Today, a remarkable piece of Australian military memorabilia, The Changi Flag, was unveiled in its new home, Heritage Assisted Aged Care facility in Murwillumbah, NSW. This flag was made by the 8th Division in Changi, Singapore during World War II. This flag was flown over the complex after the fall of the Japanese occupation. A Cpl. Kelly of the 8th Division, who was a prisoner of war in Changi, was apparently charged with custodianship of the Changi Flag after the war.

To some, the whole Changi and Burma Railway period is categorized as a dark chapter in Australian World War II history. But to those who were there, this was a time, a symbol of the strong comraderie and brotherhood that exists in the Australian military, a time of survival - for the luckier ones, and if anything, a dark time in British World War II military history, as Changi only came to be due to their untimely and ill-informed decision to surrender to the Japanese. This decision by the British military threw thousands of Australian soldiers into the cruel and ruthless hands of the occupying Japanese and was indeed a death sentence for thousands of Australian men and women.

This flag was rescued from an uncertain future by the McKenzie Aged Care Group when it was listed on the world-wide on-line auction site, Ebay in 2006, by the adopted daughter of the late Cpl. Kelly. After his death, apparently, his family had no interest in it, and relegated it to the bottom of a draw. Some years later Cpl Kelly's adopted Daughter made extensive enquiries about what she may do with the flag, she was informed that the RSL was unable to purchase it and the AWM has so many gifted items that should she donated it to them it would end up in the huge archives of the Australian War memorial. She decided to place it on Ebay to see what interest may be out there in the wider community. As fortune would have it, the McKenzie group noticed the listing, bid on it and won the auction.

While many would question why such an important part of Australian military history is not in the Australian War Museum in Canberra or even in the hands of the RSL, we can be thankful that at least it is still somewhere in Australia and will not be lost for all time like so many other important pieces. At Heritage Assisted Aged Care facility, in Murwillumbah it will be available for anyone who wishes to check it out, while passing, to do so.

One has to question the motives of Cpl. Kelly's adopted daughter - whether this is an example of Australian Opportunism or Australian Shame. Perhaps those diggers who were incarcerated in Changi would have an answer for us. The McKenzie Family has clearly stated that the main purpose of purchasing the Flag was to save an important part of Australian Military History and not have it disappear overseas and that they were custodians of this precious relic!