SAKAMOTO Yoshinari
坂本嘉徑
Born: 28 July 1907 – Died: 4 May 1943
Particulars:
Yoshinari was born in Wakayama Prefecture in Japan. He arrived on Waibene / Thursday Island in Queensland, Australia in 1939 aboard the Kama Maru. When the Pacific War broke out and he was arrested, he owned: a bed, a mattress, a desk, a bicycle and other items with an estimated value of 40 pounds; one dress watch; 5 pounds 18 shillings in cash and other items including a share of Ugui Boarding House. Sakamoto was sent to Hay Internment Camp in New South Wales. He was admitted to hospital in April 1943 and died soon after from pneumonia, aged 35. His grave is in the Japanese Cemetery in Cowra New South Wales, Australia. Official documents state he died on 4 May 1943, but his gravestone in Cowra records his death as 4 April 1943.
–Mari Suzuki
More info:
Mari Suzuki
Artist/s Statement:
Sakamoto had a wife and daughter back in Wakayama, and he was still young. He possibly came to Australia to earn money to take home. He would have been very familiar with the activities on the pearling boats and would possibly have known many of the men working on Thursday Island. His burial plaque is positioned amongst the decaying graves of the pearl divers in the Thursday Island cemetery, while the old, rusted diving helmet sits as a reminder of the hazards of working in Zenadth Kes / the Torres Strait.
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.