The researcher behind the archive
Lt. Col. Peter Winstanley OAM RFD JP
A life of service, inquiry and dedication to preserving the experiences of prisoners of war and those who cared for them.
Peter Winstanley passed away in February 2025. This page honours his remarkable life and his contribution to preserving the history of the Burma–Thailand Railway.
Peter retired in 2003 after a distinguished career that included six years at the Bank of New South Wales, 27 years at the Reserve Bank, and 15 years as an Associate to two Supreme Court Judges and a Royal Commissioner.
He also served for 36 years in the Citizen Military Forces and Army Reserve, rising from a private in National Service to Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps before retiring in 1994.
A lifelong undertaking
How the research began
Peter’s interest in the Railway began after reading Soldier Surgeon in Malaya by Thomas Hamilton, Commanding Officer of the 2/4 Casualty Clearing Station and Senior Medical Officer of “A Force” in Burma.
In 1991, while visiting a friend serving as Defence Attaché in Bangkok, Peter walked through Hellfire Pass. The experience profoundly moved him and began a lifelong dedication to the subject.
Through personal interviews with former POW Medical Officers—including Rowley Richards, Claude Anderson, Vic Brand, Peter Hendry and Lloyd Cahill—Peter came to recognise the contribution of many Medical Officers, Dental Officers, Medical Orderlies and Chaplains. His work broadened the story to honour these often unsung figures.
Research, remembrance and pilgrimage
Peter helped establish the Burma Thailand Railway Memorial Association in Western Australia. He contributed to Anzac Day and Remembrance Day tours, and made two separate research trips to Burma.
His work took him around Australia to interview former prisoners of war and to the Imperial War Museum in London, the National Archives in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, and archives in Perth.
In 2015, the Australian War Memorial archived this website in PANDORA, Australia’s Web Archive, helping ensure Peter’s work endures.
Gone but never forgotten, Peter Winstanley’s light shines on in the stories he preserved.
Continue into the archive
Read Peter’s articles or hear the voices preserved in his interview collection.