Attractions information

Don Rak War Cemetery Kanchanaburi

The Don Rak War Cemetery in Kanchanaburi is the final resting place of 6,982 Allied POWs who perished during the construction of the Death Railway during World War II.

There is another cemetery at Chungkai just outside Kanchanaburi.

Don Rak War Cemetery in Kanchanaburi is maintained in beautiful condition by the Australian Government and is a sober reminder of those who paid the supreme sacrifice so that we could live in peace.

The Kanchanaburi War Cemetery is only a short distance from the site of the former 'Kanburi', the prisoner of war base camp through which most of the prisoners passed on their way to other camps.

The graves are marked with horizontal bronze plaques set into the grass. Scarlet, purple and white bougainvillaea tumbles over the surrounding walls and flowering trees and shrubs dot the grounds. It seems a strange thing to say, but this is truly a beautiful place.

Within the entrance building to the cemetery will be found the Kanchanaburi Memorial, recording the names of eleven men of the army of undivided India buried in Muslim cemeteries in Thailand, where their graves could not be maintained.

The Don Rak War Cemetery is the location of the ANZAC Day Wreath-laying Ceremony held on 25th April each year.

Important Information

On wet days, the lawn cemetery is off-limits to the public.

If you wish to see a specific grave, please bring the number with you as there are two main cemeteries in Kanchanaburi.

Attractions information

Hellfire Pass Museum

The Hellfire Pass Museum is co-sponsored by the Thai and Australian governments to commemorate the suffering of those Prisoners of War involved in the construction of the railway connecting Thailand and Burma during World War II.

You can walk down into Konyu Cutting itself and along the old track.

Hellfire Pass or Konyu Cutting was a particularly difficult section of the line to build, not only because it was the largest rock cutting on the railway, but also because of its remoteness and the lack of proper construction tools during building.

The Australian, British, Dutch and other allied Prisoners of War were required to work 18 hours a day to complete the cutting and many died from cholera, dysentery, starvation, and exhaustion during the six weeks it took to complete.

A new walkway has recently completed down into the cutting which has made things a lot easier. You can say a quiet word of thanks to the builders on the way down. However, you'll still need decent shoes because the rail bed is stony and the rocks are hard on your feet.

From Konyu Cutting, the walking trail follows the alignment of the original Burma-Thailand railway for approximately four kilometres from Hellfire Pass to beyond Compressor Cutting.

Attractions information

Bridge over the River Kwai

The Bridge over the River Kwai was built during World War II for the Japanese Army using Allied POWs.

Altogether, 61,700 British, American, Australian, Dutch and New Zealand soldiers and a large number of Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Malaysian, Thai, Burmese and Indian labourers were involved.
Two bridges were actually built side by side. A wooden trestle bridge, which is no longer there, was completed in February 1943 and an eleven span steel bridge completed in April 1943.

This bridge had been dismantled by the Japanese and brought to Kanchanaburi from Java in 1942. The central spans were destroyed by Allied bombings and rebuilt by British Army Engineers immediately after the war.

It was part of the strategic railway linking Thailand with Burma. During the construction of the bridge over the Khwae Yai River - River Kwai as it is known among foreigners - the brutalities of war, disease and starvation claimed thousands of POWs lives.

The bridge was immortalised in the book by Pierre Boulle entitled The Bridge Over The River Kwai and later in the movie of the same name. Unfortunately, he had never been to Kanchanaburi or he would have known that the railway does not cross the River Kwai. It actually crosses the Mae Klong River, so the Thai authorities simply renamed the river to aid tourism!