Darwin Waterfront Lagoon

On the 19th Feb 1942 Darwin was attacked by the Japanese in an attack bigger than Pearl Harbour. 188 planes attacked Darwin over 2 waves about one hour apart. There were warnings from the Tiwi islanders of the incoming aircraft that were ignored by the Darwin forces thinking he was drunk.

2 bombing raids occurred that day and attacks on Darwin continued for 21 months with 64 total raids. Officially 292 people died on the 19th but locals say figures could have been closer to 1500. The papers and government - John Curtain initially mislead the public, figures in the Melbourne papers said 15 dead! And Sydney stated 8! They attacked from aircraft carriers located 236 nautical mines off Darwin the same distance they attacked Pearl Harbour from 10 weeks earlier.

Previously the South Australian government had employed pearling divers from Japan who had maps of Darwin and the surrounding area which they believe were used to plan attacks.

They are still finding bombs in the Darwin waterfront. They found a live bomb here 3 weeks ago next to the oil pump house which was never bombed.

We heard some funny stories of soldiers who were hero’s in taking down some aircraft that day.
Fredrick Wombie shot down a plane while standing on the oil tank they were trying to take down.
Darkie Hudson shot down a plane and was known as naked gunner after hearing the planes whilst in the shower and running out in boots and a towel.

We saw the submarine net anchors. The net spanned about 6km from oneside of the harbour to another. It kept all the subs out of Darwin. There is a Japanese sub just outside the harbour called the I-124 which our guide Garry also believes may have had a role in the HMAS Sydney the previous year.Read more