SA Premier's Anzac Spirit School Prize

  Figure 1: MIT, 2010  T hanks to Janine Fedorchuk-Weeks (2022 teacher accompanying the tour) for this great piece on Japanese Imperialism.  Empire-Building Understanding Japan’s aggressive imperialism in the lead-up to the World War II can be mind-boggling if we begin with the bombing of Darwin in 1942, so please allow me to review a bit of pre-war history before we embark on our adventures together in October. In Year 9 history, you may recall learning about the main causes of World War I: militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism. One of the historical concepts we like to study is change and continuity. In a comparison of the causes of World War I and the conflict in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, we can understand that some things changed but a lot remained the same. Japan’s imperialist ambitions put the world on edge a long time before the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941. As many students of history may remark that it was not altogether a surprise tha...

                                He is coming South: Australian War Memorial Poster Collection The propaganda poster above refers to the threat of Japanese invasion. A Japanese soldier is striding across the globe towards Australia with the Imperial Japanese flag behind him. He is armed with a submachine gun and is about to stomp on Australia. This work highlights the psychological impact the Japanese advance had upon the Australian population, and the poster was considered so alarmist that it was not released in Queensland or Melbourne. During the Second World War it was assumed that the Japanese would continue their southward advance and invade and conquer Australia. It is now understood that although the Japanese authorities did briefly consider invading the northern part of Australia, they ultimately decided to pursue a plan of isolating Australia as they realised their military recourses would ...

               Newspaper account from Trove re: Darwin bombing Primary sources are critical for us to know what people were saying and thinking at the time of the bombing. In fact, there was a concerted effort to keep the extent of the bombing away from the Australian public and much of the detail of the bombing did not come out until many years later. Imagine the panic across Australia at the time if people knew that the Japanese were mounting such a significant attack on the northern shores of Australia. Interestingly, there is a raging debate amongst historians about whether the Japanese really intended to invade Australia, despite the bombing raids in Darwin and the midget submarines in Sydney Harbour. More about that later. In the meantime, have a read of this article from Trove that was written at the time and appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 23 February 1942 – only 4 days after the first bombing on 19 February. After these initial r...

  Image above: NT News on 24/11/15 Some vision on the Bombing of Darwin in 1942 As mentioned at the briefing in September, little was known by people across Australia about the Bombing of Darwin until recent years. In fact, even today when people find out about the bombing, they are incredulous that they had never heard about it. This is partly due to the official secrecy during the war years about the bombing - if the Australian population knew about the extent of the bombing it would have been disastrous for the war effort and created serious panic.  The other reason for our limited knowledge about the 1942 bombings in Darwin is that our historical focus on World War 2 has been about Europe, Singapore POW's, Burma Railway and the Kokoda Trail in New Guinea during the war.  It is now time to start learning about what happened on Australian soil during the war. Stories such as t...

The Larrakia people are the traditional owners of the Darwin region. As shown on the above map, their country runs from Cox Peninsula in the west to Gunn Point in the north, Adelaide River in the east and down to the Manton Dam area southwards. Acknowledging when in place “You have come by way of the Larrakia Land. You will hear the voice of Larrakia ancestors. When you leave, the Larrakia message will stay with you.” - The late Reverend Walter Fejo As mentioned, this tour is more than history and will involve considerable cultural and geographical learning. In fact, we cannot understand the history of a place without knowledge of the geographical and cultural context of a place. To this end, we will be travelling quite a few kilometres and visiting plenty of locations.  During these travels we will be engaging with the indigenous culture of the area and learning about their culture. Wherever we are, we need to acknowledge the attachment to place of the Aboriginal people.  See...

  Those killed in the Bombing of Darwin in 1942. Researching and sharing The students participating in the 2023 study tour to the Northern Territory have been asked to research a person (an Australian) who died during the 1942 Bombing of Darwin. To this end, the Anzac Prize awardees have nominated an individual and are now busy preparing their research to be presented on the study tour.  The following sites provides some great reference points for starting your research on a person who died in the bombing of Darwin:      1.    Finding a name and image of a person who died during the Bombing of Darwin on the   Roll of Honour - Bombing of Darwin - NT Library | Places of Pride (awm.gov.au) Images and information available at Territory Stories - Territory Stories (nt.gov.au) and The Bombing of Darwin | Library & Archives NT 2.     Once you have selected a name , you may be able to find more information on the Virtual War Memorial ...

Image for the ABC documentary on the Bombing of Darwin  Let's learn before we go! Visiting the Top End of the Northern Territory and Darwin in particular provides us with the opportunity to delve in depth about the role of Darwin in World War 2. Much of the focus will be on the significant events surrounding the bombing of Darwin in 1942 but there is much more for us to learn and consider as we visit the area.  Before the tour we expect you to have some knowledge about the years of World War 2 - the Australian Home Front, the role of Darwin and the many stories surrounding the bombing. To this end, we will be posting on this blog some digestible bits of knowledge to enhance your understanding before we visit Darwin.  Just read, view and think about what we present/direct you to in the postings and enjoy the opportunity to learn before you see! The War comes to Australian shores in 1942-43 Here is a factual start to the story of the Bombing of Darwin from the Dep...

The 2022 Premier's Anzac Spirit School Prize awardees with The Honourable Blair Boyer MP, Minister for Education. At the Adelaide Town Hall Meeting Room on 21 November 2022, the 2022 Premier's Anzac Spirit School Prize students were presented with their medallions and certificates. It was a great ceremony for the 2022 awardees and the 2021 awardees did us proud by presenting on the recently completed October 2022 study tour to Darwin.  Here is a selection of images taken by the professional photographer from ClickFilms we contracted for the ceremony. Some great photographs!