Terendak Camp


Terendak Camp is a military camp of the Malaysian Armed Forces, is situated on the coast of the Malacca Straits about to the north of the state capital of Malacca.

History

The camp was built to house the 28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade Group on their move from North Malaysia in 1959 - 1960. Construction was started in 1957 and funded by Governments of Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand on a percentage basis.
Construction of Terendak was started in June 1957 and was completed by 1964. Terendak covered an area of close to 1,500 acres with an additional training area of 3,500 acres.
28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade occupancy started in late 1959 and by the mid-1960s the camp was fully occupied.
The Garrison consisted of:
By the end of 1970, 28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade vacated Terandak when it was handed over to the Malaysian army, and remains occupied by a Malaysian Infantry Brigade.

Facilities

Within Terendak Camp the following facilities were available:
28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade were actively engaged in the confrontation with Indonesia from 1963 until 1966. Some casualties from this campaign are buried in the Terendak Garrison Cemetery, additionally some Australian and New Zealand casualties from the Vietnam war are also interred at Terendak. Dependents who died of natural causes and the remains of personnel from earlier conflicts are also interned in the Terandak Garrison Cemetery.
There are now 323 non-World War servicemen and dependent burials in the Terendak Garrison Cemetery.

Repatriation of Australian war dead

On 2 June 2016, the remains of 32 persons interred at Terendak including several family members, plus one Vietnam War soldier interred at Kranji War Cemetery in Singapore, were repatriated to Australia, landing at RAAF Base Richmond on two Royal Australian Air Force C-17s. They had been dis-interred following agreement between the governments.

Repatriation of New Zealanders interred at Terendak

Between 1960 and August 2018, 18 New Zealanders who had died in Malaysia or South Vietnam were interred in the Terendak Garrison Cemetery. As the Terendak Garrison Cemetery is not a recognised Commonwealth Cemetery and the care and future of the New Zealand Graves could not be guaranteed, there was a wish by New Zealand veterans groups and some families to have the remains repatriated to New Zealand for reburial. After considerable consultation and much resistance from the New Zealand Government, in 2017 an offer was finally made to the families of service personnel interred at Terendak to repatriate them at public expense as part of Project Te Auraki. Project Te Auraki is a New Zealand Government initiative to repatriate the 34 New Zealand service personnel interred in non Commonwealth War Grave Commission administrated cemeteries around the world. On 21 August 2018, the 18 New Zealand Servicemen interred at Terendak were repatriated to New Zealand, along with the 9 other Service personnel including one child interred in various cemeteries in Malaysia and Singapore.