Here we are on our long awaited 20th Wedding Anniversary trip. For the first time since becoming parents, Mr Travel Bee and I are away without children in tow! We’ve headed to the Northern Territory for some warmth, relaxation and adventure.
Day 1 in Darwin we spent exploring the sites and history related to the 19th of February 1942 when WWII came to Australia via the Japanese. Our tour by Sea Darwin, started with a mini bus ride to Charles Darwin National Park to visit the ammunition bunkers, a visit to the Darwin Military Museum and finished with a Darwin Harbour Cruise.
The tour was excellent and what struck me throughout the day, was how ill prepared Australia was for attack. Although a military base, it seems we were completely reliant on Singapore for protection and when that fell….. we were sitting ducks, or at least the ships in Darwin Harbour were.
On the morning of the attack, there were 65 military and merchant ships moored in the harbour. At least eight were sunk, two were grounded and many more were damaged (statistics seem to vary). Along with the ships, the infrastructure of Darwin was heavily damaged, as well as its airfields. 236 people died.
David, the guide on the boat trip, was awesome (as was Mariet on the bus). He detailed the attack on Darwin harbour in what I could only describe as a frantic manner as we cruised over ship wrecks and visited the gun emplacements. Your brain struggled to keep up with what he was saying but he drew you into the situation as it happened that day. It was frantic, it was a surprise, it was uncoordinated and it was horrific.
The attacks on Darwin continued until the 12th of November 1943, by which time most people had left the city.
Today, calmness ensues, although there is evidence of war everywhere (bullet holes in walls, plaques and memorials around town). Darwin Harbour is beautiful and tranquil, seven times the size of Sydney Harbour and much less built up. Apart from the Chinese owned port, a few oil tanks and Darwin city itself (which is small as far as cities go), much of the harbour is unused and untouched. It’s difficult to imagine the atrocities that happened here and how close war came to home.
TTB
The Travel Bee 