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Wednesday again and time to learn a little more about Australians
under fire in 1942 and today’s post is about the bombing of Darwin.
This occurred on Thursday 19 February 1942 at 9.58am, at the time
of the attack Darwin was a small coastal town in the Northern Territory with a civilian
population of about 2,000.
After the attack on Pearl Harbour there had been a rapid advance
of the Japanese, so efforts had been made to secure Darwin. Darwin was the base
of the 7th Military District of Australia.
Larrakeyah Barracks contained the men of the 23rd
Australia Infantry Brigade, there was also two Australian Infantry ani-aircraft
batteries. The RAN base there was a floating dock.
The RAAF was at a base built in 1940 about 8 kilometres south of
Darwin.
Ironically, a radar station at Dripstone Caves which wasn’t far
from Darwin wasn’t yet operational. However, after it became operational it was
a great help in preventing further attacks on Darwin.
There was also a small number of American service personnel
stationed in the area since the attack on Pearl Harbour. Which over time
expanded to other parts of the country.
By late December 1941 most white and Asian women and children
had been evacuated, however, little if any thought was given to the large Aboriginal
population. They were expected to fend for themselves, what a disgraceful thing
to do.
There was around 63 white women who stayed, and they were for
the most part employed in essential services, such as nursing and telegraphy.
Some civilians and organisations had dug slit trenches and there
had been several trial air raid alarms but overall, the defences were
inadequate, as a result a tragedy of errors occurred.
By late February Port Darwin had become an important staging point
for ship convoys and aircraft on their way to fighting in the north-west. The port
was very crowded on the 19th as a convoy of ships carrying
Australian and American troops and supplies escorted by the USS Houston had returned
to port after an attack by the Japanese. Their objective had been embattled
Timor. The congestion of the port contributed to the large amount of casualties.
Were there really efforts to secure Darwin? I would have assumed that the very large cities further south were more at risk.
ReplyDeleteNo I do not think there was any really effort to protect Darwin
DeleteWWII exposed a lot of faults in the "good guys", not just abandoning the Abos. Like our Japanese concentration camps. Nothing like what the Germans and Japanese did, though...
ReplyDeleteYeah the Germans and the Japanese did some truly horrible things
DeleteSo sorry to hear that. I've never known about Australia's history in the war.
ReplyDeleteI am sure you are not alone many don't know much if anything
DeleteWar is never where we want to be, is it? Thanks for this history lesson!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading
DeleteI am here to say I didn't know about the Australian involvement until this! Thank you Jo-Anne! I had no idea that I didn't realize the breadth of WWll until just now!!
ReplyDeleteI enjoy watching world history so I do remember reading about it. I kept meaning to get over to read - better late than never!
ReplyDelete