Adelaide River War Cemetery & Snake Crk

Visited this beautiful memorial that honours the many who died when WW2 arrived on Australian shores. The impact of the Japanese attack on Darwin was immense - more bombs were dropped during the air raid of 19 February 1942 than on Pearl Harbour! In excess of 60 Japanese aerial incursions occurred over the Top End with bombings as far south as Katherine. The graves of these soldiers are meticulously maintained in an oasis of lush, green, scented gardens.

Adjacent is a civilian section containing the graves of non service people who also became victims of the war. This included a very prominent tribute to the workers - many of whom were related - of the Darwin Post Office which suffered a direct hit from Japanese bombers, killing everyone inside.

Adelaide River was strategically important as troops in Darwin were pushed back by the bombing. After searching over two days we eventually found the site of the old armament camp at Snake Creek. More of a secret now than it possibly was during WW2 and only accessible by 4WD. It's not signposted and has been left to rot away, because (we were told) it is on Aboriginal land and therefore no one wants to take responsibility for it.

The remains left behind are slowly being reclaimed by the bush but you can still see some of the buildings used to make and store artillery shells and the railway line used to transport everything in and out. It's placement outside of the town in a heavily vegetated valley meant Japanese bombers would have had difficulty spotting it.Read more