During both world wars, numerous German citizens, merchants, merchant ship crews, etc. were interned in Australia and New Zealand or, if they were in military service, imprisoned as prisoners of war.
This was particularly the case in 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War, when the German protectorates in the island world of the Pacific Ocean, such as New Guinea and Samoa, were occupied by Allied troops. The deceased internees and prisoners were often buried far from their places of internment and close to their places of detention.
In order to ensure the protection of the graves in Australia, the British Commonwealth War Graves Commission created a war cemetery for the victims of both wars in Tatura in the state of Victoria in the late 1950s.