It’s reported they had to construct their own kitchens and bathrooms, using pieces of driftwood found on the beach.
June 17 – 10 Garrison Battalion ‘B’ Coy set to work increasing the size of the island’s internment camp to accommodate 1000 internees (AWM2020.71.7559).
Internees will be taken to Harvey once a purpose built camp is constructed.
June 23 – 90 internees from Geraldton arrive in Fremantle for Rottnest (AWM2020.71.7559).
June 27 – Major Kuring leaves for Geraldton with a team of nine to bring back more internees (AWM2020.71.7559).
June 30 – 19 internees arrive in Fremantle and are housed in Fremantle Prison overnight, until they are taken to Rottnest some time the following day (AWM2020.71.7559).
July 11 – Major Kuring leaves for Harvey and Waroona with a team of 24. They will be accommodated in both towns and assist in the arrest of Italians, holding them for three days until they return with the internees.
Lieutenant Davis leaves for Geraldton with a team of 10 to escort 27 internees to Fremantle Prison (AWM2020.71.7559).
July 14 – Major Kuring returns with internees from Harvey and Waroona. Together with the internees from Geraldton, they are all transported to Rottnest (AWM2020.71.7559).
September – The Harvey Internment Camp is established with a detachment from the 10 Garrison Battalion and receives 100 German and 800 Italian internees from Rottnest.

Harvey Internment Camp
September 27 – Japan signs the Tripartite Pact, which creates the Axis Alliance, also known as the ‘Pact of Friendship and Alliance’ between the three countries. Their primary goal is for “territorial expansion at the expense of their neighbours” (Baranowski).
December 7 – Japan attacks Pearl Harbour. At 7.48am Hawaii time, 177 Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft bomb the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbour, on the island of Oahu. Their goal was to cause maximum devastation to the US Pacific Fleet, to prevent them from retaliating to Japanese operations against the British, Dutch and US territories. An hour later, a second wave of 163 Japanese aircraft returned. In all, 21 US warships had either been sunk or damaged, 188 aircraft destroyed and 2,403 American servicemen and women were killed.

Japan attacks Pearl Harbour - USS West Virginia is hit by seven torpedoes
December 8 – The United States declares war on Japan.
December 11 – Germany and Italy declare war on the United States. Adolf Hitler had been trying to avoid direct conflict with the US but like Italy, the obligation was the result of signing the Tripartite Pact with Japan.
1945
July - Approximately 200 Italian internees are sent to Rottnest to be put to work. Over a period of four months, they remove barbed wire, fill in trenches, clean camp and military housing, as well as plant trees (Oliver Hill Battery Rottnest Island).
Other official reports state the number of Italians sent to Rottnest during this time, is as low as 120 and as high as 300.
They are accommodated at the Airfield Camp under the supervision of detachments from the No.8 POW Guard Company, who were primarily from the 5th Australian Garrison Battalion.
References
Baranowski, S. (2014). Axis Imperialism in the Second World War. Oxford University Press.
Oliver Hill Battery Rottnest Island: Conservation Management Plan. Completed on behalf of the Rottnest Island Authority by Palassis Architects (December 2005).
AWM2020.71.7559 –10 Garrison Battalion – February to August 1940