NT: Australians ignorant of Darwin's bombing: survey
10 Nov 2008 3:53 PMBy Tara Ravens
DARWIN, Nov 10 AAP - Almost 80 per cent of Australians are unaware that a greater number of bombs were dropped on Darwin than Pearl Harbour during World War II, according to a survey.
Newspoll research, commissioned by Tourism Northern Territory, found seventy-seven per cent of Australians incorrectly believe a greater number of bombs were dropped by Japan on Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, in December 1941, than on Darwin in February 1942.
The poll also suggested many Australians did not know the importance of Darwin's defence role in WWII as a hub against Japanese aggression in Southeast Asia.
Twelve per cent of Australians aged 18 to 34, who make up Generations X andY, thought Sydney was the Australian city attacked most during the war.
Alan Powell, professor of history at Charles Darwin University, said while many Australians were familiar with the WWII battlefields in Europe they remained ignorant of Darwin's role in the war.
"This research shows an astonishing amount of ignorance in young Australians of what happened in Darwin," he said.
"It's a big thing in Australian history and yet so few people know about it."
At least 243 people were killed and hundreds more injured in Australia's northern capital during Japanese bombing raids on February 19, 1942.
The first 40-minute raid badly damaged the town, demolishing eight ships including the destroyer USS Peary with the loss of 91 seamen, and all but oneof Darwin's warplanes.
"These events changed our nation," Prof Powell said.
"We celebrate the achievement of federation, we commemorate Gallipoli, yet the bombing of Darwin was an equally significant milestone in Australian history," he said.
It is a situation that Acting NT Chief Minister Marion Scrymgour hopes willbe corrected with the release later this month of Baz Luhrmann's130 million romantic outback epic Australia.
The destruction of Darwin will form the backdrop for the final scenes of the film which centres on Lady Sarah, played by Nicole Kidman, who becomes the owner of a cattle station before the war.
She enlists the help of a rough-hewn drover, Hugh Jackman, in a fight against cattle barons who plot to take over her land.
"The film will lift the curtain for many Australians, particularly those from younger generations, on this important moment in our nation's history," Ms Scrymgour said.