Manuscript diary, giving a contemporary descriptive account of Gordon Burt's experiences from December 1941 to September 1944 (in pencil on 32 pages and 5 fragments of paper). Burt describes the fall of Singapore in February 1942, his escape and subsequent capture by the Japanese and his internment in South Sumatra at Palembang Military Barracks Prison; Palembang Military POW Camp, Palembang Native Criminal Jail and Muntok POW Camp on Banka Island. Burt records, "As each page was written it was sewn into my trousers as we never knew from day to day when the 'Kampey' would make one of their surprise visits and ruthlessly search for firearms, maps, papers, or any incriminating documents". The collection also includes letters (including those mentioned in the diary which he received in the POW camp), photographs, newspaper clippings and Burt's Order of the British Empire medal.
Burt was born in Dunedin, New Zealand and completed an engineering apprenticeship in the family firm of A & T Burt. In 1925 he joined the British Arctic Expedition as Chief Engineer. Soon after, he went to Singapore with Asiatic Petroleum Company, then later the Shell Company. In 1938 he married Maud Rohrbach. He joined the Singapore Volunteer Armoured Car Company and was awarded the O.B.E. in January 1942. After the fall of Singapore, he was captured by the Japanese near Palembang, Sumatra, and was a POW in Palembang and then at Muntok on Banka Island. He died in that camp on 28 January 1945.
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