Diyatalawa Camp

The first batch of prisoners-of-war sent from South Africa to Ceylon arrived at Colombo on the 9th of August 1900, by the transport “Mohawk”. Further batches arrived from time to time, the last, at the beginning of June in the following year. The total number of Boer captives eventually interned in the Island was 5,089 (See Schedule of Boer arrival in Ceylon). Since the camp was not originally planned to afford accommodation for quite this large number of prisoners, additions had to be made. The circling barrier of entanglements increased in due course of time to a circumference of nearly two miles.

Records show that with little delay and no hitch these contingents of captives were immediately transferred from steamer to camp. But something that has not been recounted and perhaps never will be, is the first impression which assailed the minds of these rough, but simple and unsophisticated warriors, when they took their first view from the exit of the summit-level tunnel near Pattipola, over the Uva amphitheatre, and glimpsed as they looked down between breaks in white seas of cloud and vapour, the rolling patanas and the tin-roofed town which was their destination, sitting far away in the distance.

Sad and dour though they were, who can venture to doubt that it must have been with a shock of delight that they beheld in that vast panoramic landscape many of the characteristics of their own country. Here indeed were veldt and kopjes, surrounded by mountains and as full of cover as their own – South Africa all over again.

Source: Boere Krygsgevangenes in Ceylon