Darwin: Australia’s Pearl Harbor
In a speech given on 17 February 1942, Prime Minister Curtin described the fall of Singapore as 'Australia’s Dunkirk'. Two days later, mainland Australia was attacked for the very first time, by a Japanese strike force under the direction of Naval Commander Mitsuo Fuchida – the officer responsible for the devastating raids on Pearl Harbor.
The Japanese struck swiftly and with deadly accuracy, destroying allied ships in the harbour and at nearby Stokes Hill Wharf, and bombing Darwin’s airfields. Their motives for attacking, however, were not (as most presumed) to invade Australia, but rather to cement their strategic position in Timor.
