Speech, 81st Anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin

Good morning.

I want to begin by acknowledging the Larrakia People, the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet today, and pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.

I would like to extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who join us today and acknowledge our Government’s commitment to the implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

I acknowledge the current and former serving members of the Australian Defence Force who are with us today. Thank you for your service.

And I also acknowledge the families of ADF personnel and veterans. Thank you for your support and the sacrifices you make.

It is a great honour to be back in Darwin today for this Bombing of Darwin Commemorative Service.

Today, 81 years ago, the Second World War reached Australian shores.

On 19 February 1942 Darwin came under attack by Japanese forces.

The largest and most devastating modern attack by a foreign power on mainland Australia followed.

Some 240 aircraft raided the town and the harbour in two separate attacks.

In Darwin at the time was a population of about 2,000, with 10,000 Australians and 1,700 US troops stationed throughout the Northern Territory.

Tragically, more than 250 people lost their lives, including members of the armed services, allied personnel and merchant mariners, alongside civilians who had just been going about their daily lives.

Right here, by the Darwin Cenotaph is where the first shots were fired in defence of Darwin by the 14th Anti-Aircraft Battery.

Eight of the 47 ships in the harbour were sunk, including the United States destroyer USS Peary, which we commemorated this morning, with the loss of 88 sailors, and another two ships were sunk off Bathurst Island.

Victorian Harry Dale was aboard HMAS Karangi in the harbour that fateful day and wrote to his mother:

“we heard this low droning sound. It was a plane but sounded pretty high up. Then it came into view, it wasn't one, but many. They all glistened silver in the sun, like they were painted with silver frost. It was the sun shining on them. It looked like nine, then another nine, then another nine…..By now they were well into view coming across the harbour in a line, which to me was taking them straight up the town. We reckon they were 30,000 feet high. I raced into the wheel house and pressed the alarm button, then I stood in the doorway. As they got closer I could see their bombs starting to fall. All the planes let them go together. They looked like golf balls.”

The effects were devastating. The war had come to Australia.

Two weeks after the initial raids on Darwin, Japanese aircraft attacked Broome with over 80 people killed or wounded and 24 Allied aircraft destroyed.

These raids were the first of many across northern Australia during 1942
and 1943.

In total, 97 attacks took place on locations across the north, from Wyndham, Port Hedland and Derby in Western Australia; to Darwin and Katherine in the Northern Territory; Townsville and Mossman in Queensland, and Horn Island in the Torres Strait.

To quote the now Prime Minister, when he spoke at this event last year:

Survivors lived with memories, but not the small mercy of them fading over the years.

And yet, Darwin stood.

Over Japan’s nearly two-year campaign and 64 air raids, Darwin responded with courage, resilience and resolve.
They withstood an empire, and as they did, they showed the rest of Australia something important – that even if our place in the world changed, our character as a people should not.

Thanks in no small part to the defenders of Darwin, it did not.

Today on this national day of remembrance, we honour those who died in the attacks on Darwin in 1942, those who lost their lives in the attacks across northern Australia, and all those who served in the defence of our nation during the Second World War.

Lest we forget.

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