Changi Photographer : George Aspinall's Record Of Captivity

Even before he became a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese in Singapore in 1942, George Aspinall was nicknamed ‘Changi’ Aspinall by his 2/30th Battalion mates. At lights-out time in Birdwood Camp, this teenaged Australian soldier was invariably down at Changi Village helping to process photographs he had taken with a hidden camera of his friends in their new and exotic tropical surroundings.

After captivity that hobby became a private obsession that saw George not only taken secret photographs in the Changi area, but up on the appalling Thai/Burma Railway. He not only took photographs at great personal risk, but actually processed them on the spot, using chemicals smuggled in medicine bottles from Singapore. The ingenuity and resourcefulness of this young Australian private soldier resulted in a unique visual diary of captivity.

This is a first edition from the private collection of Robert Yeo. The publication bears Yeo’s signature on the inside cover.