Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Recorded interviews  Further reading

Part 1

Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, the man who had led the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, also led the 36 Zero fighters, 71 Val dive-bombers, and 81 Kate fighter-bombers toward Darwin. The route was south-south-easterly from the carrier fleet, across Bathurst Island to cross the mainland coast at a point about 40 kilometres east of Darwin, then continuing inland for about 30 kilometres before turning westerly for the final approach to the target area, the Darwin waterfront. As a result, the first of the attackers unexpectedly approached Darwin from the southeast and were flying in front of he sun. On the ground, anyone who saw the aircraft coming across the harbour from inland assumed that they were friendly, hopefully the American reinforcements which rumour said were due any day. Some of the Japanese aircraft did approach the harbour directly from the northwest, but only after the first wave had arrived and begun work.

A warning ("huge flight of planes passed overhead bound Darwin") of the approaching aircraft had been radioed by missionary John McGrath to Darwin from Bathurst Island at 9.35 a.m. It seems that this warning was ignored because it could not be confirmed. The lack of confirmation was understandable. Bathurst Island came under attack almost as soon as the warning was transmitted, and McGrath, not unreasonably, was sheltering in a slit trench. He did not hear any request for confirmation. It is sometimes said that an earlier warning had been sent from Garden Point, on Melville Island, by coastwatcher John Gribble, at about 9.15 a.m. Brother Edward Bennett told the authors in 2000 that this did not happen. Bennett was with Gribble, and says that he urged Gribble to send a warning. Gribble refused to do so, saying that the message would have to be sent in code, and he did not have the necessary code books. Despite Bennett's urging, no message was sent.

The attackers had already been successful during their inbound flight. Off Bathurst Island, two merchant ships re-routed from the Philippines, the Florence D and the Don Isidro, were sunk or disabled, with the loss of probably 17 lives. On the ground at Bathurst Island, an American Dakota aircraft had been thoroughly machine-gunned. Now, the Japanese were approaching their prime target, a harbour crammed with 47 ships. Before they flew away, eight of those ships would have been sunk, and another 15 seriously damaged. Hundreds of people, and we will never know exactly how many, would be dead or dying.

Darwin eyewitnesses say that they had no inkling of anything untoward until they saw "little silver darts" falling from the approaching aircraft. The first of the "darts" fell from a height of 14,600 feet and hit the Darwin wharf, killing 21 waterside workers, destroying a section of the wharf and severing the actual wharf platform from the approaches connecting it with the shore. This was the first indication of any attack. Almost immediately, the anti-aircraft guns at Darwin Oval, overlooking the harbour, began firing, and the shore warning sirens began to wail. It was by now about 9.58 a.m.

Part 2

Two merchant ships at the wharf, the Neptuna and Barossa, were hit by some of the first bombs. Oil began pouring onto the water's surface from ruptures in the supply pipelines which ran along the wharf. Before long, the floating oil was burning. The tanker British Motorist was blown apart and began to sink while its cargo of oil spread and blazed across the harbour. The hospital ship Manunda suffered a near miss which punctured her hull in 76 places, then a bomb fell through several decks before exploding. The hospital ship was repeatedly machine-gunned. Twelve people were killed aboard her, including nurse Margaret de Mestre. The cargo ship Zealandia was hit, caught fire, and began to sink, the American troop transports Meigs and Mauna Loa were in a similar plight, the American destroyer Peary had become an inferno.

The Peary was desperately unlucky. She had been part of the aborted Timor convoy, which returned to Darwin on 18 February. The Peary was refuelled, then left the harbour to search for enemy submarines. She returned early on the morning of 19 February. In the meantime, most of the other convoy ships had sailed away from Darwin. The Peary was again refuelled, and it was intended that she would put to sea again almost immediately. She had been at anchor for about one hour when the first air raid began. She was the most visible of the 45 ships in the harbour at that time, and invited immediate attack.

Aboard the Peary, the order was given to raise the anchor and to get under way to head for open sea, so that at least the ship would have room to manoeuvre, and would be a more difficult target. However, the ship was barely moving when the first of five bombs hit her. That first bomb hit near the stem, and disabled the ship.

The fourth bomb hit forward and caused an explosion in the ammunition magazines. The ship began to sink, bow first (although some say stem first). The dive bombers continued their attacks, but the Peary's crew fought back, firing their machine guns until there was another tremendous explosion within the ship.

An observer wrote, "the ship disintegrated in a burst of flame which appeared to grow out and reach a height of 100 feet. She finally pointed her nose to the sky and disappeared in a pall of black oily smoke, the gun on her fo'csle firing to the bitter end." 91 of the Peary's men were killed. Only one officer and 52 men survived. It was the event which caused the biggest single loss of life on that terrible day.

The loss of life, from the Peary and elsewhere, might have been much greater had it not been for the heroism of people like Jack Barclay and Johnnie Wilkshire. Barclay lowered a lifeboat from the Manunda, and with Aggie Weston, Bill Jones and Angus Campbell, took the boat across to the Peary to pull in men who were floundering in the burning water. They pushed their lifeboat to within a few metres of the Peary, right among flames and exploding ammunition. They saved between 35 and 40 men.

Eric Marchoni was also out in a Manunda lifeboat, working near the sinking Zealandia. Johnnie Wilkshire looked from the shore to the dreadful scene, commandeered a small launch, and made repeated trips to pluck men from the water and then bring them ashore. He saved more than 30 lives. Brendan de Burca was an officer aboard the ammunition laden Neptuna. When the first bombs hit the Neptuna, de Burca knew that it would not be long before the ship exploded. Nevertheless, he went below and cleared the ship of surviving crew members. Despite his efforts, 45 people were killed on the Neptuna, probably mostly as a result of the first bombs rather than in the huge explosion which ended the ship's life.

Barclay, Wilkshire, de Burca, and the others were among a great many people who kept their heads that day. They coolly did their duty and much more than that. Theirs were just some of the actions which should negate any suggestions of a "day of shame."

Part 3

Six kilometres away, at the RAAF base, ten Kittyhawk fighters of the US Army Air Force 33 Squadron took off at 9.15 a.m. Their task was to escort two bombers which were bound for Java. One Kittyhawk remained on the ground due to mechanical problems. The departure of the Kittyhawks left the RAAF base virtually undefended. Certainly, there were 43 RAAF aircraft at the base – 24 Hudson bombers of 2 and 13 Squadrons, returned from Timor and Ambon, and 19 Wirraways. However, the Hudsons were unsuitable for aerial combat roles, while the Wirraways had recently been so badly beaten by Japanese near Rabaul (New Guinea) that it was decided they should stay on the ground if there was any prospect of attack. A few minutes after take off, the airborne Kittyhawks were ordered to return because of bad weather over Timor. Five planes, led by Robert Oestreicher, were ordered to stay aloft to give cover while the other five landed. The first five Kittyhawks were landing as Zeke fighters attacked. The five Kittyhawks then desperately tried to get airborne again. Four did, only to be quickly shot down. The other was destroyed on the ground. Of Oestreicher's flight, only Oestreicher's landed safely, at 11.45 a.m. Nine aircraft had been destroyed, and four airmen were killed - the first of many Americans to die in defence of north Australia.

The RAAF base had been hammered by the attacking fighters, and by bombers of the first raid. Seven men had been killed, and the base buildings mostly reduced to rubble, or were still burning. When Oestreicher landed there were hopes that it was all over, but almost immediately, 54 Betty bombers were seen approaching the base from the southeast. The bombers had taken off from land bases in Japanese held islands to the north, and they were about to complete the neutralisation of Darwin. The Bettys dropped their bombs. Miraculously, this time there were no human casualties, although there was more destruction of base infrastructure.

The first air raids on Darwin were over by 12.40p.m. on 19 February 1942. At least 292 people were dead or dying – 22 on the Darwin wharf, 17 in the town area, 177 on the harbour, seven at the RAAF base, four in the air, six other service personnel, 18 on the Florence D and Don Isidro, and 41 others either on the Manunda or in unclear circumstances. We will never know how many other people may have died but were not taken into account.

Eight days later, the Manunda berthed in Fremantle. There, Chief Officer Tom Minto heard Prime Minster Curtin's announcement that Darwin had been bombed, and 35 people were injured during the two raids. "Funny thing, that," Tom Minto thought. "We had 260 wounded on board the Manunda." Curtin also said "the results of the raid were not such as to give any satisfaction to the enemy". "Well, the enemy must have been very hard to please", Tom Minto mused.