DVA012 Monday 12 February 2001

This Week in History - Our Wartime Heritage

Issued by the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Bruce Scott, to foster awareness of Australia’s wartime history and heritage during the Centenary of Federation.



February 15 - February 21

15 February 1941: Singapore fell to the Japanese — In 70 days, three Japanese divisions advanced along Malaya, defeating larger British Empire forces.  More than 15,000 Australian soldiers were captured.  Although the Australian troops of the 8th Division represented only 14 per cent of the British Empire’s ground forces in Malaya, they sustained 73 per cent of its deaths in battle.

16 February 1942: The Vyner Brooke was sunk by Japanese as it evacuated civilians and Australian nurses from Singapore.  After struggling ashore at Radji Beach, Banka Island, 22 Australian nurses were ordered to walk into the sea. The Japanese soldiers then turned their machine guns on them, killing all but one, Sister Vivian Bullwinkel.  She hid in the jungle before surrendering -. Sister Bullwinkel spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner.

19 February 1942: Darwin was bombed by the Japanese for the first time — the first enemy attack on Australian soil.  Darwin was bombed 64 times between February 1942 and November 1943.  The bombing of Darwin was the beginning of a series of actions and battles, culminating in 1943 when the Japanese were defeated in Papua New Guinea, now known collectively as “The Battle for Australia”.

19 February 1943: Parliament approved the Defence (Citizen Military Forces) Bill that allowed the Australian Government, for the first time, to send conscripts overseas within defined limits - the South West pacific war zone.  In WWI and up to this date in WWII, conscription could be used only within Australia.

Media Contact: Mark Croxford 02 6277 7820 or 0408 645 787



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