75th Anniversary of the Darwin Bombings

Why isn't this day recognised like it should be.

ONE of the last surviving World War II veterans to witness the Darwin bombings says the diggers involved never got the recognition they deserved. Tasmanian Brian Winspear can still picture the sun glinting off the bombs like confetti as hell rained down on the city 75 years ago.

Sirens blared as the then 21-year-old air gunner bolted for the trenches close to the RAAF hangar when the first of 188 enemy aircraft appeared on the horizon. Japan’s deadly campaign brought a distant war to home soil, and the Northern Territory had become the frontline.

The 96-year-old digger has travelled thousands of kilometres back to ground zero to mark Sunday’s anniversary of the NT’s darkest hour.

It was the largest and most destructive single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia and led to the worst death toll from any event in the nation’s history.

The assault was more savage than Pearl Harbor; more bombs fell on Darwin, more civilians were killed, and more ships were sunk.

Brian Winspear joined the Royal Australian Air Force as a navigator and Hudson wireless air gunner in 1939 at the age of 19 and was stationed in Kupang on 18 February 1942.

Brian Winspear joined the Royal Australian Air Force as a navigator and Hudson wireless air gunner in 1939 at the age of 19 and was stationed in Kupang on 18 February 1942.Source:News Corp Australia

The Bombing of Darwin was more savage than Pearl Harbor.

Yet three quarters of a century on, Mr Winspear says the story has remained in the shadows.

Politicians down south fell silent and censorship was rife in fear of sparking panic in the nation’s population.

“At the time there was no publicity whatsoever, the government was so ashamed of being caught with their pants down with no defence,” he said in Darwin on Friday.

“It’s an insult to the politicians of the day that the Japs could come knocking at the door ... it shouldn’t have happened.” Mr Winspear was holding the line against formidable Japanese forces in Indonesia when he was evacuated to Darwin, arriving just two hours before the raids began. Once in the trenches he put a tin helmet on and a cork between his teeth “to stop concussion” as planes flew overhead.

From this terrifyingly close vantage point, Mr Winspear said he could see the Japanese pilots grinning from the cockpit.

“It was bloody hell,” he said.

“As we looked up the sun glinted on the bombs ... it was just like confetti.” Mr Winspear is among 29 diggers who have made the pilgrimage back to Darwin from across the country to make sure the true cost of war is never downplayed again. “When my generation goes ... you can bet your yellow socks that in another five or ten years time someone around a table will say ‘let’s have another war’,” Mr Winspear said.

“For goodness sake, don’t forget to remember.”

JAPAN’S BOMBING OF DARWIN:

* Seventy-five years ago, 188 Japanese planes bombed Darwin in two air raids, drawing the top end of Australia into World War II.

* 235 people were killed, and up to 400 were wounded during the attacks, which began on February 19, 1942.

* 30 aircraft were destroyed, 11 ships were sunk, and many civil and military facilities were also heavily damaged.

* Nearly 2000 women and children had already been evacuated, but there was widespread panic and about half of Darwin’s remaining civilian population fled in the immediate aftermath.

* The raids, which were not a precursor to an invasion, were planned and led by the commander responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor ten weeks earlier. * One Japanese plane crash-landed on Melville Island to Darwin’s north, and its pilot was captured by a local Aboriginal man — the first prisoner of war taken on Australian soil.

* The assaults on Northern Australia continued for the next two years, with more than 200 raids from Exmouth in WA to Townsville in Queensland.

When we first went to Darwin, about 10 years or so ago, I was absolutely gobsmacked by the tales and history of the place in World War 2. Really I had no idea that they had suffered so much, it was well hidden for years. Why was this? Since them I have heard that Perth was prepared for a Japanese attack- again something I had heard nothing about. Scary how a thing like this can be ignored or passed over as not important, or more sinisterly, suppressed.

Most of those who died in the attack are buried at the Adelaide River Cemetary, a beautiful, peaceful place on the bank of the river.

Further south and west, the town of Broome had a few bombs dropped on it and a group of flying boats were followed from Indonesia, or, as it was known in those days, "Dutch West Indies" by japanese fighter planes and intercepted at Roebuck Bay where they were shot to pieces. I wrote a small piece in 'Reminiscing' about a couple of those incidents.

Incidentally, there was a plan put into operation re the cattle in the north and the cattle drives across Australia from Wyndham to Queensland so that if the japs landed in the north, they would not have any beef.

Cheers, Bobj.

I am quick becoming a historian on Australian history and although aware of the attacks I don't think I was aware of the magnitude of it. Bigger than Pearl Harbour?! They had a film made about that!

I am quick becoming a historian on Australian history and although aware of the attacks I don't think I was aware of the magnitude of it. Bigger than Pearl Harbour?! They had a film made about that!

Did you not see Australia with Nicole Kidman & Hugh Jackman?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_(2008_film)

When we first went to Darwin, about 10 years or so ago, I was absolutely gobsmacked by the tales and history of the place in World War 2. Really I had no idea that they had suffered so much, it was well hidden for years. Why was this? Since them I have heard that Perth was prepared for a Japanese attack- again something I had heard nothing about. Scary how a thing like this can be ignored or passed over as not important, or more sinisterly, suppressed.

It's very upsetting isn't it, you would have thought it would be mentioned on the front page of the newspapers.