Why Bomb Here?

The Darwin Military Museum was a highlight for the boys and I (Grant) yesterday. 

Some weapons of the Allies and some Japanese weapons and a few examples of the fake weapons that we had built to imply a stronger defense than we really had.  I am not sure why we don’t hear more about it but apparently the same fleet that bombed Pearl Harbour came here shortly afterwards and dropped more bombs, sunk more ships and killed more civilians than they did at Pearl Harbour.  I am told that the Japanese had really good maps of the area as prior to war, they had been contracted by the Australian Government to survey and generate better maps of key areas around Australia including Darwin. 

9.2 Inch Plywood and Steel Replica

But what I really don’t understand is why Darwin was so important to them?  It is so far from anything, apart from Mosquitos it is really hard to grow anything here and the place doesn’t seem to have any resources or industries.  I could see the Japanese dropping dead from lack of fuel and water before they got to any of our capital cities.  I suppose that may have been some of the thinking behind the Brisbane line? 

Joseph Demonstrating How to Diagnose a Misfire

What was a disappointment was how we lost the 9.2 inch guns.  They would have been amazing to watch as they fired shells distances of nearly 30 kilometers.  I was watching a video of one of the returned soldiers who was lamenting how they had put in a bid to preserve the guns from being junked for scrap metal with a view to keeping them to remember their history.  The Japanese had also put in a bid and beat them by about 25 pounds.  I can’t believe we let things like that happen but I suppose part of it appears to be that Darwin doesn’t seem to have a high profile in our history of World War II.

Grant