MURAKAMI Yasukichi
村上安吉
Born: 19 December 1880 – Died: 26 June 1944
Particulars:
Yasukichi was born in Tanami, Wakayama Prefecture in Japan. He arrived in Cossack, Western Australia aboard the SS Saladin in 1897. He moved to Rubibi / Broome, then to Garramilla /Darwin in the Northern Territory.
A businessman, inventor and photographer, Yasukichi was married with six sons and three daughters. When the Pacific War broke out, one of his sons was living in Sydney and one of his daughters was living in Tanami. When arrested, Yasukichi owned many household goods including bedding, clothing, furniture, and a sum of 120 pounds 7 shillings and 3 pence was paid to the receiver of Public Monies. Yasukichi and his family were taken to Adelaide River in the Northern Territory, then to Liverpool in Sydney, and eventually interned at Tatura Internment Camp in Victoria. Yasukichi was admitted to Waranga Hospital in June 1944, then returned to the camp, but died there of myocarditis at age 64. His grave is in the Japanese Cemetery in Cowra, New South Wales, Australia.
–Mayu Kanamori
More info:
Kaori Irobe Osawa
Artist/s Statement:
My great-grandfather Yasukichi Murakami, was born in Tanami, Wakayama Prefecture. He immigrated to Australia at the age of 16 and engaged in various businesses. However, during the war, he was detained in Darwin and passed away while interned at Tatura Internment Camp, leaving his family behind.
After the war, his third son, the late Joseph Kisaburo Murakami came to Japan and lived in an apartment in Yokohama. There he had a tapestry depicting a landscape of Darwin.
I collaged this tapestry, together with a photograph of road sign for Murakami Road, a road dedicated to my great-grandfather.
Artist Bio:
Kaori Irobe Osawa is a great-grand-daughter of Yasukichi Murakami, who lived and worked in Broome and Darwin prior to the outbreak of the Pacific War.