Bombing of Darwin anniversary

[Ean Austral]

Gday All,

Well today was another Anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin, its a shame it was raining and most ceremonies were held indoors, but still a important day in this countries history..

19 feb 1942...A day we should never forget..

Cheers Ean

[The ho har's]

When we were in Darwin we went to East Point Museum, we hadn't realised how many bombs Darwin got till then:(

A very important day for everyone to remember....

[Ean Austral]

When we were in Darwin we went to East Point Museum, we hadn't realised how many bombs Darwin got till then:(

A very important day for everyone to remember....

Im pretty sure more bombs were dropped on Darwin than Pearl Harbour..It was the same Japanese carrier group that came to Darwin from Pearl Harbour.

The Adelaide river war momorial is also well worth a visit

Cheers Ean

[Bearman]

Back in the late 70's I had a look around around East Point which was pretty derelict and in a poor state in those days. I was amazed at the size of the gun emplacements. Judging by the radius of the rail track that the guns swivelled on they must have been enormous guns. Even the underground concrete bunker systems where the shells were stored was an eye opener. Good to hear it has been preserved. A very important part of Australias history. Most people are not aware of how real the Jap threat was to Australia. There have been reports of Jap infantry recce patrols getting as far inland as Katherine. The coastline from Darwin to Cape York was pretty much undefended in the war years with no radar etc and they pretty much relied on aircraft reports and the "coast watcher" horse patrols to report any unusual activities. A good friend of mine,Willie Shadforth, a part aboriginal and owner of Seven Emus station near Borroloola in the NT was one of these coast watchers. Anyone who knows the Gulf will appreciate how easy it would have been for an invading force to land under cover of darkness undetected. Thankfully the Japs were turned back in New Guinea and the Coral Sea.

[The ho har's]

Im pretty sure more bombs were dropped on Darwin than Pearl Harbour..It was the same Japanese carrier group that came to Darwin from Pearl Harbour.

The Adelaide river war momorial is also well worth a visit
Cheers Ean

Yes well worth the visit we stopped there as well..

Mrs hh:angel:

[Ean Austral]

East point received funding not that many years ago and it has been restored and think its getting another update very soon.

I think that what surprised many was that 1 of the main groups of planes that bombed Darwin actually followed the adelaide river to the stuat highway then flew up the highway and bombed most of the runways and planes as the other group came into the harbour..

We were extremely lucky there was no invasion party that came ashore at the same time otherwise things may have been very different..

Cheers Ean

[zulu Delta 534]

Bessie, my Mother in Law was evacuated from Darwin on the 17th February 1942 by ship and travelled around the top end to Fremantle then eventually back to Brisbane. She used to work in the Vic Hotel, went up there to be with her husband. A couple of her best friends are buried in the Adelaide River War cemetery, killed whilst working the switches at the PO at the time.
Harry, the Father in Law, when asked what he did when the bombing took place, always replied that they simply hid in hollow logs. He served in the Navy on the boom ships.
Having delved into the situation at Darwin at the time, he may just have been telling the actual truth too!
Definitely would not have been a nice place to be in those dark days.
Regards
Glen

[jonesfam]

Not the bombing of Darwin but to do with the defence of the Gulf.
A few years ago we had a patrol of Norforce (I think) come through looking like a mob of bandits.
After entertaining the community kids with a few blanks I had a long chat with the bloke in charge. He gave me a card & asked me to let him know if any other military types came into town.
I said it would probably be a bit late to give him a call once the Indonesians were marching down the main drag.
I was very amused when he replied he was far more interested in if we saw other Australian troops, he liked to know who was mucking about in his back yard. He indicated that if the Indonesians came that we should all run away. Monty Python anyone?
Jonesfam
PS Not the same bloke but they still come through every now & then.

[KarlB]

This was indeed a very significant even for Australia. People may find the following excellent article by former naval officer, and historian, Tom Frame interesting: Quadrant Online - The Bombing of Darwin (http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2009/5/the-bombing-of-darwin). Wikipedia also has quite a good coverage of the issue: Bombing of Darwin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:Darwin_42.jpg" class="image"><img alt="Darwin 42.jpg" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Darwin_42.jpg/300px-Darwin_42.jpg"@@AMEPARAM@@commons/thumb/a/a2/Darwin_42.jpg/300px-Darwin_42.jpg.

Cheers
KarlB
:)

[3toes]

One of my Uncles was in the RAAF and lucky to be on the airfield when it was bombed.

He had a camera and film. Told me many had cameras it was film that was very hard to come by.

Have seen the photos he took during and just after the bombing. He reckoned that you could count more bodies in his photos than the official body count.

As he got older became a bit funny about the photos as was worried if they found out and someone could then show the death toll was understated they would take away his war pension.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[The ho har's]

This was indeed a very significant even for Australia. People may find the following excellent article by former naval officer, and historian, Tom Frame interesting: Quadrant Online - The Bombing of Darwin (http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2009/5/the-bombing-of-darwin). Wikipedia also has quite a good coverage of the issue: Bombing of Darwin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Darwin).

Cheers
KarlB
:)

Thanks was a very interesting read but as 3toes has said..different if you were there:(

Mrs hh:angel:

[Bearman]

Not the bombing of Darwin but to do with the defence of the Gulf.
A few years ago we had a patrol of Norforce (I think) come through looking like a mob of bandits.
After entertaining the community kids with a few blanks I had a long chat with the bloke in charge. He gave me a card & asked me to let him know if any other military types came into town.
I said it would probably be a bit late to give him a call once the Indonesians were marching down the main drag.
I was very amused when he replied he was far more interested in if we saw other Australian troops, he liked to know who was mucking about in his back yard. He indicated that if the Indonesians came that we should all run away. Monty Python anyone?
Jonesfam
PS Not the same bloke but they still come through every now & then.


You're right, the "kamarians" could land around Point Parker and be in Doomadgee within hours probably undetected.
Good to hear the norforce boys are on the ball. They are our eyes and ears up in this country

[Hymie]

But, as Midnight Oil used to sing in the song "Forgotten Years".

Our Shoreline was never invaded, our country was never in flames......

Tell the people of Darwin, Broome, Derby and Sydney that.

[bob10]

During my time in Darwin in the 80's, we worked with Norforce on the old patrol boats, whilst they were taught small boat handling and surveillence techniques, our job being just to transport them to and fro.. They seemed a very keen bunch, although the regular Army cadre staff unkindly nicknamed them "Jawforce". At that time they were trying to actively recruit aboriginal soldiers from the various districts, the idea being they train them, then send them back as role models for the young ones, and knowing their land as they did, and speaking the language, they would have their finger on the pulse as far as gathering intelligence in their tribal lands went.
I also was fortunate eneough to hitch a ride on a Pilatus Porter [unreal experience,] to one of the cattle stations,[ Muckitty?] where aboriginal stockmen were teaching Norforce members how to use horses and packhorses for patrolling. Not sure how it all turned out, but it certainly seemed like a good concept. AAHHH, memories of Darwin...... have to go back one day soon[ I was told everone does, it gets in your blood] Bob :twobeers: