NISHIKAWA Kamekichi
西川
Born: 1 January 1869 – Died: 21 November 1945
Particulars:
On 1 January 1869, Kamekichi was born in Wakayama Prefecture in Japan. He arrived in Mackay in Queensland, Australia in 1905 aboard the Senda Maru. He was a married man with a son who lived in what is now part of the City of Wakayama. He was a manager and a fisherman. He lived in various locations in northern Queensland and was captured on Waibene / Thursday Island. One of his addresses he gave was the Japanese Bookshop, Halifax near Ingham. His assets included his own fishing boat and fishing tools. He was interned at Hay Internment Camp in New South Wales, but was transferred to Loveday Internment Camp in South Australia as part of prisoner re-classification in 1943. He was admitted to the camp hospital on 31 August 1945, and died from carcinoma at age 76. His grave is in the Japanese Cemetery in Cowra, New South Wales, Australia.
–Mari Suzuki
More info:
Mari Suzuki
Artist/s Statement:
Nishikawa Kamekichi’s records show that he was married and had a son in Wakayama. He died in Hay Internment Camp at the age of 76, and was first buried in Barmera. I like to think that in his retirement, he spent his time on Thursday Island, quietly fishing and enjoying life in the tropics.
Artist Bio:
Mari Suzuki is a fourth-generation Japanese Australian whose parents and family members were born on Thursday Island in Queensland, Australia, and were interned at Tatura Interment Camp in Victoria during the war.