James Gordon Maddern

1912 - 1984  (71 years)

• Name	James Gordon Maddern
  Born	4 Oct 1912	Kyneton, Victoria, Australia
  Gender	Male
  Occupation	1936  [1]
  	labourer
  Occupation	1949  [1]
  	maltster
  Occupation	1954  [1]
  	clicker
  _UID	57D39B507C854FCE99FB279A6046538D0E48
  Buried	1984	Kyneton Cemetery, Victoria, Australia
  Died	22 Aug 1984	Kyneton, Victoria, Australia
  Person ID	I50215	My Big Tree
  Last Modified	27 Mar 2025

  
  

  Father	John Shaw Maddern,   b. 30 Jun 1869, Clunes, Hepburn, Victoria, Australia ,   d. 4 Jul 1946, Kyneton, Victoria, Australia  (Age 77 years)
  Mother	Mabel Zoe Orwin,   b. 7 Oct 1878, Taradale, Mount Alexander, Victoria, Australia ,   d. 15 Jun 1962, Kyneton, Victoria, Australia  (Age 83 years)
  Married	1899	Victoria, Australia
  Family ID	F19060	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Mr Maddern was the recipient of a hero's welcome in Kyneton back in 1944 when he returned from action as Private Maddern, exactly four years after he had left a Australia on November 17, 1940. He was one of 385 prisoners of war who escaped from Italian prison camps and with two friends made their way over the Alps into Switzerland. "The journey was a hazardous one", records the Kyneton Guardian of the day, "dependent for food upon the kindness of Italian women and girls shunning men lest they be Fascist and German Sympathisers". Private Maddern fought the Palestine, Tobruk and Benghazi before being taken a prisoner of war in May 1941. He was imprisoned at a work camp in North Africa for eight months before being transferred to Italy. Here he was quarantined for a month before spending a further six months in the notorious PG 57, said to be among the worst camps of the war. The POW's of the camp worked in rice-fields till the Italian armistice the Private Maddern crosses the Alps into Switzerland with two mates. During their 46 day journey, the men lived on potatoes and chestnuts an dodging Germans and their machine guns. The Kyneton Guardian of 1944 records that the men "had many thrilling adventures in the Alps before reaching the Swiss border". "They had a map but as they had to keep off the main roads for fear of Germans they found it not much use". "They had no compass and found the going terribly rough and difficult. Later they were repatriated to Port Sais, down to Suez to Bombay and then Australia and home". According to Guardian reports, Private Maddern's homecoming prompted plenty of celebration and excitement in Kyneton with most of the towns inhabitants assembled at the railway station to greet him.

  
  

• Sources

  [S223] Australian Electoral Roll, (Digital images.), digital images (Reliability: 4).