Terowie with Lisa McAskill: In the Mid North region of South Australia

Terowie may be a sleepy Mid North town these days but there was a time when it was a pivotal hub in Australia's transportation system. Until 1970 it was the longest running 'change gauge' railway station in the country with passengers stopping off here to swap from the broad gauge line to narrow gauge.

And in World War Two, Terowie was a temporary home to thousands of Aussie diggers and American GI's who camped on the local footy oval before heading off the war before catching the trains north.

But Terowie was made famous by a visit by another American heading in the opposite direction. On Friday March the 20th, General Douglas MacArthur, who controlled the war effort in Australia's region, was on board his own train, having recently fled Battan in the Philippines following the Japanese advance.

At the Terowie railway station, General MacArthur made his famous promise: 'I came out of Battan and I shall return".

It was one of the great promises of World War Two and was made at a time when Australia was at its lowest ebb. Many were convinced invasion by the Japanese was imminent and the words of this larger-than-life General acted as a rallying cry for a fearful population in the darkest days of the war. Today, MacArthur's words are immortalised in a plaque alongside the railway platform.

I asked local resident, Pearl Harvey to show me around and she took me to the edge of the town oval to a little known landmark - the remains of the old jail. It was built during the war when thousand of diggers and yanks were camped here.

"The cells were used for the soldiers who went to town and into the local hotels and played up too much.' explained Pearl.

So many blokes with too much time and too little to do made for an interesting mix. Two-up was all the rage and a few too many drinks were had at the local pubs.

A night in the lock-up was certainly on the cards for the Aussie wags who snapped the bayonet from the World War One memorial in the town's main street back in the 1940s. Pearl has replaced it with a wooden replica and the marble digger still stands as a reminder of the brave young men who came through here more than sixty years ago.

It's also a reminder of MacArthur's other famous saying: "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away."

General MacArthur's plaque is near the railway siding. Terowie is about two hundred kilometres north of Adelaide.

MacArthur's Plaque
"I Shall Return"
Terowie Railway siding
Terowie
Barrier Highway - 200 North of Adelaide