History WW2 Book

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RETROactive 2 128 World War II was far more widespread than World War I. In Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific there was a terrible loss of life and human suffering in the years from 1939 to 1945. Many ordinary people were killed in their homes from bombing raids. Some were moved into camps where they were subjected to torture and cruelty. Most experienced the horror of modern war or were expected to participate in the war effort of their country. A MELANCHOLY DUTY — AUSTRALIA AND WORLD WAR II Why was Australia involved in World War II? What were some of the experiences of Australians as a result of their involvement in the war? What was the impact of the war on the Australian home front? How did Australia’s relationship with Britain and the United States change during World War II? A student: 5.2 assesses the impact of international events and relationships on Australia’s history 5.3 explains the changing rights and freedoms of Aboriginal peoples and other groups in Australia 5.4 sequences major historical events to show an understanding of continuity, change and causation 5.5 identifies, comprehends and evaluates historical sources 5.7 explains different contexts, perspectives and interpretations of the past. INQUIRY Chapter 5 Australian troops parading through the streets of Sydney on their return from the Middle East in 1942 AWM 026499

Transcript of History WW2 Book

Page 1: History WW2 Book

RETROactive 2

128

World War II was far more widespread than World War I. In Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific there was a terrible loss of life and human suffering in the years from 1939 to 1945. Many ordinary people were killed in their homes from bombing raids. Some were moved into camps where they were subjected to torture and cruelty. Most experienced the horror of modern war or were expected to participate in the war effort of their country.

A MELANCHOLY DUTY —

AUSTRALIA AND WORLD

WAR II

• Why was Australia involved in World War II?• What were some of the experiences of Australians

as a result of their involvement in the war?• What was the impact of the war on the Australian

home front?• How did Australia’s relationship with Britain and

the United States change during World War II?

A student:5.2 assesses the impact of international events and

relationships on Australia’s history5.3 explains the changing rights and freedoms of

Aboriginal peoples and other groups in Australia5.4 sequences major historical events to show an

understanding of continuity, change and causation5.5 identifies, comprehends and evaluates

historical sources5.7 explains different contexts, perspectives and

interpretations of the past.

INQUIRY

Chapter 5

Australian troops parading through the streets of Sydney on their return from the Middle East in 1942

AWM 026499

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CHAPTER 5: A MELANCHOLY DUTY — AUSTRALIA AND WORLD WAR II

129

ACTU: Australian Council of Trade Unionsaliens: people from a foreign country who do not have citizenship in the country where they are livingausterity: living simply; managing with only the basic needs and wasting nothingboom net: a net put across the entrance to a harbour, which can be raised or loweredcensorship: government control over what the public can read, view or hearconscription: a system of compulsory service in a nation’s armed forcesdouble burden: a term used to describe society’s expectation that women continue to perform their unpaid household work while also participating in the paid workforceevacuate: to move out of an area, usually because there is a potential danger or threatfamily (or basic) wage: the concept introduced by Justice Higgins in 1907 that set a basic wage for a male breadwinner at an amount that would allow an unskilled worker enough money to support a wife and three children. The Commonwealth Arbitration Court set female wage rates at 54 per cent of this amount on the assumption that the male was the breadwinner.fuzzy-wuzzy angels: term used by Australian soldiers for people of Papua who helped them during the warGeneva Convention: an international agreement on the rules for wartime treatment of prisoners of war and the woundedinternment: the practice of keeping people under guard in a certain areakhaki: the colour of Australian soldiers’ desert uniforms in World War II. The khaki uniforms had to be dyed green before being used in jungle fighting.Lend-Lease: an Act passed by the United States Congress on 11 March 1941 to sell, transfer, lend or lease armaments to the Allies without the United States being directly involved in the warmunitions: weaponry, ammunition and other materials used in fighting warnewsreel: a short film presenting current news events, shown at cinemasprisoners of war: people taken prisoner during a war and held against their will while the conflict continuesrationing: a system involving the exchange of coupons for goods and foods that were in short supply during the war, to ensure everyone could obtain a sharereserve labour force: a term used to describe how women have been used as a ‘spare’ labour force in times of need, leaving their traditional roles in the home and taking up jobs in the paid workforcesiege: the surrounding and blockading of a placetotal war: a war in which everyone in a country is involved by either fighting or helping those who are fighting

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AT WARAGAIN

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The Great War of 1914–18 was called the ‘war to endall wars’. The extent of killing and destruction ledpeople to hope that there would be no such war again.

However, three countries — Germany, Italy andJapan — took steps after World War I to achievetheir own goals, even if it meant another war.• Germany resented its defeat in World War I and

the way in which the Versailles Treaty at theend of the war punished it. Adolf Hitler usedthis resentment, and the devastation caused bythe Great Depression, to take advantage of theweaknesses in Germany’s democracy and createa one-party dictatorship.

• Italy and Japan had both been allies of GreatBritain in the Great War, but both felt that their

contribution was not recognised after the war.Both countries also became dictatorships andadopted aggressive foreign policies.

In September 1938, Britain, France and Italyagreed to allow Hitler to occupy the German-speaking area of Czechoslovakia. In March 1939,Hitler broke the agreement by seizing the rest ofCzechoslovakia. When this was followed by theGerman invasion of Poland on 1 September1939, Great Britain and France declared war onGermany.

OUTBREAK OF WAR IN EUROPE

Map showing German and Italian aggression (1935–39) and some of the main sites of Australian involvement (1940–42)

Source 5.1.1

N O R T H

S E A

M E D I T E R R A N E A N S E A

B L A C K S E A

CASPIAN

SEA

SuezCanal

Tobruk

Damascus

Crete

Sicily

To Abyssinia(Ethiopia)

SWEDEN

BELGIUM GERMANY

FRANCE

PORTUGAL

SPAIN

EGYPT

ROMANIA

BULGARIA

UNITED

KINGDOM

TURKEY

IRAN

SAUDI ARABIA

LATVIA

ESTONIA

TRANSJORDAN

IRAQ

East Prussia

MOROCCOALGERIA

LIBYA

SYRIA

LUX.

SWITZERLAND

YUGOSLAVIA

HUNGARY

GREECE

NETHERLANDS

DENMARK

LITHUANIA

TUNISIA

ITALY

ALBANIA

UNION OF SOVIET

SOCIALIST REPUBLICSPOLAND

PALESTINE

CZECHOSLOVAKIAAUSTRIA

1000 km

500

0

N

Tobruk

German conquests 17 March 1938to September 1939

Italian conquests October 1935to April 1939

Soviet advance into PolandSeptember 1939

Significant battle area for Australians

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131CHAPTER 5: A MELANCHOLY DUTY — AUSTRALIA AND WORLD WAR II

Key events in the lead-up to war in Europe

Australians were aware that the German, Italianand Japanese invasions of other countries in the1930s made war a possibility. (See source 5.1.1 forGermany and Italy and source 5.2.1 for Japan.) In1939, Australia had a United Australia PartyPrime Minister, Robert Menzies. It appeared toMenzies that if Britain was at war, Australia aspart of the British Empire was also at war.

An extract from Prime Minister Menzies’ announcement of Australia’s entry into World War II, broadcast on 3 September 1939

Source 5.1.2

GERMANYMarch 1938: union with AustriaSeptember 1938: occupies German-speaking

areas of CzechoslovakiaMarch 1939: invades the rest of the Czech stateSeptember 1939: invades west Poland

ITALYOctober 1935: invades Abyssinia (Ethiopia)April 1939: invades Albania

SOVIET UNIONSeptember 1939: invades east Poland

‘MY MELANCHOLY DUTY’

Source 5.1.3

Fellow Australians. It is my melancholy duty to inform you officially that, in consequence of the persistence by Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared war on her, and that, as a result, Australia is also at war . . .

It may be taken that Hitler’s ambition is not to unite all the German people under one rule, but to bring under that rule as many countries as can be subdued by force. If this is to go on, there can be no security in Europe and no peace for the world.

A halt has been called. Force has had to be resorted to, to check force. The right of independent people to live their own lives, honest dealing, the peaceful settlement of differences, the honoring of international obligations — all these things are at stake.

There was never any doubt as to where Great Britain stood in regard to them. There can be no doubt that where Great Britain stands, there stands the people of the entire British world.

Published in the Advertiser, Adelaide, 4 September 1939. Prime Minister Robert Menzies

The front page of the Melbourne Sun, 2 September 1939, at the start of the war in Europe

Source 5.1.4

BRITAIN, FRANCEMOBILISE:

POLES SEEK AIDAustralian Associated Press

LONDON, Friday.—Britain and Franceto-day ordered a general mobilisation

following the German invasion of Poland.The King signed an order for a general

call-up after the Privy Council had met thismorning for 12 minutes.

A Polish official source informedUnited Press that Poland has invoked themilitary alliance with Britain and hasasked her aid.

The French Premier conferred withthe French war leaders. SubsequentlyCabinet decided to put 6,000,000 menin the field.

German troops, converging on threefronts, have crossed all Polish frontiers.

Polish sources say that the PolishArmy is falling back slowly on previously-prepared positions in Upper Silesia.

The Polish Embassy reports that many lives,including women and children, were lost in air raids onWarsaw. The British Embassy at Warsaw, however,reports that there had been no bombings there today.

Other Crisis News on Inside Pages

NAZIS START WAR

THE CABLE MESSAGE which announced the beginning of hostilities between Germany and Poland. It came from an American source.

King George VI

First News of Fighting

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The Second AIF (Australian Imperial Force) leftAustralia in January 1940 and joined the fighting inthe Mediterranean, the Middle East and NorthAfrica. When Italy invaded Egypt in September1940, the Australian 6th Division forced them back.Some troops were then sent to Greece. Here, Ger-many had control of the skies and its planesattacked soldiers, cities and supply ships. TheAustralians were forced to evacuate to the nearbyisland of Crete. The Germans attacked the islandusing parachute troops to overcome opposition, and274 Australians were killed.

The situation changed dramatically when Italydeclared war on England and France on 10 June1940; France surrendered to Germany two weekslater. The Australian troops were now deployed infighting the Germans and Italians in the Mediter-ranean, North Africa and the Middle East. FromSeptember 1940 to July 1941 Australian troopsfought in Egypt to defend the Suez Canal.

With Europe now under German control, theAustralian 7th Division was sent to fight againstthe French in Syria, where, in a five-weekcampaign, 416 Australians were killed.

One of the most famous events of the northAfrican campaign was the siege of the town ofTobruk. The town was cut off by the Germangeneral Rommel. There were 15 000 Australians in

WAR IN NORTH AFRICA

the town and their only supply route was by sea.Despite attacks from dive bombers, tanks andinfantry, the defenders — Australian, Polish,Indian and British soldiers — held on for eightmonths, from 11 April to 10 December 1941. TheGermans called them the ‘Rats of Tobruk’, whichthe Australians considered a mark of respect. Latein 1941, a British counter-attack forced theGermans to lift their siege.

From October to November 1942, the 9th Divisionof the AIF fought at the Battle of El Alamein, wherethe Germans were finally defeated by the Allies andforced to leave North Africa. The British commander,General Montgomery, expressed admiration for theAustralian soldiers for their determination inappalling conditions, saying that ‘we could nothave won the battle in twelve days without thatmagnificent 9th Australian Division’.

An Australian soldier’s description of conditions in Tobruk

Source 5.1.6

Dust storms, heat, fleas, flies, sleepless nights, when the earth shook with the roar of the enemy’s fury, daring raids into no man’s land through mine fields and barbed wire, scorching day after day in the front line, where no man dared stand upright, but crouched behind a knee-high protection of rocks — all these things had been the lot of the defenders of Tobruk.

Age, 24 November 1941.

A photograph of Australian soldiers in action in North Africa during World War II AWM 010580

Source 5.1.5

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133CHAPTER 5: A MELANCHOLY DUTY — AUSTRALIA AND WORLD WAR II

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) fought severalbattles in the Mediterranean, including one on19 July 1940, in which HMAS Sydney sank the Italiancruiser Bartolomeo. The navy also lost two ships: • HMAS Waterhen and HMAS Parramatta were

sunk off Tobruk in June and November 1941respectively.

• HMAS Nestor was sunk after a fight withGerman aircraft in June 1942.

Australian aircrews from the Royal Australian AirForce (RAAF) went to Britain and Canada fortraining at the outbreak of the war. They then helpedto defend England against Germany during theBattle of Britain from July to October 1940. Later,these men served on British planes which bombedGerman cities such as Cologne and Dusseldorf.RAAF members also served in Crete, Greece,France, Italy and North Africa.

Check your understanding1. What reasons did the Australian government have for

going to war in September 1939?2. Name three areas in which Australia fought during

1941 and 1942.3. How were the Germans able to capture Greece and

Crete so easily?4. Why is the siege of Tobruk an important event for

Australians?5. In what ways were the RAAF involved in the war in

Europe?

Using sources1. From sources 5.1.1 and 5.1.2 and the text, construct a

timeline starting with the lead-up to war in 1938 and finishing at the end of 1942.

2. What do sources 5.1.3 and 5.1.4 reveal about Australia’s relations with Britain?

3. List five points that can be observed about the soldiers’ uniforms in source 5.1.5.

4. What evidence is there in source 5.1.5 to support what is said in source 5.1.6?

5. Study source 5.1.7. Imagine you are a young Australian keen to join the armed forces. Write a diary entry describing your reaction to this poster.

Researching and communicatingGo to www.jaconline.com.au/retroactive/retroactive2 and click on the Tobruk weblink. Download the map at the start of this site, then conduct an imaginary interview with a survivor of Tobruk. Ask him how they got the name ‘Rats of Tobruk’ and what conditions were like for them.

Worksheets

5.1 Armed forces graph

A recruitment poster for the RAAF. The Battle of Britain and other contests in Europe led to a growing interest in Australia in joining the RAAF. AWM ARTV04283

Source 5.1.7

Page 7: History WW2 Book

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At the same time that Germany and Italy wereexpanding in Europe and Africa, the Japanese werein the process of creating an empire in East andSouth-East Asia (see source 5.2.1). The war entereda new phase in the Pacific and came closer todirectly threatening Australia when the Japaneseattacked the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor,Hawaii, on Sunday 7 December 1941.

A map showing the Japanese empire in 1931 and Japan’s military expansion, 1932–42

The Japanese attacked without warning andwithout having declared war on the United States.The United States Pacific fleet was nearly wiped out,but four of its aircraft carriers were out of the harbourat the time. This was very important later in the war.

On 9 December 1941, after Japan had declaredwar on Britain and the Commonwealth, Australia’snew Prime Minister, John Curtin, announced thatAustralia was at war with Japan.

Most people now realised Australia was in danger.It was even suggested that a line be drawn on a mapfrom Brisbane to Adelaide, and that only placessouth of this ‘Brisbane line’ would be defended. For-tunately, the idea was rejected by the government.

CHINA

BURMA

JAPAN

THAILANDFRENCH

INDO-CHINA

PHILIPPINES

KOREA

OUTER MONGOLIA

Hawaii(U.S.A.)

MALAYA

INDONESIA New Guinea

0 1000

2000 km

N

Marshall Islands

Caroline Islands

Guam

MidwayIslands

1932

1937

1942

1942

1941

December 19411940

AUSTRALIA

PACIFICOCEAN

INDIANOCEAN

Japanese empire 1931Japanese expansion 1932–1942

Area under Japanese control by 1942

Source 5.2.1

A photograph of Japanese planes attacking Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941. This photograph was taken from one of the planes.

How one newspaper told of the start of the Pacific War

Source 5.2.2

Source 5.2.3

JAPAN FIGHTING BRITAIN, U.S.

War Declared in TokyoSUDDEN TREACHEROUS BOMBING OF

AIR AND NAVAL BASES IN HAWAIIAmerican Fleet Goes To Sea: Naval Action Rumored

Australian Associated Press

WASHINGTON, Sunday — Japan has declared war onBritain and the United States.Imperial Headquarters in Tokyo announced at 6 a.m. today thatJapan had entered a state of war with the United States and Britainin the Western Pacific as from dawn today. The Premier (General Tao)held a 20-minute Cabinet meeting at 7 a.m. The Foreign Minister (MrTogo) then summoned the British and American Ambassadors.

Following swiftly on news of the Japanese action against Britain andthe United States, the Netherlands East Indies declared itself at warwith Japan. General mobilisation was ordered, and the Governmentinvited the Royal Air Force to station planes at strategic points in theIndies. Canada also declared war on Japan.

Hostilities broke out early today, when sudden and treacherous attackswere made by Japanese aircraft on American naval and air bases in Hawaii.

Simultaneously Japanese Marines took over the waterfront ofthe International Settlement at Shanghai. The British gunboatPeterel (310 tons, complement 55) was sunk at Shanghai.

The Japanese Domei (official) newsagency announced in Tokyo thatnaval operations were in progress off Hawaii, with at least one Japaneseaircraft carrier in action against Pearl Harbor, the U.S. naval base in theisland of Oahu, Hawaii. It said that Japanese bombers raided Honolulu at7.35 a.m., Hawaii time. Later it was reported that a naval battle was inprogress in the Western Pacific between Japanese and British andAmerican units.

The United States Fleet steamed out of Pearl Harbor tonight.

Herald, 8 December 1941

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135CHAPTER 5: A MELANCHOLY DUTY — AUSTRALIA AND WORLD WAR II

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was fol-lowed by attacks on Burma, Borneo, the Dutch EastIndies (Indonesia), Malaya and other parts ofSouth-East Asia. The island of Singapore was stra-tegically important for the British and Allied forcesin South Asia at the start of 1942. It was thelocation of Britain’s naval base for the defence of theFar East, and Australian troops were posted therein support of the British effort. Singapore appearedto be a stronghold whose coastlines could always bedefended from invasion. So long as Britain main-tained its presence there and continued to defendthe island and the seas around it, Australia feltprotected.

On 10 December 1941, two British warships, theRepulse and the Prince of Wales, were sunk byJapanese bombers off the coast of Malaya. This wasa serious blow for Britain and its naval strength.Singapore’s defences were severely weakened andthere was increasing concern in Australia.

At the end of December 1941, Prime MinisterJohn Curtin appealed to the United States for helpwith defence.

Extract from an announcement by Prime Minister John Curtin that Australia would look to the United States for help with defence

An attack on Singapore was expected to comefrom the sea. There were no permanent defences onthe landward side, and Singapore’s big gunspointed towards the ocean and couldn’t be turnedaround. The Japanese advance continued by landand the troops moved quickly down the MalayPeninsula, many on bicycles.

Allied troops, including the soldiers of theAustralian 8th Division, tried valiantly to hold backthe Japanese advance, but were forced down the pen-insula and across to Singapore. Japanese air attacks

THE FALL OF SINGAPORE

Source 5.2.4

[The] United States and Australia must have the fullest say inthe direction of the [Pacific] fighting plan . . . I make it quiteclear that Australia looks to America free of any pangs as toour traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom. Weknow the problems the United Kingdom faces. We know theconstant threat of invasion . . . but we know too that Australiacan go, and Britain can still hold on . . . We are thereforedetermined that Australia shall not go and we shall exert allour energies towards the shaping of a plan, with the UnitedStates as its keystone, which will give our country confidenceof being able to hold out until the tide of battle swingsagainst the enemy.

Herald, 27 December 1941.

devastated Singapore, and Allied resistance was inef-fective against the Japanese troops who crossed overthe strait from Malaya by boat. On 15 February1942, Singapore was captured; around 85 000 Alliedtroops surrendered, including 15 000 Australians ofthe 8th Division. Many became prisoners of warand died of starvation and ill-treatment in Japaneseprisoner-of-war camps (see page 138).

For Australians, the fall of Singapore was aserious development in the war. For the first time,Australia was alone and defenceless. Curtin calledon all Australians to focus their efforts on the warthat was now on their doorstep.

Prime Minister John Curtin describes what he expected of Australian citizens after the fall of Singapore.

Check your understanding1. Why were the Japanese so successful in their attack on

Pearl Harbor?2. Who was Australia’s Prime Minister in December

1941? Which country did he turn to for help? Why?3. Explain why the fall of Singapore was such a

significant event for Australians.

Using sources1. Using source 5.2.1 and the text, put the events from

this section in chronological order and place them on a timeline from 1931 to 1942.

2. Read source 5.2.3 and answer the following questions.(a) What attacks, apart from the one on Pearl Harbor,

did Japan launch on 7 December?(b) Name one country, apart from Britain and the

United States, that joined in a declaration of war on Japan.

3. Explain what Curtin is saying in source 5.2.4 about Australia’s links with Britain and the United States.

Source 5.2.5

. . . For Australia our utmost, which means everything we haveand everything that belongs to us, must now be mobilised.. . .The protection of this country is no longer that of a con-tribution to a world at war but the resistance to an enemythreatening to invade our own shore.. . . It is now work or fight as we have never worked or foughtbefore.. . . The hours previously devoted to sport and leisure mustnow be given to the duties of war. Every citizen has a parallelduty to that of the man in the fighting forces.. . . And brains and brawn are demanded in every place of warendeavour. We have to pep up the production of every essen-tial requirement.

West Australian, 17 February 1942.

Page 9: History WW2 Book

EXPERIENCES AT KOKODAAND MILNE BAY

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Early in 1942, the war came directly to Australiawhen Darwin and other northern Australian citieswere bombed (see page 140). The Japanese hadplans to capture and occupy Port Moresby in PapuaNew Guinea (PNG), but they were prevented bydefeats in two crucial naval battles: the Battle ofthe Coral Sea (4–8 May 1942) and the Battle ofMidway (5–7 June 1942). US aircraft carriersplayed a vital role as landing platforms for planesused to bomb Japanese ships.

The Japanese then decided to land on thenorthern coast of Papua New Guinea and approachPort Moresby overland. They arrived at the coastaltown of Gona on 21 July 1942; their intended routeto Port Moresby would be the Kokoda Trail.

The Kokoda Trail (also called the Kokoda Track,although ‘Trail’ is now more common) took its namefrom the village of Kokoda on the northern side ofthe Owen Stanley Range and the site of the onlyairfield between Port Moresby and the north. Thedistance to Port Moresby from Gona was only about200 kilometres as the crow flies, but the trail ranover some of the toughest terrain in the world. Itwas a narrow, rugged track through dense jungle,swift-flowing rivers and steep mountains. Itclimbed two mountain ranges, reaching a height of2200 metres.

At first, the 39th Militia Battalion defended it.This battalion was hastily made up of conscripts;their average age was only 18.5 years.

At the start they were hopelessly outnumbered andhad little equipment. Even their khaki uniforms werethe wrong colour for jungle fighting and had to be dyedgreen. However, they were helped by the local peopleof Papua, who the Australians called ‘fuzzy-wuzzyangels’. These locals would bring supplies up the trackand take wounded men back for medical help. ManyAustralians owed their lives to these people.

Despite all the difficulties, the Australians wereable to prevent the Japanese reaching their objectiveof Port Moresby. The Australians made the Japanesefight for every centimetre of jungle. On 29 July 1942the Australians were forced to retreat from the townof Kokoda, and on 11 August the airfield there fellinto Japanese hands. On 17 September 1942, theJapanese reached Ioribaiwa Ridge. In the distancethey could see Port Moresby, which was only 50 kilo-metres away, but on 25 September the Australiantroops began the long process of forcing them back.

The Australian troops were encouraged by newsof the success against the Japanese at Milne Bay onthe eastern coast of PNG. Japanese troops hadlanded there on 25 August 1942 in an attempt to cap-ture a newly built Allied airfield, which they couldthen use as another base to attack Port Moresby.

Source 5.3.1

Imita Ridge

BootlessBay Musa

Laloki

Kum

usi

Mam

bare

River

River

River

River

OW

EN

STA

NLE

Y R

AN

GE

OWEN STANLEY RANG

E

0 50 100 km

IsuravaAlola

Port Moresby

N

Gona Sanananda

Buna

DoboduraSoputa

WairopiKokoda

Oivi

Owers’ Corner

IoribaiwaMenari

Efogi

2000 to 4000 metres

1000 to 2000 metres

500 to 1000 metres

200 to 500 metres

0 to 200 metres

Height above sea level

Kokoda Trail

CORAL SEA

CORAL SEA

Port Moresby

Lae

Cairns

PAPUA

NEW GUINEA

Gona

X

Battle ofCoral Sea

AUSTRALIA

location of places mentioned on these pages and detail of the Kokoda Trail

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137CHAPTER 5: A MELANCHOLY DUTY — AUSTRALIA AND WORLD WAR II

An Australian soldier describes conditions on the Kokoda Trail

A photograph showing how difficult it was to move supplies along the Kokoda Trail. Although conditions in the jungle were terrible, the Australians never gave up. They were fighting to defend Australia — only 800 kilometres away.

AWM 054746

Extract from the translation of a Japanese soldier’s diary, believed to be that of Lieutenant Noda Hidetaka, probably of the 3rd Battalion, 144th Japanese Infantry

Source 5.3.2

I was one of a party of considerable size, who were cut off in the dense jungle for fourteen long weary days without food.

All I had to eat for the first ten days was one tin of bully beef, one packet of hard biscuits, half pound dehydrated ration and a little chocolate ration.

. . . When we were permitted to light a fire, it was often too wet, as it rains up here every day and every night. We would be wet through and have to sleep in wet clothes, and would we shiver! . . . All we had to sleep in was a holey ground sheet. The ground up in the jungle is never dry, and smells terribly, the leaves and trees are simply rotten through no sun ever penetrating the thick foliage.

Source 5.3.3

Source 5.3.4

22nd August, Saturday CloudyGot up at 0400 hrs. Left for KOKODA at 0500 hours . . . reached a spot just below KOKODA at 1200 hours . . . I hear that the enemy are young, vigorous and brave. Against this enemy we have this terrain also. It will be necessary for us to put forth our utmost endeavour and uphold the prestige of our Imperial Army . . .

Australian War Memorial, Captured Documents, nos 32–35,1942. www.awm.gov.au/atwar/remembering1942/kokoda/

awm54-japanese.pdf

After days of bitter fighting in mud and rain, theAustralians successfully defended the airfields andforced the Japanese to retreat (6 September 1942).This was the first defeat of the Japanese on land inthe Pacific and it destroyed the belief that theJapanese were unbeatable in jungle fighting.

The Australian troops, which now included thosewho had returned from the Middle East, slowlyforced the Japanese back along the Owen StanleyTrack to Kokoda (on 2 November). On 16 NovemberAustralian and United States troops began attackingBuna and Gona. Gona fell to the Allies on 1 Decemberand a month later, on 2 January, Buna was captured.

A photograph of conditions in Milne Bay, New Guinea, for Australian soldiers in 1942 AWM 013339

The Australian victory on the Kokoda Trail wasJapan’s second defeat on land and marked the startof the Japanese retreat in the Pacific. Although thelast pockets of resistance were not wiped out untilthe war ended, the threat of Japanese invasion wasover for Australia. In the Kokoda campaign, 625Australians were killed and over 1600 wounded.Another 4000 casualties were due to sickness.

Check your understanding1. How was the Japanese strategy in PNG altered

because of its defeat in the Coral Sea? 2. What initial difficulties were faced by the Australian

troops who tried to stop the Japanese advance?3. Find the date for each of the following events and

place them on a timeline: Battle of Coral Sea; Japanese land in PNG; Japanese capture Kokoda airfield; Milne Bay defended from Japanese attack; Allies recapture Kokoda; Gona captured; Buna captured.

Using sources1. Using the text and sources 5.3.1, 5.3.3 and 5.3.5,

describe the features of the terrain that made fighting difficult.

2. Carefully read sources 5.3.2 and 5.3.4.(a) What features of warfare did the soldiers face?(b) What was the Japanese view of the Australian

soldiers?

Source 5.3.5

Page 11: History WW2 Book

EXPERIENCES OFPRISONERS OF WAR

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The Japanese military code assumed that soldierswould fight to the death; this meant that very fewJapanese soldiers allowed themselves to be takenprisoner. They chose instead to die by suicide. TheJapanese, therefore, were not prepared for the largenumber of Allied soldiers who became their pris-oners after the surrender of Singapore on 15 Feb-ruary 1942. The Japanese did not always respectpeople who had surrendered. A total of 130 000Allied prisoners were taken, including over 22 000Australians.

The majority of prisoners were kept in Changi,which had been built in Singapore six years earlieras a civilian prison. It was therefore quite modernfor the time, with sewerage and flushing toilets,but it had to accommodate thousands more pris-oners than the numbers for which it had beendesigned.

Map of South-East Asia, showing places and events mentioned in the text

From Changi, prisoners were sent by train andthen on foot to work on the Thai–Burma Railway.The Japanese planned to use this to carry suppliesfor an attack on India. Conditions there werequite different from those in Changi (see source5.4.4).

Source 5.4.1

AmbonIsland

0 1000 km500

N

T H A I L A N D

C H I N A

M A L A Y A

B U R M A

P H I L I P P I N E S

AU S T R A L I A

P H I L I P P I N E

S E A

SOUTH

CHINA

SEA

JAVA SEA

INDIAN

OCEAN

D

UT C H

E A S T I N D I E S

F R E N C HI N D O - C H I N A

Bangkok

Singapore

SandakanRanau

Palembang

Moulmein

BorneoSumatra

Java

New Guinea

Sabah

Thai–BurmaRailway

Other soldiers were sent from Changi to prisonsin places such as Japan (where they were forced towork in war industries), Burma, Manchuria andFormosa. The sea voyages to these camps werethemselves dangerous. On three occasions, US sub-marines sank ships carrying prisoners, with a lossof over 1700 lives.

On 14 February 1942, the Japanese sank a shipcarrying 65 nurses being evacuated from Singapore.Twenty-two nurses made it to land but 21 were shotby Japanese soldiers. The only nurse to survive wasSister Vivian Bullwinkel, who remained in aJapanese prison on the island of Sumatrathroughout the war (see source 5.4.5 and page 150).Only 22 nurses returned to Australia at the end ofthe war; the rest died in captivity.

The worst experiences of the war took place onthe island of Ambon, in what is now Indonesia, andat Sandakan in East Malaysia. In Ambon, over 200Australians were massacred in February 1942.

In Sabah (North Borneo), there were two forcedmarches of soldiers from a camp in the coastal townof Sandakan up to Ranau, over 2000 metres high.When soldiers became ill on the march, they wereshot or bayoneted by the Japanese. Out of the 2345Australian and British prisoners of war on thesemarches, only six survived.

A newspaper account of conditions for Australians in a Japanese prison camp, 1945

Source 5.4.2

During the past six months the Japanese High Command in thePhilippines has insisted that it does not recognise any form ofinternational law, although the Japanese Premier told Americain 1942 that Japan would honour the Geneva Convention.[Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War].

In the camps, men, women and children, including theaged and sick, were supplied with less than 900 calories perperson per day, although 1700 are required to keep a sleepingperson healthy. Everyone in the camp suffered from malnu-trition and because of the lack of protein they were not ableto control urination.

During the penultimate six months of our internment,rations were reduced to six ounces of corn and rice per personper day, plus 150 kilos of soya bean meal. There were virtu-ally no vegetables, except those grown by the internees, andabsolutely no fruit, no meat, and no fish. We were suppliedwith a pinch of salt.

Sydney Morning Herald, 6 February 1945.

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139CHAPTER 5: A MELANCHOLY DUTY — AUSTRALIA AND WORLD WAR II

A photograph of a hospital ward in the Changi prisoner-of-war camp, September 1945, showing members of the 8th Division, recently released after the Japanese surrender. All were suffering from malnutrition. AWM 019199

An extract from Stan Arneil’s description of his period on the Thai–Burma railway in May to December 1943

Source 5.4.3

Source 5.4.4

It has been estimated that 100 000 prisoners and coolies died during the construction of the railway, approximately 393 people for every mile of the track. Troops died from every known tropical disease and from sheer exhaustion.

So constant was the torrential rain that the troops were wet for months on end, many of them had no shirts, others only lap laps and most in bare feet. Men died in such numbers that the traditional ‘Last Post’, the haunting bugle call normally played at military funerals, was played only once per week, for all those who had died during the week. It was thought that the sounding of the ‘Last Post’ for every death, sometimes six or seven a day, would have had a depressing effect on the troops.

The group of prisoners of whom I was a member was known as F Force and suffered the highest percentage of deaths of any force on the railway. Of a force of 7000 men, 3096 died, forty four per cent of its original strength, in nine months. Many more died later as a result of the disease and privation they had suffered on the railway.

The rate of deaths was so great that there was not time, and not sufficient men strong enough, to dig graves. The dead were cremated on bamboo fires and a handful of ashes of each man collected in a separate bamboo container cut straight from the bamboo.

Many of those who returned from the railway never recovered their former health.

It was a period when the Australians concentrated solely on the business of living, almost willing themselves to live.

Stan Arneil, One Man’s War, Sun Books (Pan Macmillan),Melbourne, 1982, p. 91.

An account of the experience of survivors from the Vyner Brooke, a ship sunk by Japanese bombers on 14 February 1942 while evacuating nurses and civilians from Singapore

Check your understanding1. What beliefs about fighting did the Japanese have that

often led them to have little respect for prisoners of war?

2. Prisoners were often moved from Changi to other locations.(a) List three locations to which they were moved.(b) State two ways in which the Japanese used the

prisoners to help them fight the war.

Using sources1. From the map in source 5.4.1 and the text, explain

what the Japanese were hoping to achieve by building the Thai–Burma railway.

2. Why do you think the photograph in source 5.4.3 was taken? Why are such photographs a valuable resource for historians?

3. From a study of all the sources, list the ways in which the Japanese treatment of prisoners during the Pacific War was often inhumane.

Source 5.4.5

The nurses sent the civilian women and children on ahead, remaining with the wounded on the beach. When the Japanese arrived, they marched the men around the corner of the beachhead, returning minutes later with bloodstained bayonets. The Australian nurses were then forced into the water and shot from behind. Only one, Staff Nurse Vivian Bullwinkel, survived the shooting. That is how we know about it. She was the tallest of the women and the bullet that struck her passed through her side just below waist level. After many days of living in the jungle, scrounging for food in the native villages and caring for the only male survivor, Private Kingsley, the two . . . once more surrendered to the Japanese. This time they were taken into custody. Kingsley later died, but Bullwinkel survived and was reunited with thirty-one of her colleagues [who became] prisoners of the Japanese on Bangka Island, together with hundreds of other women and men.

The men were separated almost immediately. The women were to be moved many times during the next three and a half years, spending most of their time at Palembang in Sumatra. The Japanese refused to recognise the Australian nurses as military personnel . . . they received no Red Cross parcels and were not permitted to write home for eighteen months, or receive mail . . . through it all they retained dignity, close friendships, an ability to cope and adapt . . . the last few months were very hard . . . eight of the women died in those final months.

G. Hunter-Payne, quoted in On the Duckboards: Experiences of theOther Side of War, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1995, pp. 44–6.

Page 13: History WW2 Book

CIVILIANS UNDER ATTACK: DARWIN AND THE SUB ATTACK ON

SYDNEY

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The year 1942 was the first period in Australia’shistory when it came under direct attack. The per-ceived threat of invasion by Asia that had troubledAustralians for decades suddenly became real.

The fears of Australians were realised when thedisaster at Singapore (discussed on page 135) wasfollowed by a Japanese bombing raid on Darwin.The ships and airfield at Darwin were the Japanesetargets; they needed to destroy these so they couldinvade New Guinea and then Australia.

On 19 February 1942, in the first enemy attackon Australian soil, Darwin wasbombed by 188 Japanese planes.About midday on the same day, 54Japanese bombers attacked Darwin’sRAAF base. In both raids, about 250people were killed and hundreds wereinjured. Most of these were civilians.Damage to the town and ships in theharbour, including a hospital ship,was extensive. To avoid panic amongthe Australian people, the govern-ment stated that only 15 people hadbeen killed and 24 wounded.

Over the next two years, Darwinwas attacked at least 58 times. Thetown of Broome and ships in theTorres Strait were also attacked. EvenQantas aircraft were shot down byJapanese planes.

BOMBING OF DARWIN AND NORTHERN AUSTRALIA

Despite the Japanese fleet’s retreat after the Battleof the Coral Sea, Japanese bombers and sub-marines were still attacking Australia. Barbed wirewas placed on beaches to stop any possibleinvasion, and everyone had to practise what to doin case of an air raid.

Japanese submarines were very busy off Sydneyduring May and June 1942. A boom net was evenplaced across Sydney Harbour to stop submarinesgetting in.

ATTACKS ON SYDNEY AND NEWCASTLE

Source 5.5.2

Les Barnett, an air force electrician, describes the Japanese attack on Darwin on 19 February 1942.

Source 5.5.1

They were making unusual sounds and going at odd speeds. Then we saw Kittyhawks flying close to the runway and other planes coming down and machine-gunning them, and hitting them. There were explosions and aircraft crashing. We started to think this is fair dinkum! Out the other end of the building, looking south we could see all these aircraft coming in at low level. They were divebombing and machine-gunning the shipping in the harbour.

Outside our block there was an air raid trench and we jumped in. There were bombs dropping all around us and

you could see the machine-gun bullets running up the fibro walls and through the roofs. We had our rifles and tin hats and some of us did try to shoot the Jap planes but it was impossible. You think you can do these things but you can’t. They were that fast, zooming down and past you. I didn’t think about dying, I just thought about getting out of the way. Everyone was cursing the Jap! We were going to get them one way or another, but it was hopeless.

Quoted in Daniel Connell, The War at Home, ABC Books,Crows Nest, 1988, p. 44.

A photograph of one of the Japanese midget submarines which was sunk in Sydney Harbour in 1942 AWM 012723

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141CHAPTER 5: A MELANCHOLY DUTY — AUSTRALIA AND WORLD WAR II

Early on Saturday 30 May 1942, a Japaneseseaplane flew down Sydney Harbour then to Mascotand back out to its mother submarine. No-one firedat it and it was able to note where the importantwarships were. On the night of 31 May 1942, threeJapanese midget submarines entered SydneyHarbour. Each submarine had two crew membersand two torpedoes. One of the submarines wascaught in the boom net but the other two followed aManly ferry into the harbour.

Judith Hunt recalls the evening when, as a nine-year-old girl, her home in Bellevue Hill, Sydney, was shelled by the Japanese.

Source 5.5.3

One of my aunts had been repairing an old wireless and as I was sleeping I was dreaming about it. Suddenly I heard a long low whistling sound, then another and another, and then the most enormous explosion. The next thing I remember was my mother lying on top of me. Then she pulled me under the bed. My grandmother was in the room behind ours. Fortunately she also crawled under her bed because the brick wall beside her collapsed. It fell straight across her bed. Afterwards you could see the imprint of her head on the pillow with the bricks all around.

Quoted in Daniel Connell, The War at Home, ABC Books,Crows Nest, 1988, pp. 66–7.

Source 5.5.4

People only realised that Sydney was beingattacked when the crew caught in the boom netblew themselves up to avoid capture. The secondsubmarine was sunk but the third fired its tor-pedoes at the USS Chicago. It missed but a torpedoexploded near the Kuttabul and 21 sailors died.

One week later, on 7 June 1942, Sydney wasattacked by a Japanese submarine off the coast. Tenshells were fired and four exploded in the Bondiarea. Newcastle was also shelled by Japanesesubmarines. Now Australians knew what it was liketo be involved in total war.

Check your understanding1. Which Australian fears were realised in 1942?2. When in 1942 was Darwin bombed, and for what

reasons?3. How did Japanese midget submarines enter Sydney

Harbour in 1942 and why?

Using sources1. In source 5.5.1:

(a) what methods were the Japanese using to attack Darwin and its defences?

(b) how were the Australians trying to defend Darwin?2. Suggest why the submarine shown in source 5.5.2 was

recovered from the harbour floor.3. Imagine you are a

reporter in 1942. Using the photograph in source 5.5.2 and the text, write a newspaper headline and brief article about the submarines discovered in Sydney Harbour.

4. From sources 5.5.2 to 5.5.4, explain why the attack on Sydney was such a cause for concern at the time.

Researching and communicatingGo to www.jaconline.com.au/retroactive/retroactive2 and click on the History Teachers Association weblink. Using their Attack upon Australia webquest, your task as a team is to prepare a museum display about the Japanese submarine attack upon Australia in May–June 1942.

A photograph of the damage done to a home during the Japanese shelling of Sydney in 1942 AWM 012594

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INTERNMENT OF‘ENEMY ALIENS’

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Source 5.6.2Photograph of Australian soldiers marching a large group of Japanese internees to a prison camp

By August 1944, there were about 19 000 alienprisoners of war in Australian internment andprison camps. Most of these were Italians (14 720),most of whom had been captured in campaigns inthe Middle East. The rest were made up mainly ofJapanese (2223) and Germans (1585). As the warcontinued, the Italians were generally not seen as agreat threat, and the majority of them worked onfarms under supervision but often without guards.

Photograph of two families of German internees behind their identification number at Tatura Internment Camp in Australia, March 1945 AWM 030242/13

The Japanese were seen as a greater threat. Halfof the Japanese prisoners (as well as some Germans,Koreans and Indonesians) were kept in a prison inCowra, in the central west of New South Wales.Compared with the Australian prisoners of the

Source 5.6.1

Japanese, the Japanese in Australian camps werevery well treated, but they tended to see this as asign of weakness (see source 5.6.4).

Photograph of Italian prisoners of war at the Liverpool Internment camp in New South Wales, 1945. The camp sold firewood and the internees worked in timber cutting as well as blacksmith work and farming. AWM 123717

An officer of the garrison guarding the Japanese at Cowra wrote as follows.

Source 5.6.3

Source 5.6.4

They [the Japanese] did not understand the Articles of the Geneva Convention . . . and our strict adherence to its terms merely amused them and further convinced them of our moral and spiritual weakness. They read into our humane treatment of them a desire to placate them, and this they felt sprang from our secret fear of them.

www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/cowra/doc.htm

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143CHAPTER 5: A MELANCHOLY DUTY — AUSTRALIA AND WORLD WAR II

Early in August 1944, there were reports of a possibleJapanese break-out at Cowra. On Friday, 4 August,the Japanese prisoners were notified that all of them,apart from officers, were going to be moved to Hay.At about 2 o’clock the next morning, a Japanese buglesounded and Japanese prisoners broke out in threegroups, on three sides of the camp. By 14 August, 334prisoners were retaken; 234 were killed (including 30who killed themselves by such means as hanging)and 108 were wounded. Two guards were knifed andclubbed to death while firing a Vickers gun at theescapees. Two others were killed in the breakout andwhile rounding up escapees.

THE COWRA BREAKOUT

Check your understanding1. List the countries from which ‘aliens’ in Australian

prison camps originally came.2. What event preceded the Japanese break-out from

Cowra?3. What were the Japanese and Australian casualties in

the Cowra break-out?4. Why were there a high number of suicides and

attempted suicides among the Japanese casualties?

Using sources1. Imagine you are one of the people in source 5.6.1 or

5.6.3. Write a diary entry describing your typical day in the camp.

2. Read source 5.6.4 and explain in your own words how the Japanese interpreted the way they were treated in Australian prison camps.

3. From source 5.6.4 and the text, explain why there were more restrictions on the Japanese than there were on other prisoners such as the Italians.

4. What impression of the prisoners and their treatment can you gain from the photograph in source 5.6.2? Consider their clothing, appearance and possessions if they have any.

5. Study source 5.6.5 and read its caption. Working with a partner, make up names for each of the farmers in the photograph and compose a dialogue that might be taking place between them about the Cowra break-out, the noises they can hear in the distance and their concern for their families’ safety. Act out your dialogue for the class.

Researching and communicatingThe Geneva Convention (as mentioned in source 5.6.4) is an international agreement about how prisoners and the wounded must be treated in wartime. Using your library or the Internet, find out more about the Geneva Convention, such as when it was drawn up, which countries are signatories to it and what some of its rules are.

A photograph of two Cowra farmers standing guard at the gates of their property, with their families locked inside, on hearing of the Japanese prisoners’ escape in August 1944

Source 5.6.5

C I V I C S A N D C I T I Z E N S H I P F O C U S

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WARTIME GOVERNMENT CONTROLS

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Whenever a country is under threat of invasion orat war, governments take on increased powers andmore control over people’s lives. People can be con-scripted for military service or directed to work inparticular industries that are thought to be neces-sary for the war effort. Clothing, food and fuel maybe rationed.

Freedom of the press, freedom of speech andpeople’s legal rights may also be limited. Whensuch actions are carried out, there must be somebalance between the rights of the individualcitizen and the need to ensure that the country asa whole is protected.

On 9 September 1939 — just over a week afterthe start of World War II — the CommonwealthGovernment was given wide-ranging powers inthe National Security Act: ‘An Act to make pro-vision for the safety and defence of the Common-wealth and its territories during the present stateof War’.

Conscription was enforced by the government inWorld War II without a referendum or the debatethat took place over the issue in World War I.

Soon after war broke out in Europe, the Aus-tralian government decided to introduce conscrip-tion for the defence of Australia and her territories.Australia already had a militia of about 80 000 menwho were immediately called up. Compulsorymilitary training of 20-year-old single men wasintroduced in October 1939. This was opposed bythe trade unions and members of the Labor Partybut the Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, believedthat it was fair; other militia members had to giveup their jobs, so these men should as well.Australia then had two armies:• the Second AIF which was made up of volunteers

for overseas service• the CMF (Citizen Military Forces), later the AMF,

made up of conscripts trained to defend Australia.They could not be sent outside Australia or itsoverseas territories (Papua, for example).In 1941, as the possibility of war with Japan

increased, the Australian government made allmen, when they turned 18, register for possible

CONTROLS ON THE HOME FRONT

CONSCRIPTION

service. The upper limit was increased to 33 years.Early in 1942, and with the increased threat afterthe fall of Singapore, these young men were calledup into the army. They were given from one to threemonths training and then sent to Papua. This wasan Australian territory at the time, and their aimway to try to stop the advance of the Japanese (seepages 136–7).

For the rest of the war, AIF and AMF battalionsfought side by side. Most conscripts joined the AIFwhen they turned 19. In January 1943, the area towhich conscripts could be sent was expanded toinclude the entire island of New Guinea and theislands of Bougainville, New Britain and NewIreland. For the first time, Australian conscriptswere sent to fight outside Australian territory.

Also in 1943, the Defence Act was altered to allowwomen to be conscripted into the auxiliary forces (seepage 149) because there were not enough volunteers.

A recruitment poster for World War II, published in 1942

Source 5.7.1

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145CHAPTER 5: A MELANCHOLY DUTY — AUSTRALIA AND WORLD WAR II

In January 1942, the Labor government introducedregulations to control where and how people worked(see source 5.7.2). The number of people involved inproduction related to the war effort, such asmunitions, steel production and military equip-ment, went from 36 000 at the outbreak of war to1 400 400 by June 1944. (Australia’s population wasabout 7.5 million.)

The Labor government’s regulation of manpower, January 1942

A total of 900 000 people were placed in indus-tries, but the vast majority of these placementswere voluntary. One area in which enforcement wasconsidered was in Goulburn, where women wererequired to can fruit for the troops.

During the war, the Commonwealth Governmentalso assumed increasing power over the states. In1942, the states lost their power to collect incometax. Rates of taxation varied greatly betweenstates, and the Commonwealth Governmentwanted to ensure that residents of all states sharedequally the high cost of waging war.

Most goods were in short supply during the warand substantial supplies of food and clothing wereneeded for the troops so they could continuefighting. A system of rationing was introduced bythe government, which restricted the quantity andtypes of goods that people could buy. Every house-hold was given a ration book, and goods such asclothing, tea, sugar, meat and butter could only bebought if the correct coupons were presented.

In August 1942, Prime Minister John Curtincalled for a ‘season of austerity’ and askedAustralians to ‘deprive themselves of every selfish,comfortable habit’. People would often swap couponswith neighbours for goods which they wanted. Meatwas in such short supply that in 1944 the meatration was only one to two kilograms per person perweek. Petrol was also rationed.

MANPOWER CONTROLS

Source 5.7.2

. . . the resources of man-power and woman-power in Australia shall be organised and applied in the best possible way to meet the requirements of the defence forces and the needs of the industry in the production of munitions and the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community . . .

Paragraph 3 of the regulations.

RATIONING

In this 1944 Bulletin cartoon by Norman Lindsay, the effects of rationing and austerity are expressed — families could not afford any more mouths to feed.

An account by Unice Atwell, a child during the war years in Charters Towers, Queensland, describing some of the ways in which families coped with rationing

Source 5.7.3

THE ONCE-WELCOME STRANGER

Source 5.7.4

Mothers became adept at making clothes last longer. They cut adult garments down to make children’s, and there was even more handing-down to younger brothers, sisters, even cousins, than before . . .

Silk, most of which had come from China and Japan before the war, was now very scarce, and far too valuable [for parachute making] to be used for making ladies’ stockings. In those pre-nylon days, this meant that stockings all but disappeared. Since being caught without your stockings on was then more or less equal to being caught starkers these days, this was a serious problem for many women. Some overcame it by applying leg make-up . . . Stockings in those days had a seam down the back, so this too had to be painted on . . .

Cars began to appear with charcoal-fuelled gas producers, or with gigantic bags of town gas on top of them. As tea substitutes, newspapers suggested tea-tree, as used by the early settlers, maidenhair fern, red clover blossom and lucerne.

Unice Atwell, Growing up in the 40s, Kangaroo Press,Sydney, 1983, pp. 45–7.

C I V I C S A N D C I T I Z E N S H I P F O C U S

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Within days of the Australian declaration of waragainst Germany, the Australian government intro-duced censorship of news on radio and in the press,and these restrictions applied for the rest of the war.Overseas communications by telegraph, telephoneand post could also be censored. Radio telephoneservices to Britain and New Zealand were stopped.

A Department of Information was set up and, forthe next six years, Australians were told only whatthe government wanted them to know. The powersto control the press were extended in July 1940.From then, the government could have the final sayabout the ‘position, space or time allotted to anyitem published, broadcast or exhibited’ in any news-paper or magazine, on radio or at the cinema.The government believed that this would preventmisleading and untruthful stories being circulatedwhich could weaken Australian morale. Manypeople believed that, by censoring the press,Australia would become no different from the coun-tries that it was fighting against, which also con-trolled what could or could not be printed or heard.

Prime Minister Menzies gives his reasons for introducing censorship, 7 September 1939.

The government warned people not to gossip orspread information. Personal letters from service-men and women to family and friends in Australiawere heavily censored. Servicemen and womenwere not allowed to keep personal diaries in casethe enemy obtained and used them for information.Letters could not include details of when ships weresailing or the numbers, locations, movements anddestinations of troops.

CENSORSHIP

Source 5.7.5

I agree in advance that we must preserve Australia — that is why I have introduced this bill — but we must also preserve liberalism of thought in Australia; we must preserve as much freedom of thought and action as is consistent with the safety of the country. I agree with what the leader of the Opposition (Mr Curtin) said, that we may reach a point where the safety of the country may require that Jones or Brown should be stopped from doing something or saying something; but in every case, the real test should be, ‘Is this related to the safety of the country?’ — not, ‘Is this a golden opportunity to suppress the opinions of someone who does not agree with me?’ . . . I have no hesitation whatever in asking Parliament to do now what it did 25 years ago; that is, to arm the government with the authority necessary to carry on this struggle, which may become a very grim struggle even for Australia before we are much older.

Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, House ofRepresentatives, 7 September 1939, vol. 161, pp. 163–5.

Newsreels also presented a positive view of the wareffort. Victories were celebrated while most losseswere only briefly mentioned.

The truth about such events as the sinking ofHMAS Sydney, the bombing of Darwin, the con-ditions experienced in the jungles of New Guineaand the treatment of Australian prisoners of waronly became widely known after the war ended.

Historians are still searching forevidence to help understandmany of the events that occurred.

Source 5.7.6

A 1943 World War II poster demonstrating that the security of Australia was everyone’s responsibilityAWM ARTV02497

Source 5.7.7Mail being censored during World War II AWM 001774

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147CHAPTER 5: A MELANCHOLY DUTY — AUSTRALIA AND WORLD WAR II

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, precautionsagainst air raids became a fact of life in Australiantowns and cities. Air-raid trenches were dug andshelters were built in playgrounds, parks and back-yards. Adults and schoolchildren were drilled in air-raid and evacuation procedures at the sound of thewailing siren. Home defence groups were formed,which included the appointment of air-raid pre-caution (ARP) wardens who practised bomb removaland monitored other security measures.

A photograph from the early 1940s showing air-raid precaution wardens practising bomb removal, while curious locals look on AWM 027451

A photograph of kindergarten children in Sydney, in 1941, practising air-raid drill. The headgear was designed to muffle the sound of explosions, protect their teeth and prevent them from biting their tongues.

DRILLS AND DEFENCE

Source 5.7.8

Source 5.7.9

Check your understanding1. Why was conscription in World War II not such a

controversial issue as it had been in World War I?2. What powers did the government have over where

people worked during the war, and why did they feel these powers were needed?

3. Why was rationing introduced?4. Why did some people oppose censorship?

Using sources1. What does source 5.7.1 suggest as a

reason for volunteering to join the AIF?

2. From a careful study of source 5.7.2, list some of the industries the government would want to ensure had enough people working in them.

3. (a) What do sources 5.7.3 and 5.7.4 tell us about life in Australia during the war?

(b) In what different ways could these sources be useful to historians?

4. In source 5.7.5, what reasons does Robert Menzies give for introducing censorship?

5. What kind of information do you think the government was concerned about that led it to distribute posters such as source 5.7.6?

6. Why did the government enforce the practice of air-raid drills?

Other examples of defence precautionsincluded the following:• Beaches were spread with barbed wire,

apart from a path to the water that waslocked at night; guards patrolled thebeaches.

• Windows in towns and cities had to beblacked out to prevent enemy planesseeing lights from the air and the ARPswould go around checking that residentswere complying.

• Street lights were reduced. In Sydney, everysecond light had the globe removed.

• Street signs, railway station names andsigns naming towns were taken down toconfuse the enemy.

• Every building with more than 130 peopleworking in it had to have an air-raidshelter.

C I V I C S A N D C I T I Z E N S H I P F O C U S

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THE CHANGING ROLES OF WOMEN DURING WORLD WAR II

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Australian women played a more active and impor-tant role in the World War II war effort than theyhad during World War I. They volunteered in tensof thousands for work in and beyond areas associ-ated with their traditional roles. Women moved intothe paid workforce, taking on men’s roles in busi-nesses and on the land. They departed from theirtraditional roles to join all three branches of themilitary service, though not in combat.

Women knitted balaclavas, gloves, jumpers andsocks to provide items for the Australian ComfortsFund to send to men serving overseas. They organ-ised entertainment for men on leave and theyformed organisations to coordinate less traditionalvoluntary work.

The Women’s Australian National Service(WANS) organised women to drive and service armyvehicles, ambulances and aircraft. It also trainedwomen in air-raid drills, first aid and basic militarydrills. More specialised training targeted thedevelopment of skills in shooting, signalling andmechanics. Three hundred women trained with theWomen’s Emergency Signalling Corps so that malepostal workers could enlist in the armed services.

Women responded diligently to the increasedneed for their efforts following Japan’s 1941 entryinto the war. The Auxiliary of the National DefenceLeague of Australia made most of the camouflagenetting needed to disguise military equipment andpotential targets from enemy aerial surveillance.The Red Cross worked tirelessly to raise money tofund its free blood transfusion service and toprovide books and toiletries for wounded men beingtreated in hospitals. Some women in Red Cross AidUnits and Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs)provided medical support services in hospitals.

In the paid workforce, women filled the increasedneed for workers in traditionally ‘female’ jobs andalso took on ‘men’s jobs’, replacing those who joinedthe armed services. Women worked in factories intasks ranging from food production to steel pro-duction. They became bus drivers and drovedelivery carts and vans.

VOLUNTARY WORK

WOMEN DOING ‘MEN’S WORK’

A photograph showing a woman checking and counting bullets in a World War II munitions factory AWM 007731

Japan’s entry into the war and then the fall ofSingapore in 1942 created huge growth in demandfor munitions. The Commonwealth Governmentcampaigned to increase women’s involvement inthis area. Women took on jobs making all kinds ofweaponry from bullets to anti-tank shells. Universi-ties and government laboratories employed them inoptical munitions work, where they took measure-ments, did the complex mathematical calculationsneeded for lens manufacture, designed and groundlenses and tested optical instruments. They made asignificant contribution to Australia’s wartimeproduction of binoculars, bomb and gun sights,cameras, periscopes, range finders and telescopes.

The Country Women’s Association (CWA) beganorganising women to do men’s farm work as earlyas 1939. The Commonwealth Government formallytook over this task when it established the Aus-tralian Women’s Land Army (AWLA) in July 1942.Members had to be British subjects aged between18 and 50. The farmer, not the government, paidthem for their work, because they volunteeredrather than officially ‘enlisted’ for service.

Source 5.8.1

THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S LAND ARMY

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Women could join the AWLA for twelve months asfull members, travelling to different areas accordingto demand, or they could join as auxiliary membersdoing seasonal work in their own areas. AWLAmembers did a four-week training course and thenlearned though practical experience. While theymade useful contributions to the war effort, they tookon roles that many women in rural areas consideredthe norm on properties where family members ofboth sexes always shared the farming workload.

Just under 80 000 women enlisted in Australia’sarmed services during World War II, and about fiveper cent of these served overseas. Many Austral-ians, including military personnel, were prejudicedagainst women’s participation in the military ser-vices and only accepted it because of need.

The Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force Australia’s air force took the lead in enlistingwomen when, in October 1940, it announced theestablishment of the Women’s Auxiliary AustralianAir Force (WAAAF). By 1944, it employed 18 000women. They worked on the ground in communi-cations as wireless and teleprinter operators andalso undertook mechanical repair work.

The Women’s Royal Australian Naval ServiceThe Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service(WRANS) began in 1941, amid general reluctancefrom the Naval Board. Like the WAAAF, it too con-

fined women to service on land.They worked as interpreters,wireless telegraphists, coders,typists, clerks, drivers and manyother roles.

The Australian Women’s Army ServiceThe Australian Women’s ArmyService (AWAS) began enlistingwomen in November 1941 and bythe end of the war had taken in31 000 recruits. These womentook over ‘male’ jobs in communi-cations, maintenance and trans-port. As full members of the army,they also trained in combat withthe expectation that they would

WOMEN IN THE ARMED SERVICES

Source 5.8.3A poster encouraging Australian women’s participation in the war effort

AWM ARTV00332

Recruitment poster for the Australian Women’s Land ArmyAWM ARTV06446

Source 5.8.2

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participate in Australia’s defence if Japan invaded.While this did not occur, 100 AWAS membersserved at Cowra, which was officially designated atheatre of war when Japanese prisoners of warbroke out of the camp there in August 1944 (seepage 143).

The Australian Army Medical Women’s ServiceThe Australian Army Medical Women’s Service(AAMWS) began in December 1942 as a full-timeservice incorporating 10 000 workers previouslyassociated with Voluntary Aid Detachments. Thesewomen worked in nursing and radiography unitsand in laboratories, as well as assisting withdental, clerical and kitchen tasks.

The Australian Army Nursing ServiceThe Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) wasalready in existence when war broke out. Its nurseswere the only Australian women to serve overseasduring World War II, beginning with service inPalestine in 1940. They worked on land and in hos-pital and transport ships wherever the AustralianArmy fought.

AANS nurses suffered the dangers associatedwith fighting and capture. In February 1942, 65members of the AANS were escaping Singaporeaboard the Vyner Brooke (see page 139), when theJapanese bombed the ship. In May 1943, 11 nurseswere among the 332 people who died when aJapanese submarine sank the hospital ship Centaurjust off the Queensland coast (see source 5.8.4).

A poster encouraging Australians to increase their war efforts following the sinking of the hospital ship Centaur

Artist unknown, Work, Save, Fight 1943–45, Lithograph 50.2 ¥ 63 cm AWM ARTV09088

Source 5.8.4

Australians were generally slow to support theefforts of women who moved out of the privatesphere of family and home and into the publicsphere of the paid workforce. They often ridiculedwomen for attempting ‘male’ work.

Archbishop Daniel Mannix was one of a numberof church leaders who criticised the governmentand employers for encouraging married women intothe paid workforce. They viewed this as a precedentthat could threaten the family life that was seen aswomen’s primary role.

Neither the government nor employers made anyallowances for the double burden of women’sresponsibilities in the home and workplace. Theyjuggled housework, child care and shopping along-side work in factories and essential services. Somepeople criticised working women for not caringadequately for their children; others criticised themfor taking time off to look after their children.

This 1944 cartoon makes a comment about the roles that women were given during the war.

The Women’s Employment BoardEmployers soon benefited from women’s work skillsand from initially being expected to pay them only54 per cent of the male rate for the same or similarwork. Trade unions feared that women’s cheaplabour would undermine men’s positions and wagelevels in the workforce. The ACTU campaigned forwomen in heavy industries to receive the same

ATTITUDES TO WOMEN IN PAID WORK

Source 5.8.5

“I don’t think I could ever go back to housework after this!”

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wages as men for the duration of the war. TheCommonwealth Government feared that this wouldcause women to expect improved pay in all areas ofwork and that it would lose the support ofemployers if it allowed such a measure.

As a compromise, the government established theWomen’s Employment Board (WEB) to decidewomen’s rates of pay within a range of 60–100 percent of male rates. About nine per cent of femaleworkers benefited significantly from this system,with women in the aircraft, metal and munitionsindustries earning 90 per cent of the male rate. Asmall number of women — federal public serviceclerks, medical officers, telegraphists and tramconductors — earned 100 per cent.

The WEB also had to replace women with menwhen they returned from military service. Many

employers and United Australia Party (UAP) poli-ticians fought the WEB largely because it was basedon the principle of assessing women’s pay scales onthe basis of their efficiency and productivity ratherthan on the cheaper option established under theCommonwealth Arbitration Court’s family (orbasic) wage (see page 32).

For a few years, war allowed women (and perhapseven forced them) to move beyond their traditionalroles. At the same time, women’s war efforts out-side the home did little to change people’s tra-ditional view of their role within society. Society asa whole showed little real appreciation of women’sparticipation in the paid workforce, especially in

‘male’ jobs. It treated women as a reservelabour force. Many women saw the end ofthe war as a chance to return to a life cen-tred on the world of family and domesticduties. Society reinforced this view.

Check your understanding1. Write a paragraph to explain the similarities

and differences between women’s war roles in World War I and in World War II.

2. What information supports the view that Australian women in World War II were treated as a ‘reserve army’ of labour.

Using sources 1. What feature of women’s World War II work is

shown in source 5.8.1?2. What was the purpose of the artist in creating

source 5.8.2 and what methods were used to achieve this?

3. Examine source 5.8.3.(a) What do the women represent?(b) Who is the audience for this source?(c) What is the message of the source?

4. What attitude towards women is suggested by source 5.8.4?

5. How do you interpret the message of the cartoon in source 5.8.5? Rewrite the caption so that it expresses what the women really think about their service roles.

6. What conclusion could you draw from source 5.8.6 regarding how The Australian Women’s Weekly viewed women’s role?

Worksheets5.2 My war experiences: a news story5.3 Women’s efforts: complete a table

AFTER THE WAR IS OVER . . .

Source 5.8.6

A page from The Australian Women’s Weekly in June 1944

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VICTORY IN EUROPE,VICTORY IN THE PACIFIC

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The war being fought in Europe ended on 8 May1945 with the surrender of Germany. This sur-render took place when Soviet Union forces fromthe east and British, French and US forces from thewest came together and claimed Berlin. However, inthe Pacific, the war against Japan was to continuefor another three months.

A photograph of a Russian soldier raising the Soviet flag in Berlin after a nine-day battle for the city

In the Pacific, US General Douglas MacArthurbegan a policy of ‘island-hopping’. He knew it wouldtake a long time to capture each Japanese-occupiedisland so he decided to attack only the importantones, using United States troops. Bases could thenbe established close to Japan to allow large-scalebombing raids on Japanese cities. Australian troopswere to continue clearing the Japanese from NewGuinea, New Britain, Bougainville and Borneo.

Many Australians felt that this policy was awaste of Australian lives, and many resentedMacArthur’s use of United States troops, instead ofAustralians, to island-hop. John Curtin wrote toMacArthur in February 1945, asking for a greaterattacking role for Australians. Curtin was very illat the time and died on 5 July 1945, six weeksbefore the war ended in the Pacific.

The Allies realised that it was going to cost manylives to invade Japan. Attacks on Iwo Jima andOkinawa had been very costly and they knew thatthe Japanese would fight to the death.

Source 5.9.1

VICTORY IN THE PACIFIC

Both Germany and the United States had beenworking on a secret weapon to end the war. TheUnited States was the first to succeed. The atomicbomb was first tested in New Mexico and then usedagainst two Japanese cities:• 6 August 1945, Hiroshima — 70 000 killed• 9 August 1945, Nagasaki — 40 000 killed.

A photograph of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb exploded (1945). A single bomb wiped out 10 square kilometres.

Japan’s military and government still refused tosurrender. However, with the Soviet Union threat-ening to attack Japan from the west, the militarywere finally persuaded by the Emperor to agree tothe United States’ terms of surrender on 15 August1945. At 9.30 am (EST) the new Australian PrimeMinister, Ben Chifley, announced the war wasfinished. More than one million people went intothe streets for a day of celebration.

THE ATOMIC BOMB

Source 5.9.2

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A photograph of the celebrations in Sydney when it was announced that the war with Japan was over

Source 5.9.4

The Sydney Morning Herald announces peace (1945).

Source 5.9.3

JAPAN CAPITULATESDELIRIOUS JOY IN

AUSTRALIA

PLANS FOR SURRENDER GENERAL DOUGLAS MacARTHUR, who has been appointed Supreme Commander of

the Allied Forces of Occupation in Japan.

The announcement yesterday morning thatJapan had capitulated was received withdelirious joy by the peoples of the UnitedNations.

Cease fire in the Pacific was ordered by the Allies at9.15 a.m. yesterday.

In Sydney immense crowds took part in scenes of unpre-cedented emotion and gaiety.

Events of Historic DayMajor events yesterday were:—

9 a.m. (Sydney time), British Prime Minister, Mr. Attlee, and President Trumanannounce Japanese surrender.

9.15 a.m., Admiral Nimitz orders cease fire.11.25 a.m. Japanese ordered to give cease-fire order and send emissaries

to General MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander.11.55 a.m., Tokyo announces Japanese Cabinet has resigned, and War

Minister, General Anami, committed hara-kiri.1 p.m., Japanese planes shot down when they approach U.S. Fleet.4.45 p.m., General MacArthur orders Japanese to cease hostilities immedi-

ately and send representatives to Manila for instructions. Also orders JapaneseGovernment to place radio stations at his continuous disposal for orders.

Check your understanding1. Which allied nations fought together to claim Berlin

and end the war in Europe?

2. What was the policy of ‘island-hopping’? What aspects of this policy did many Australians oppose?

3. Why was it decided to use atomic weapons against the Japanese?

4. Why was VJ Day of greater significance than VE Day for Australians?

Using sources1. Describe the scene in the photograph in source 5.9.1.

Where is this and what is happening?

2. What does source 5.9.2 reveal about the destructive power of the first atomic bomb?

3. Compare the article in source 5.9.3 with source 5.1.4 (page 131). What does this suggest about how Australia had changed as a result of World War II?

Researching and communicating

Research the firebombing of Dresden in Germany and Tokyo in Japan. Explain what firebombing was, what the casualties were and why they were so great.

Worksheets

5.4 Find out more on the war

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AUSTRALIA’S CHANGING RELATIONS

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In March 1942, when US General Douglas MacArthurarrived in Australia, the continent became a base fortroops fighting in the Pacific. By September 1943,there were 120000 Americans here. At first, the Amer-icans were welcomed but trouble soon broke out,especially between the troops. There were manyreasons for this. For example, the Americans:• were paid twice as much as the Australian soldiers• did not have to pay taxes on goods• were able to impress Australian girls, as their

uniforms were smarter• could pay more for luxuries such as chocolates

and stockings, so the prices went up even higher.Trouble between the troops occasionally led to

brawls — sometimes serious ones in which peoplewere killed. The most famous was the Battle ofBrisbane. It began on 26 November 1942 whenAustralians were refused entry to an Americanentertainment centre. An Australian soldier wasshot dead and, for the next three days, Australianand American troops fought each other in thestreets. A similar brawl in Melbourne between 2000men stopped traffic for an hour.

By late 1944, most US servicemen had left Australia.Many Australian women had married Americansbut were not allowed to live in America until after thewar. They became known as war brides.

Many Australians were sad to see the Americans leave, as this Ted Scorfield cartoon from the mid 1940s shows.

‘OVERPAID, OVERSEXED, OVER HERE’

Source 5.10.1

The influence of the Americans on Australian societywas felt in many ways. They brought new ideas andattitudes that sometimes challenged the traditionalBritish ways. Many Australians began to see them-selves as Australians, not simply as British subjects.

The threat from Japan accelerated two processes thathad already been taking place before the war began:• Increasing our links with the United States. As

early as 1928, the United States provided 24 percent of our imports and took six per cent of ourexports. (In comparison, the United Kingdomprovided 43 per cent of our imports and took 38per cent of our exports). Early in the war, PrimeMinister Robert Menzies tried to involve theUnited States in supporting Australia’s security,and in 1940 Australia set up a diplomaticmission in Washington. In March 1941, whilestill officially neutral in the war, the UnitedStates began to supply military equipment toAustralia under a Lend-Lease scheme.

• Re-evaluating our ties with Britain. After Feder-ation, the British government retained powersover areas such as external affairs and inter-national shipping. In 1931, a British Act, theStatute of Westminster, allowed Commonwealthcountries to break such ties and become trulyindependent. However, this Act needed to beadopted by Federal Parliament before it becameeffective in Australia, and the Federal Parlia-ment was reluctant to do this. As we saw whenBritain declared war on Germany, the PrimeMinister considered that, because Britain was atwar, Australia too was automatically at war.However, in October 1941, Australia insisted,

against the wishes of the British government, thatAustralian troops be brought back from the MiddleEast to fight against the Japanese. When thesetroops were being returned in February 1942,British Prime Minister Winston Churchill wantedthem sent to Burma but Prime Minister JohnCurtin insisted that they be returned to Australia.

At the heart of this conflict was the fact that Aus-tralia needed to clarify what its powers were, par-ticularly during a time of war. This caused FederalParliament to rethink its reluctance to adopt theStatute of Westminster. The statute was finallypassed in 1942 and made retrospective (backdated)to the start of the war.

ISSUES AND CHANGING RELATIONS

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A poster advertising a meeting to support ties with the United States. The two men shown are President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Robert Menzies.

These two processes — increasing our links withthe United States and re-evaluating our ties withBritain — were brought together in John Curtin’sspeech three weeks after Pearl Harbor (see page135). Curtin acknowledged that success in the waragainst Japan could not come from our relationshipwith Britain, but instead Australia needed to looktowards the United States and adopt a policy that‘had the United States as its keystone’. This linkbetween the two countries was heightened by aclose personal friendship between Curtin and theUS commander General MacArthur.

Source 5.10.2

CURTIN’S SPEECH OF DECEMBER 1941

A photograph of Prime Minister Curtin and US General Douglas MacArthur

Check your understanding1. Why were the Americans popular with many

Australians in the 1940s?2. What were the main reasons for conflict between

Australian and American soldiers?3. What disagreements did Australia have with Britain

over the use of Australian troops in the war?4. What were three pieces of evidence of Australian

relations with the United States before Curtin’s speech of December 1941?

5. What change in Australia’s relationship with Britain took place after the Statute of Westminster was adopted in 1942?

Using sources1. In source 5.10.1, which groups does it suggest were

saddest to see the American soldiers leave? Why?2. (a) From the evidence in source 5.10.2, in what year

was the meeting described held?(b) What additional evidence does this provide to

support the argument that Australia had strong links with the United States before Curtin’s speech of December 1941? (See question 4 above.)

3. Who are the people shown in source 5.10.3 and what does the source show about the nature of the relationship between Australia and the United States during World War II?

Worksheets5.5 Crossword of World War II

Source 5.10.3

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Review & exam practice

SCHOOL CERTIFICATE PRACTICEMultiple choiceChoose the letter that provides the most correct answer.1. What was the most important reason for Australia

declaring war on September 1939?(A) Hitler had occupied Austria.(B) Australians opposed Nazism.(C) Australians feared a Japanese invasion.(D) Germany had declared war on Great Britain.

2. Which of the following is a list of places in which Australians fought in both World War I and World War II?(A) Palestine, Syria and France(B) Palestine, Greece, France(C) Malaysia, Greece, Egypt(D) Malaysia, Italy, Egypt

3. Which of the following is a list of nationalities who were placed in internment camps as enemy aliens and prisoners of war during World War II?(A) Japanese, Italians, Germans(B) Japanese, Russians, Germans(C) Vietnamese, Russians, Italians(D) Vietnamese, Italians, Germans

4. Carefully read John Curtin’s speech (source 5.2.4, page 135). Which of the following statements about this source is true?(A) It shows no concern for the problems of Britain

in the war.(B) It is reliable as an expression of government

policy at the time.(C) It was written before Pearl Harbor.(D) It is biased because it was published in a

newspaper.5. Study the poster in source 5.7.6, page 146. Which

aspect of government control during the war does this represent?(A) Rationing(B) Conscription(C) Allocation of manpower(D) Censorship

6. Study the poster in source 5.8.2, page 149. Which aspect of government policy during the war does it represent?(A) Rationing(B) Conscription(C) Allocation of manpower(D) Censorship

7. What was the name given to the military campaign against the Japanese in the Owen Stanley Range region of New Guinea?(A) Alamein(B) Changi(C) Kokoda(D) Midway

8. Which of the following lists includes the three prime ministers of Australia during World War II in their correct sequence?(A) Curtin, Chifley, Menzies(B) Menzies, Calwell, Curtin(C) Calwell, Menzies, Chifley(D) Menzies, Curtin, Chifley

9. Which of the following organisations did women join to contribute to farming work during World War II?(A) The AWLA(B) The AWAS(C) The WAAAF(D) The WRANS

10. Which of the following statements most accurately reflects society’s attitudes towards women’s involvement in military service during World War II?(A) Women should share the burden of war equally

with men.(B) Women’s war work is useful because it frees

men to enlist in the armed forces. (C) War work allows women to begin new careers

outside the house.(D) A woman’s place is in the home.

Extended response 1. Discuss the ways in which the Commonwealth

Government during World War II increased its control over the daily life of its citizens, and how effective these methods were. In your answer, discuss at least three of the following:• conscription• manpower controls• rationing• censorship.

2. Explain how their involvement in the war effort during World War II affected women’s roles in Australian society.

3. Outline the process by which Australia’s relationships with Britain and the United States changed during the time of World War II.

Your response to this question should be about 30 lines in length and should include reference to the following, as well as any other points you think are important:• Our relationship with Britain at the start of the war

and our reasons for joining the war• Japanese expansion towards Australia in the late

1930s and early 1940s• Pearl Harbor• Prime Minister Curtin’s speech of 27 December

1941 (source 5.2.4)• War in the Pacific 1941–45

Australia andWorld War II

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WORKING HISTORICALLYIt can be difficult for historians to uncover the truth about what happened in an event, especially when there is little evidence on which to base conclusions. The sinking of HMAS Sydney in World War II was an event that shocked the country, yet its loss is still as mysterious as it was in 1941. The 7000-tonne ship and 645 men simply disappeared without a trace. The only eyewitness accounts were from the crew of the German ship Kormoran, which attacked the Sydney without warning. More Australian men died in this one event than in the entire Vietnam War.

The statements in source 5.11.2 are related to the sinking of the HMAS Sydney. Read them and complete the following activities in an effort to decide what really happened.1. Draw up a table with three columns headed ‘Definitely

true’, ‘Possibly true’ and ‘Uncertain’. In small groups, discuss each statement in source 5.11.2 and place it in one of the three columns according to your opinion of its truth. Report your group findings to the class.

2. As a class, discuss the possible reasons why no trace was found of the Sydney or its crew.

3. As a group, use the Internet to locate additional information about the sinking of HMAS Sydney. You could start by going to www.jaconline.com.au/retroactive/retroactive2 and clicking on the HMAS Sydney weblink. Present a summary of this research to the class.

4. Write a feature article for publication, giving your opinion of what happened to HMAS Sydney. Use the evidence to support your opinion.

Geraldton

Port Gregory

Exmouth

Carnarvon

Shark BayDirk Hartog

Island

Houtman Abrolhos

Tropic of Capricorn

I N D I A N

O C E A N

WESTERNAUSTRALIA

N

0 100 200 km

A map of the area off the coast of Western Australia in which HMAS Sydney went missing

Source 5.11.1

Twenty statements about the sinking of HMAS SydneySource 5.11.2

1. HMAS Sydney was a cruiser, the Kormoran merely a raider.

2. HMAS Sydney had thicker armour than Kormoran and its guns had a longer range.

3. On the afternoon of 19 November 1941, HMAS Sydney approached the Kormoran off Shark Bay.

4. The Kormoran was disguised as a Dutch ship. Its guns and torpedo launchers were camouflaged.

5. According to some Germans, HMAS Sydney was originally at battle stations then its crew relaxed and the Kormoran was told to proceed.

6. Some believe HMAS Sydney was going to board Kormoran and came too close.

7. HMAS Sydney asked for a secret identification signal.8. The Kormoran launched a torpedo and starting firing.

HMAS Sydney returned fire and both ships were badly damaged.

9. Captain Detmers of the Kormoran abandoned his ship and charges were set to sink it. He last saw HMAS Sydney on fire and heading for the horizon. Then it disappeared. He made no attempt to look for survivors. He also believed that the fire had reached the magazine, then the ship blew up and sank. None of the other Germans reported hearing an explosion.

10. People at Yallabathra, near Port Gregory, reported hearing explosions and seeing flashes off the coast on a night in late November about midnight. Fifteen visitors to Dirk Hartog Island on 19 November reported seeing a ship heading south at high speed at 1000 hours.

11. HMAS Sydney disappeared 18 days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

12. Many believe a Japanese submarine sank the HMAS Sydney. There was a rumour that survivors were being held in Japan.

13. Reports of a possible distress signal from HMAS Sydney were not followed up. There is no surviving record of these calls.

14. Air and sea search for HMAS Sydney began on 24 November, five days after sinking. Many Germans had already been rescued. The search was called off on 29 November. No trace was found of any survivors or the ship, except for an empty Carley life-float damaged by gunfire.

15. According to some, the Cape Otway found bodies in the water but was told to leave the area immediately. Its logs for the period are missing.

16. On 1 December, the Prime Minister officially announced the loss of HMAS Sydney.

17. For the previous 12 days there was strict secrecy, with 11 censorship notices preventing publication of any details.

18. Three hundred and fifteen members of the Kormoran were rescued. Their story is the basis of the official account of what happened.

19. A Carley life-float was found off Christmas Island, to the north-west of Australia, on 6 February 1942, possibly from HMAS Sydney.

20. Many of the files related to this event were classified not to be released for 75 years when the war ended.