About two thirds agreed that Japan had planned to invade Australia in 1942. Around three quarters tended to agree that the Kokoda campaign had saved Australia from invasion and that the Brisbane Line strategy actually entailed abandoning northern Australia to the Japanese.
In early March 1942, the Japanese had debated what to do now that Japan had so easily gained her objectives. The Navy wanted to invade Australia and deny the country as a base to either America or Britain. The Army felt it did not have the strength to invade and fully occupy so vast a continent.
MOSELEY: On the 19th of February, 1942, war came to Australia's shores. Japan wanted to destroy our country's northern defenses, so it could invade Timor and in the process send Australia a warning.
The US naval victory at the battle of Midway, in early June 1942, removed the Japan's capability to invade Australia by destroying its main aircraft carriers. This made it safe for Australia to begin to transfer military power to fight the Japanese in Australian Papua and New Guinea.
The two Japanese air raids were the first, and largest, of more than 100 air raids against Australia during 1942–1943. The event happened just four days after the Fall of Singapore, when a combined Commonwealth force surrendered to the Japanese, the largest surrender in British history.
Air attacks
The first air raid on Australia occurred on 19 February 1942 when Darwin was attacked by 242 Japanese aircraft. At least 235 people were killed in the raid.
As a result, the Allied powers including Australia were at war with Japan as well. During this period, the Australian mainland came under direct enemy attack for the first time in history, with Japanese bombing attacks on Northern Australia and an attack on Sydney Harbour by Japanese midget submarines.
After the fall of Singapore in February 1942, the Australian government, the military and the people were deeply alarmed by the possibility of a Japanese invasion. Widespread fear led to an expansion of Australia's military and war economy, as well as closer links with the United States.
In February 1942, an invasion of the Australian continent appeared imminent. Just ten weeks after Japan's whirlwind invasion of South-East Asia, Australia itself became the target of air and sea attacks.
[1] The Australian Prime Minister, Ben Chifley, announced the end of the war against Japan via Radio 2CY Canberra at 9.30 am on the same day: Fellow citizens, the war is over. The Japanese Government has accepted the terms of surrender imposed by the Allied Nations and hostilities will now cease.
1957: Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke said to the people of Australia: "It is my official duty, and my personal desire, to express to you and through you to the people of Australia, our heartfelt sorrow for what occurred in the war."
Japan, for its part, regards Australia as an important partner, a reliable source of energy, minerals and other primary products, a popular tourist destination, a useful conduit to the West and the only other middle-ranking economic power in the Asia-Pacific.
The Australia–Japan partnership is Australia's closest and most mature in Asia and is fundamental to both countries' strategic and economic interests. The relationship is underpinned by a shared commitment to democracy, human rights and the rule of law, as well as common approaches to international security.
Great Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939. Although not directly threatened by the conflict, Australia sent a volunteer army - the Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF) - to support Great Britain.
Breakdown. Australia is ranked 16 of 145 out of the countries considered for the annual Global Firepower review. The nation holds a Power Index score of 0.2567 with a score of 0.0000 being considered exceptional in the GFP assessment. This country is a Top 10 global producer of Natural Gas, a critical natural resource.
Australia's relatively good infrastructure, vast energy surplus, high health security and defence budget all aided in pushing it to the top of the table.
Australia's declaration of war on Japan was a response to the coordinated attacks by the Japanese on United States and British territories across the Asia-Pacific region.
The Japanese conducted a series of air raids on Australia during February and March 1942. These raids sought to prevent the Allies from using bases in northern Australia to contest the conquest of the Netherlands East Indies.
Australian Defence Force personnel are deployed to operations overseas and within Australia, in order to actively protect Australia's borders and offshore maritime interests.
During the Second World War, people of Japanese origin were interned in Australia as 'enemy aliens'. National Archives holds alien registration and internment records from this time period. Most Japanese internees were deported at the end of the Second World War.
These stereotypes served to conflate Nikkei-Australians with the soldiers in the Japanese military that Australia witnessed during wartime, who were regarded as “subhuman beast[s]” and “vermin” (Saunders 1994, 325–27).
The RAAF's role in the strategic air offensive in Europe formed Australia's main contribution to the defeat of Germany. Approximately 13,000 Australian airmen served in dozens of British and five Australian squadrons in RAF Bomber Command between 1940 and the end of the war.
The Army was considerably expanded in early 1942 in response to the Japanese threat to Australia. During this year the Army's strength peaked at eleven infantry divisions and three armoured divisions, and in August 1942 the Army had a strength of 476,000 men.
During World War II in the South-West Pacific, the United States evolved to be Australia's largest ally.
Summary. On January 1, 1901, six colonies were joined together to create the Commonwealth of Australia, a self-governing Dominion in the British Empire. While the new nation was sovereign when it came to its domestic affairs, the United Kingdom maintained control over its relations with the wider world.