Australia's Frontline

During the desperate months of February, March and April 1942, when it seemed that an enemy invasion of the Darwin area was almost certain, the Litchfield Shire area became Australia’s front line of defence.

Even before the war actually began Australian troops were being trained and held in reserve in the Noonamah area. Many of these men were sent to Timor and Ambon in the December 1941, in a futile attempt at “forward defence”.

Then the first air raids on Darwin, on 19 February 1942, showed that Australia’s defences on the northern mainland were brittle. The Japanese enemy had, in just ten weeks, swept through south–east Asia, from Malaya to within easy reach of Darwin. Defence plans were urgently revised in an attempt to secure the Darwin area against the awful realities of the deteriorating strategic situation.

On 5 March 1942 the Chiefs of Staff issued an Appreciation of Probable Immediate Japanese Moves – “the Japanese would have in the NEI area forces which are adequate to attack Darwin …” On 8 March all units were warned to expect a major attack on Darwin within four days. On 24 March five Japanese aircraft carriers concentrated in the Celebes area and local units were warned “an attack on Australia from the NEI area may occur by the end of the month.” Then an invasion was thought certain to happen on 12 April.

As the months went by there were many changes in defence arrangements, but all the plans had several common features in 1942. The Darwin town area, “Fortress Darwin”, was to be defended by Australian and American Army units, supported by anti-aircraft batteries and naval defences.

A second area was defined as the coastline between the Howard River mouth and what is now Coconut Grove in Darwin. It was thought that the sloping beaches in this area were a very likely invasion venue. Infantry, machine gunners, beach defences, and radar were assembled in this area.

The largest concentration of men and materials stretched along between Winnellie and Adelaide River, where the area administrative headquarters was located. Right through 1942 military activity of one kind or another was developing along the whole seventy mile length of road, which was then called the south road, only later the Stuart Highway.

A series of battalion fortress areas, or “strong points” was established. Each fortress area was a self-contained concentration of infantry, self contained with supplies of food and ammunition. Two such areas were located on the main road between Knuckey’s Lagoon and the Howard Springs turnoff (at the 13 Mile and the 16 Mile), while two more were located to the south, between the Howard Springs turn off and McMinns (at the 17 Mile and 20.5 Mile).

Airstrips and associated defences, fuel depots, advance operational headquarters at the 30 Mile, radar installations, and the “strong points” were strung along the road. Infantry concentrations were held in reserve against a possible invasion in the northern sector, and also as the first line of defence against any invasion via Bynoe Harbour.

We cannot be sure, but it can be conservatively estimated that there were not less that 35,000 men between Adelaide River and Darwin by mid 1942.

One of the most enduring effects of all this was that thousands of men were introduced to the Top End. To them it was a strange and remote place which some came to love, others never adjusted to it.

After the critical 1942 period, the enemy threat ebbed away from northern Australia. The last enemy planes dropped their bombs in the area on 12 November 1943. Late in the war the Darwin hinterland area was used as a base and training ground for possible counter offensives as the Allies pressed north against the enemy, but then it was all over. The military withdrew, everywhere leaving relics of those tumultuous wartime years.