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Speaker 1: We know that today is the anniversary of the bombing

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Speaker 1: of Darwin, and on this day in nineteen forty two,

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Speaker 1: mainland Australia came under attack for the first time. Japanese

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Speaker 1: forces mounted two air raids on Darwin, which involved land

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Speaker 1: based bombers and attack aircraft that were launched from four

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Speaker 1: Japanese aircraft carriers in the tm or C. We know

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Speaker 1: that more than two hundred and thirty Allied service personnel

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Speaker 1: and civilians were killed and around four hundred were wounded.

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Speaker 1: Thirty military aircraft were lost, nine ships in the harbor

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Speaker 1: and two outside were sunk, and most civil and military

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Speaker 1: facilities in Darwen were destroyed. Now joining me in the

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Speaker 1: studio to talk about the aviators who lost their lives

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Speaker 1: is Flight Lieutenant Fiona Earl, PhD, thirteen Squadron History Officer.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Fiona, Good morning, Thanks so much

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Speaker 1: for your time this morning. Thanks for having us. I

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Speaker 1: think it's really important to have you in the studio.

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Speaker 1: I know a lot of people will be down obviously

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Speaker 1: at the commemorations this morning, but there's going to be

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Speaker 1: a lot of people at work this morning listening, wanting

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Speaker 1: to really commemorate the bombing of Darwin today but sitting

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Speaker 1: in their offices, so they'll be really pleased, I think

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Speaker 1: to hear from you this morning. Now, tell me. We

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Speaker 1: know that there were indeed two air raids on Darwin

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Speaker 1: on the nineteenth of February back in nineteen forty two,

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Speaker 1: but can you remind us what took place?

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Speaker 2: So it's really the first attack on Australia's mainland. So

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Speaker 2: if Darwen was starting to get ready for defending the

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Speaker 2: North and from the bombing of Darwen, we really started

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Speaker 2: to amp up at that point. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Now we do know that seven doubleaf aviators were among

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Speaker 1: the two hundred and thirty five people killed. Now I

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Speaker 1: understand it was initially thought to be six. What changed?

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Speaker 2: So it was originally reported as seven, but one couldn't

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Speaker 2: be identified. So as the time goes by, the reports

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Speaker 2: are saying seven but only listing six people. So there's

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Speaker 2: a little bit of a discrepancy there in the reports,

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Speaker 2: and so it just starts dropping off the last person

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Speaker 2: and it's not until the twenty fifth of March that

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Speaker 2: the family actually finds out that their son has died.

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Speaker 2: It's taken that long to identify.

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Speaker 1: Wow, So they went that long a period of time

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Speaker 1: without even knowing that their son had passed.

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Speaker 2: Yes, Yeah, so unfortunately he's gone. Shultz has gone into

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Speaker 2: the bushland on base and a direct hit and so

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Speaker 2: really hard to identify it. It's looking for clothing materials, names,

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Speaker 2: playing cards. That sort of thing is what helps identify

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Speaker 2: him in the end, and.

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Speaker 1: So shed some light for us on the lengths that

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Speaker 1: the aviators went to in an effort to try to survive.

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Speaker 2: So it's really a case of you're trying to build

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Speaker 2: up at the start. So you're building trenches, you've got

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Speaker 2: gun pits in place, and the infrastructure is really new,

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Speaker 2: you know, we're just starting to build it in the

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Speaker 2: early ninety nineteen forties.

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Speaker 1: And obviously they I mean I'm assuming they didn't know

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Speaker 1: really what was coming, did they, And so then it

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Speaker 1: would have been a you know, like an absolutely horrific

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Speaker 1: and horrible realization that's my goodness, we're being bombed and

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Speaker 1: just how extensive is this going to be?

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Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, and it's happened. It's obviously happening twice on

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Speaker 2: one day as well. So you've got people like Latham

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Speaker 2: who's in Bachelor when the first one happens and his

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Speaker 2: brothers on the raft base in Darwin, so he heads

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Speaker 2: back looking for him and thankfully finds him alive. However,

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Speaker 2: the second raid then starts and the raft base at

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Speaker 2: that point is the main target. So the Latham then

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Speaker 2: jumps into a trench with Barton, Naylan and Smith, but

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Speaker 2: unfortunately their trench is a direct hit. So the brother survives,

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Speaker 2: but from coming back to check on him he dies.

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Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, what a tragic situation. And you know,

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Speaker 1: it's just one of I'm assuming many that as you

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Speaker 1: start to do the work that you've done and you

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Speaker 1: learn more and more about this history, it must be

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Speaker 1: quite like a sad but really fascinating thing for you

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Speaker 1: to work through it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's important to give people more information about them

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Speaker 2: as a person. So it's not just their service number,

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Speaker 2: their rank, or necessarily their mustering, it's who they are

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Speaker 2: as a per And so you've got Barton. Barton's the

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Speaker 2: oldest one who dies during the bombing of Darwin on

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Speaker 2: the raft base, and he's got his own motor mechanic

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Speaker 2: shop at back at home, and he's got a wife,

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Speaker 2: a daughter and two sons. So you get that more

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Speaker 2: personalized story. You can relate to it a little bit more.

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Speaker 1: Yes, So I mean give us a bit more detail

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Speaker 1: about these seven people and and you know what they

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Speaker 1: did leave behind.

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Speaker 2: So Barton was actually the only one with children. So

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Speaker 2: the rest of them are all quite young. And so

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Speaker 2: it's a case of for example, Tindall, it's his mum

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Speaker 2: and his sister that are left because his father's already

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Speaker 2: died in World War One. So it's this ongoing story

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Speaker 2: of military service for that family.

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Speaker 1: And obviously the raft based Tindall was named in his

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Speaker 1: honor too. Yes, yeah, I mean it's to me, I

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Speaker 1: just think to myself. Even yesterday we were talking to

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Speaker 1: one of the Darwin City councilors, Mick Palmer, and he

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Speaker 1: said his dad was here and was part of the

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Speaker 1: defense force and he was sixteen years old. You know,

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Speaker 1: you look at some of these some of these young

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Speaker 1: people lost their lives and you forget they were like

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Speaker 1: they were children.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they're quite young, you know, most of them. When

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Speaker 2: you're looking at occupations, some of them have student written.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. It's I mean, it is. It's such an important

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Speaker 1: part of our history though, isn't it. It is really important

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Speaker 1: that people sort of understand the people that were lost

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Speaker 1: and the service that they were doing for their country.

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Speaker 2: It is really important. You know, Darwin's a big defense

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Speaker 2: area for a lot of people and a lot of

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Speaker 2: families involved here, so it's good to make sure that

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Speaker 2: we commemorate remember these sorts of events.

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Speaker 1: And of course we know that a memorial is going

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Speaker 1: to actually be unveiled today, isn't it to commemorate the

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Speaker 1: seven Aviators.

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Speaker 2: Yes, So it's been two years in the making. We've

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Speaker 2: had a lot of people involved, very passionate, and it's

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Speaker 2: a really important project because it's local RAF aviators trying

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Speaker 2: to find a way to remember and commemorate raf aviators

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Speaker 2: from nineteen forty two.

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Speaker 1: So where exactly is it going to be and is

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Speaker 1: it a spot of significance? It's sort of been where

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Speaker 1: it's going to go.

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Speaker 2: There's two parts to it. There's a wall that's right

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Speaker 2: out the front of the headquarters on the raft base,

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Speaker 2: and then just off to the left of it, you've

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Speaker 2: got a memorial, small little plarque and that's actually where

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Speaker 2: Tindall died. So we've got a plaka for Tindle at

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Speaker 2: that particular location.

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Speaker 1: Is it a spot that like for people listening this

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Speaker 1: morning are they going to be able to see it

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Speaker 1: or not? Not really? Yeah, but with the wall outside,

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Speaker 1: will they be able to see that?

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Speaker 2: You have to look for photos.

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Speaker 1: Well, I was gonna say, I have no doubt there'll

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Speaker 1: be photos up. I just know we've got so many

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Speaker 1: people that listen to the show that are you know,

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Speaker 1: like they are really interested in our war history and

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Speaker 1: I think it is such an important thing to do

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Speaker 1: to have those those memorials to commemorate them. So that's

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Speaker 1: going to be unveiled today. Will people be able to

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Speaker 1: see those photos that They'll be able to see them

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Speaker 1: somewhere online way.

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Speaker 2: The footage some photos, so it'd be great.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, all good stuff. I would imagine that a lot

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Speaker 1: of work's gone into bringing this to Fruition as well,

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Speaker 1: has ash.

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Speaker 2: A lot of people involved a long time, so you know,

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Speaker 2: two years. So you pick it up and you run

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Speaker 2: with it for a little while, and then you have

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Speaker 2: things like exercise pitch black that sort of you stop

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Speaker 2: think about something else and then you get back into

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Speaker 2: it again.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, let's see, that's a difficult thing in some ways,

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Speaker 1: isn't it. That you've got to continue on with the

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Speaker 1: other practical side of work. Too. Flight Lieutenant Fiona Oyl, PhD,

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Speaker 1: thirteen Squadron History Officer. I really appreciate you joining us

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Speaker 1: in the studio this morning. Thanks so much for coming

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Speaker 1: in to have a chat. Thank you, thank you,