Cowra

Cowra sits in Wiradjuri Country on the Lachlan River, known to its traditional custodians as Galari Bila, with a history that runs far deeper than the events of any single year. Climb Bellevue Hill for sunrise views over the whole town, or spend a day at Wyangala Dam, water skiing and sailing on a lake that has nothing to do with wartime history. Cowra is also where a thousand Japanese POWs staged the largest prison escape of the Second World War in 1944, a story now told through the Japanese Garden, the camp ruins and Australia's own World Peace Bell.