St John's Cathedral, Brisbane and the Anzac Legend

In early 1942 with the bulk of British forces tied up in the northern hemisphere fighting Nazi Germany, the Australian Government under Prime Minister John Curtin realised that Australia’s only hope against Japan was to encourage the United States to base forces in Australia. This would provide a means of spring-boarding a counter attack on Japan and help deter a possible Japanese invasion of the Australian mainland—which in early 1942 appeared alarmingly imminent. The United States, Britain and Australia had already declared war on Japan in December 1941 when the Japanese Navy attacked the American fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii with the same carrier-borne force that was later used to strike Darwin. With the advance of the Japanese through the South West Pacific, the need for a base from which to fight Japan in the region made the United States disposed to assist Australia.

However, Curtin had to strenuously lobby U.S President Franklin Delano Roosevelt for America to base forces in Australia as, at the same time in Britain, Winston Church- ill was pressuring the Americans to concentrate their efforts on the defeat of Nazi Germany. Curtin prevailed, however, and from 1942 until the close of the Second World War, the United States used Australia as an important base from which to fight the Japanese in the South West Pacific in concert with Australian Navy, Army and Air Force units. This included Australian naval units and ground forces progressively brought home from Europe and North Africa to fight in the Pacific and in the defence of Australia. Among them were the 6th, 7th and 9th Divisions of the Australian Army which had fought with great distinction against Germany and Italy in North Africa (see section 10).

Prime Minister John Curtin of Australia embraces General Douglas MacArthur of the United States in Sydney on 8 June 1943. Curtin and MacArthur forged a close relationship during the Second World War which helped secure the Australian-American alliance.

John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library

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