WEST KIMBERLEY PLACE REPORT - Department of Sustainability ...

The effects of the Second World War on the home front were widespread and
common to many Australians. This shared history includes the experience of
rationing, domestic travel restrictions, prosecution of conscientious objectors and the
banning of particular political organisations (Darian-Smith 1996; DVA 2009; Ziino
and Beaumont 2004). Displacement was a common experience, in the form of
mobilisation, the deployment of family members, evacuation, internment, and death
(Darian-Smith 1996; Long 1973; Ziino and Beaumont 2004). Other effects of
mobilisation included the presence of foreign military personnel in Australian cities,
development of roads, ports, air fields, buildings, and communications infrastructure,
and the movement of troops and ordnance. Economic effects included the enlistment
of women, the encouragement of women into the workforce, subsidies for industries
associated with the war effort, and the fixing of profit margins (Darian-Smith 1996;
DVA 2009; Ziino and Beaumont 2004). Commonwealth and State governments were
motivated by strategic and security concerns as well as international obligations,
perhaps brought into focus following the war in Malaya, the fall of Singapore, Rabaul,
Ambon, Timor, Java and the defence of New Guinea (Beaumont 1996; DVA 2009;
Ziino and Beaumont 2004).
Events such as the disappearance of HMAS Sydney with all crew in 1941 and the
attack on Sydney Harbour by Japanese miniature submarines in May 1942 increased
domestic anxiety. Air raids in a number of towns in the north of Australia resulted in
devastating civilian casualties and may have heightened a collective sense of the
nation's vulnerability (DVA 2009; Ziino and Beaumont 2004). Some of these events
are evoked in surviving fabric. For example: the Japanese miniature submarine in situ
in Sydney Harbour, the Indian Ocean resting places of the Kormoran and the HMAS
Sydney II, a number of air fields and base camps throughout Australia, in towns and
military bases named for war heroes and in war memorials in towns across the nation
(Inglis 2008; Garrett and Keneally 2009).
In the west Kimberley region, these national stories are best preserved in the physical
remains resulting from air raids, and the remnants of infrastructure described above.
Communities in Queensland, the Northern Territory, Western Australia and the cities
of Sydney, Newcastle and Port Gregory all experienced attack from air or sea. The
campaign in the air began when Darwin was bombed by Japanese planes between
February 1942 and November 1943 and sustained serious damage as well as heavy
civilian casualties. These initial raids preceded 21 months of air assaults across the
Top End: Darwin, Adelaide River, Katherine and Milingimbi in Arnhem Land were
bombed 64 times; Horn Island (near Thursday Island) experienced ten raids during
March 1942 and June 1943; Townsville was subjected to three raids during July 1942;
Wyndham was raided four times; Exmouth experienced three air raids and Port
Hedland two air raids (Darwin Defenders no date; Dunn 1999). Grose (2009)
contends that the Australian Government bowed to military pressure to keep the
extent of the casualties from these attacks from the general public.
The attack in Sydney Harbour by Japanese miniature submarines between 31 May and
1 June 1942 preceded a month of raids along the eastern seaboard which disrupted
merchant shipping as well as bombing Sydney and Newcastle. These are the best
known Axis naval activities in Australian waters and, while the physical effects on
infrastructure were minimal, the psychological effects on the Australian Government,
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