Eighty years ago today , 19 February , 1942— a date which will live in infamy— Australia was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the air and naval forces of the Empire of Japan.

The event is not taught in Australian schools and is ignored by politicians – this is THE infamy not the attack itself. Of course today, no doubt politicians from both sides will be in Darwin for the commemoration but only because it is an election year – there were none there last year!

To give you an idea of significant the event was, at Pearl Harbour there were about 400 bombs dropped to the 681 one at Darwin, and there were 21 ships sunk at Pearl Harbour (all but three of which were later repaired), compared to the eight sank and 15 damaged, at Darwin. I am NOT comparing one with the other (a comparison is futile and inappropriate), just trying to give readers an idea of the scale of the attack and the impact on Darwin itself and the nations psyche at the time. It should also not be forgotten that although this was Darwin’s first and most significant bombing raid there were 64 more to come!

There were many heroic acts on that day, but probably none more than that of Wilbert (Darkie) Hudson.

Darkie was in the shower at the time of the raid and grabbed only his tin hat, boots, and a towel, and ran for his machine gun.

As Japanese planes strafed the airfield, Darkie ran out into the open with another soldier, who was known as Tex. The pair propped the machine gun on Tex’s shoulder, allowing Darkie to shoot down a Japanese dive bomber.

“As the action got a little bit more intensive, Darkie lost his towel. So there was Darkie with his tin hat and boots going like hell”.

Wilbert ‘Darkie’ Hudson became the first Australian Army serviceman to be awarded a gallantry medal while fighting on the mainland of Australia.

Another was During the attack, where the Kara Kara was singled out by several Japanese aircraft that commenced strafing the vessel. Fancis Emms manned one the vessels machine guns and returned fire and continued to do so even after he had been seriously wounded. His constant and accurate fire forced the Japanese aircraft to break off their attack and probably saved the lives of several of his shipmates.

Francis Emms was badly wounded as a result of the attack and despite being transferred to the hospital ship Manunda he died later that day and was buried at sea. He was subsequently awarded a posthumous mention in dispatches “For courage and devotion to duty in HMAS Kara Kara during an enemy air raid on Darwin on 19 February 1942”. Many of his shipmates believed he should have been awarded the Victoria Cross.

An attempt by his family to have the award granted posthumously failed, as the Defence Honours Awards and Appeals Tribunal rejected an application to award the medal, Australia’s highest military honour. Instead he was just posthumously mentioned in dispatches!

The cost of the two raids:

Australian	6 Hudsons destroyed on the ground 1 Hudson in hangar badly damaged 1 Wirraway badly damaged
American	8 P.40’s [Kittyhawks] destroyed in the air 2 P.40’s destroyed on the ground 1 B.24 LB-30A Liberator was destroyed on the ground 1 P.40 damaged in the air

Killed on ships	187
33rd Pursuit Squadron pilots	4
Australian Army	Unknown – sad but true
148th F.A., US Army	3
RAAF – at RAAF airfield	Unknown – also sad but true
Catalina aircrew (#2306)	1
Post Office	10 postal staff
Darwin Wharf	22
Civilians killed	25

The Japanese had no firm plans for the invasion of Australia. The bombing of Darwin, 80 years ago today, was part of a strategic plan to deny the Allies a base for interfering with Japan’s invasion of Timor and Java. All the attacks on Australia’s north were aimed at weakening the Allied capacity to strike at the Japanese. But nobody knew then what the Japanese had in mind.

We all thought they were coming for us!

Australian Army Headquarters had issued a set of orders to the 43rd Battalion, stationed in Darwin, ”in preparation for the anticipated landing by Japanese forces”. On February 3, 1942, Eastern Command headquarters had issued a signal there were strong indications there might be ”enemy aircraft carrier operations” on the ”North East Coast of Australia”. Just before the raid, USS Peary had a ”possible encounter” with a Japanese submarine off Darwin.

Although Darwin’s defences had been upgraded, they were far from adequate. There were not enough anti-aircraft (AA) guns and machine guns, and training had been reduced because of ammunition shortages.

It was later concluded there should have been more than twice the number of AA guns to fend off a large attack. The operational RAAF squadrons were overseas. Darwin had a variety of planes, including Kittyhawks from the 33rd US Pursuit Squadron. But the RAAF had little more than obsolete or lightly armed patrol aircraft and a radar installation that was not operational.

There has always been a cloud over the defence personnel. Though the rank-and-file servicemen were no different from anywhere else, it has been claimed some of the army officers were there because nobody else wanted them. The posting lacked the romance and adventure that might have been felt being dispatched overseas. It was a hot, sticky, tropical outpost with serious morale problems and fear, especially as Darwin’s population of about 5800 had been reduced by the evacuation of 2000 women and children.

THE attack on Darwin began when 175 Japanese planes, including Zeros and torpedo bombers, left four carriers in the Timor Sea at 8.45am, shooting down two US planes they encountered on the way. What little chance the defence forces had to prepare was marred by complacency.

There were two warnings, from a coast-watcher on Melville Island at 9.15 and from a Catholic missionary on Bathurst Island. At 9.37, Father John McGrath radioed that an ”unusually large air formation” was bearing down from the north-west. The officer receiving the calls assumed – like his counterpart at Pearl Harbour the previous December – that he was being told about friendly aircraft, in the Darwin case either a flight of 10 Kittyhawks, or LB-30 Liberators that had just left.

The alarm was not sounded. The late Zelman Cowen, a junior naval intelligence officer in Darwin at the time (later Australian Governor General), said: ”If you had had a small warning, you might have had a better opportunity for ships to be under way and not stationary.”

The Japanese commander, Mitsuo Fuchida, who led the attack on Pearl Harbour, was unimpressed by Darwin. ”It was hardly worthy of us,” he wrote later. ”If ever a sledgehammer was used to crack an egg, it was then.”

The air raid siren started at 9.58 when the bombs were already falling. The Japanese attacked the harbour, an oil depot, the post office, the hospital and army barracks. The 10 Kittyhawks from Darwin had flown to Java but had turned back. Five, approaching the base, engaged the Japanese; four were shot down. The five that had already landed were destroyed on the ground or just after becoming airborne.

The air defence of Darwin was left to AA batteries, which succeeded in downing one aircraft. In the harbour eight ships were sunk and three more in open ocean.

Albert March, 20, had hunkered down with a rifle in the suburb of Winnellie. The Japanese were so cocky, he said they waved to soldiers on the ground. ”One pilot even did stunts in the air before leaving,” he said. ”We were all inexperienced and so scared. I was young, only had six weeks’ training, and had just arrived in Darwin.”

The impact on the Australian population and the politicians was immense. The majority of Australian forces were returned to Australia to defend their homeland, including the “Fighting” 9th division, the Rats of Tobruk, against British wishes.

Australians volunteered in droves, including my Grandfather following the raids.

We celebrate the achievement of Federation, we commemorate Gallipoli, yet the bombing of Darwin was an equally significant event in Australia’s history. These events changed our history forever. It was a major event in Australian history, and yet so few people know about it.