Day 6 - Cowra

When I woke up this morning, it was hurry, hurry, hurry, to get in the car and go to Cowra for a day trip.
Then, in Cowra, we first went to the Tourist Info Centre to see the famous hologram theatre telling the story of the POW Camp 12 "Cowra" jailbreak. 359 POWs escaped, 231 POWs died, 108 POWs were wounded, and 4 Australians died. After that, we drove to the Australia's World Peace Bell, which is in Cowra due to the fact that the greatest Australian military event of WWII happened in Cowra: the jailbreak. The Bell is made from coins from 63 participating countries, and is in the shape of a traditional Japanese bell. The Bell is open for the public to ring, and we did so a few times each.
Across the road from the Bell, the Cowra Art Gallery currently had the display: War and Pieced. It was all about quilts made from military cloth and fabric, be it the uniform or the bag. There were many quilts, but the one I remember best was one with a simple checkerboard pattern, apparently with 9,500 pieces. I thought, 'It can't be such an even number!', so I went and counted them, and I only got around 8,700.
After going to the art gallery, a short drive out of town took us to the old ruins of the POW camp. All that was left of the camp of 4,000 were a few stone ruins and a commemorative replica guard tower.
Lastly, and by far my favourite thing of the day, was a visit to the Lachlan Valley Railway Heritage Centre. This was an old railway station and depot, but, unlike the station in Canowindra, this was far more extensive. First off, I went into an old overnight train, where I saw the first class area. Then, after coming out of that train, I went to the old turntable and garage. My favourite train there, and elsewhere, was a train called the "Rosie", an old steam train from the early 1900's.

Some old cogs

The "Rosie"