1942 - Darwin, Timor and Japan

On Feb 19th 1942 Japan bombed Darwin and invaded Timor, on the same day and days after.

In Darwin the city is preparing to commemorate on February 19th 2012 the 70th anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin.   This was a big event for Darwin, and many people died, ships were sunk, and planes destroyed.

I doubt that in East Timor there is much awareness that this will also be the 70th anniversary of the invasion or shall we say the occupation of Timor.   This should also be commemorated in Dili as an important historic event in the life of the city and country.

In Darwin I have never heard anyone discuss the reason the bombing took place on that particular day.  Various books explain the reason - the one that brought it to my attention recently is 'The Men who came from the Ground' by Paul Cleary, which is mainly about the Australian Commandos who occupied Timor in the weeks beforehand.

This occupation, against the wishes of the Portuguese administrators, (while the Timorese locals were not asked), led to the occupation by the Japanese to push them out.  As a consequence over 50,000 East Timorese died by 1945 - but might have helped the allies defeat Japan in Papua before they could get to Australia..

I have written 2 letters to the local newspaper to ask that the reason for the Bombing of Darwin be part of the commemoration, with virtually no sensible reply from anyone.  Darwin leaders have asked that the history curriculum for school kids describe what happened.  I contacted the curriculum people in Darwin, and was referred to the national curriculum centre in Sydney, who said that most of the detail has to be done by Darwin teachers themselves.  Back to square one, and it seems likely only a very limited view of what happened will be taught!

We just had a visit by Timor President JR Horta with the usual bonhomie between governments.  

So I think that to get this history up front, we need the Timor Government and history buffs to make it clear that this issue is important.  Because Australian commandos were in Timor, for reasons easy to understand in a World War, Japan put in 15,000 troops, which occupied them but killed many Timorese.  Some survivors of that time are even living in Darwin eg Veronica Pereira and Tony Maia.   

So why can't we recognise Timor along with the victims of Darwin?  The Japanese bombed Darwin to ensure there were no available ships and planes based there to counter attack the force invading Timor.  That's it!  No argument.   Over to you to add your support.

Rob Wesley-Smith

Darwin

rwesley@ozemail.com.au      08 89832113

Fonte ETAN