St John's Cathedral, Brisbane and the Anzac Legend

From European settlement in 1788 until early 1942, Australia had relied primarily on Britain for its defence, in particular on the might of Britain’s Royal Navy. But in the early months of 1942 Australia found itself under direct threat from a powerful and brutal aggressor, a threat that British Empire forces had been unable to deter. The aggressor was Imperial Japan, an ally of Nazi Germany. In 1937 Japan had already invaded China as part of its ambition to establish regional dominance in Asia. When the United States froze Japanese assets and embargoed trade in raw materials vital to the Japanese war machine, Japan decided to seize by force desperately needed rubber and oil from Malaya, Borneo and the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). In 1941 Japanese forces occupied Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Guam as well as the East Indies. By early 1942 they had also overrun British, Australian and Indian forces in Malaya and the supposedly impregnable British base in Singapore.

The invaders committed atrocities on captured and wounded Allied soldiers and civilians, especially local Chinese residents, many of whom were decapitated. Japan then turned on Australia. On 19 February 1942, a large force of 188 Japanese aircraft bombed Darwin in the Northern Territory, causing widespread destruction in the city and civil disorder, as well as the loss of over 300 lives, the worst death toll from any man-made event in Australia. Only weeks before, 1700 Australian soldiers from the 8th Australian Division had also been killed by the Japanese in the defence of Malaya, with 15,000 captured at the fall of Singapore. Many of the captured soldiers from the 8th Division were to end up as prisoners of the Japanese at the notorious Changi prison in Singapore. Later, large numbers were sent from the prison and forced to work on the infamous Thai-Burma railway where thousands of Allied prisoners of war and civilians were to lose their lives in the harsh conditions under which they laboured.

Opposite page: Two windows in the south west aisle of St John’s Cathedral commemorating the alliance between the United States and Australia. The windows on the left represents Australia, those on the right the United States.

Ken Lilley / St John’s Cathedral

Smoke billows from the cargo vessel MV Neptuna in Darwin harbour after the ship was destroyed during the first Japanese air raid on Darwin on 19 February 1942. Forty-five of the crew died as bombs exploded in the saloon and engine room.

Australian War Memorial P03707.001

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