Did you know that the bombing of Pearl Harbor was repeated against Darwin in World War Two? Guest contributor Jolyon Bird of Walkmyworld.com tells us all about it.

Notice board in the amazing Darwin Military Museum.

The Second World War has several events that are widely known that made it a global conflict - the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Stalingrad, D-Day and Okinawa to name a few, but it wasn’t until I emigrated to Australia that I learned that the Second World War even touched the Land Down Under. The Bombings of Darwin are the largest attacks by a foreign power on Australia and it not only had a lasting impact on the city of Darwin, but it transformed Australian foreign policy forever.

Why did the war reach Australia?

The war in the Pacific arguably started a lot earlier than the war in Europe, when the Japanese invaded Manchuria (an area in Northern China / Southern Russia) in 1931 and went on to take more of China. Historian formally recognise that the Pacific War began in 1941 when Japan bombed American Naval bases in the Pacific (most notably Pearl Harbour), British Colonies in South East Asia and conquered Thailand. 

By 1942, the Japanese empire stretched from Burma in the West to the Soloman Islands in the East, from Manchuria in the North to New Guinea in the South. This meant put it within a very short distance of Australia, something which made the Japanese very wary. Strategically, Darwin was incredibly important for the defence of Australia, as it was the closest major city to the Indonesian archipelago. However, it was also used by the Americans who docked ships in the port and had a small amount of fighters based there. As the USA had declared war on Japan in 1941 after the bombings of Pearl Harbour, the American craft based in Darwin posed a potential threat to the Japanese empire. The bombing of Darwin was seen as a way of taking Timor, showing it’s domination to Australia and taking out America planes and ships.

The bombing of Darwin

The bombing raids on Darwin on 19th February 1942 caught the city completely by surprise. Whilst defences in Darwin had been increased at the outbreak of war, and the Australian Government had ordered an evacuation order in 1941 after the attacks on Pearl Harbour, the Australians weren’t expecting an imminent attack or invasion.

There is an awesome audio-visual display in the Darwin Military museum.

This is a big reason why the Japenese Navy were able to bring four huge aircraft carriers so close to Darwin undetected. At 10am, 188 Japanese planes reached Darwin, attacking the port and sinking 3 warships and 5 other ships, before bombing the airfields, army barracks and oil storage facilities. Tragically the air raid sirens were not used until during the attack, as the officers who had sighted the planes mistook them for American planes returning from Java. 

A second raid was launched 2 hours later on two airbases and sinking two ships in the harbour and further devastating the city. The Japanese met some resistance from Australian defences on the ground, as well as Australian and American Aircraft, but they were little match as the Japanese only lost an estimated five aircraft during the conflict. This is made even more apparent by the report that a Japanese fighter that went ahead of the bombers and shot down four of the five American Kittyhawks he faced. 

Another scene from the audio-visual display.Based on accounts from the time it demonstrates quite clearly that the attack on Pearl Harbor was not a “one off”!

The aftermath

The bombings of Darwin were only the beginning of Japanese raids into Northern Australia. By 1943, there were a further 62 raids (some argue there were up to 100 more) from Broome in Western Australia to Townsville in Queensland, with many attacking the routes and military installations South of Darwin in the Northern Territory. Whilst none were as large as the initial two raids on Darwin, it had a lasting impact.

The attacks had an unintended consequence of forging a close alliance between Australia and the United States, with Australia participating in every American War after the Second World War. The War in the Pacific lead to ANZUS, a mutual defence agreement between Australia, New Zealand and the United States.  

Nowadays, the Bombing of Darwin is seen as one of the most significant events in Australian History and was commemorated at the recent 75th anniversary. You can not only visit several museums dedicated to the bombings, but you can also visit bunkers, air strips and even the tunnels that were dug under Darwin as an alternative to the oil tankers that were destroyed during the raids. 

Today, we think we know all about World War Two. This seemingly innocuous object was dropped with the intention of killing Australians and destroying their property, yet few of us, outside of Australia, knew a thing about it! A visit to the Darwin Military Museum will open your eyes to a little known piece of World War Two history.

Where you can visit to learn more

At times, it feels like everywhere in Darwin has something about the bombing of Darwin, and there are a lot of places which offer really detailed information about it. You can start at the Darwin Military Museum, which has a film recreating the events as well as a gun turret that was built in anticipation of such an attack occuring. There are several huts (with blissful air conditioning to fight the humidity) with first-hand accounts and weaponary all from the time. The museum doesn’t pull its punches, and is open in admitting that the attack on Darwin was a major intelligence failure, but it also commends the resilience of the Darwinians.

Another great place to visit is the Royal Flying Doctor Service on the harbour in Darwin. This is one of the newest museums in the city and has a virtual reality experience where you put on a headset and witness the day’s events. It’s a more interactive experience than the Darwin Military Museum with films and touch displays to bring the history to life. You can also learn more about the work of the RFDS and see the planes they use to treat rural Australians. This is probably the place to bring the kids to learn more about the conflict.

Finally there’s the underground oil tunnels that were built after the oil containers in the harbour were destroyed. Whilst it is interesting to go into the underground tunnels, the information on show is more of a generic and there isn’t that much on the tunnels that is unique.

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