Brian Patrick Hirst Gill (3¾ yrs.) drowned at T.B. beach in freshwater pool.
B.O.
Diary pages from this date
Little Brian Gill drowned at the beach. (Saw his pathetic little body brought to the hospital on a stretcher. His mother, Billie Gill, was playing bridge with friends while another friend took Brian for an afternoon at the beach to give Mum a break.)
Edith Hamson is sitting on Tweed Bay Beach watching men trying to fish:
The atmosphere was always one of serenity at Tweed Bay, and visiting gave me brief respite from the realities of war.
I was absorbed in the tranquillity when all of a sudden I heard a commotion coming from the children’s wading pool. I will never forget the awful screams. I jumped to my feet and everyone else on the beach did the same.
Up at the pond, a young boy named Brian Gill, who was only three years old, had been found floating face down in the shallow water. Despite desperate attempts, Brian could not be revived.
The camp was filled with tremendous grief and shock, and the children were affected terribly.
The pool was a fresh-water man-made pool on the hillside a little above the beach, generally used for swimming wading by the younger children.
Soon after the beach at Tweed Bay was declared off-limits.
Source:
Allana Corbin, Prisoners of the East, 2002, 239-240.
Overcast, humid.
General cleaning.
Young boy aged 4 Brian Gill drowned in rock pool on beach.
With Steve pm.
Hatori returned last Saturday.
Meeting called for tomorrow. Hope we hear something worth while.
Beans & bran arrived at pier.
Jap paper lousy as usual.
4hrs.