You talk about the bombs in Darwin, that was only the tip of the iceburg, Australia was surronded by the Japs in the 40's.
It wasnt until I spent 18 months travelling around australia in 1997-98 that I discovered the extent of our involvement in the war, particularly in North Western Australia. Some points of interest are;
Roebuck bay in Broome was bombed and a total of 15 airboats were destroyed in the harbour, loss of life was 80 people, the japs flew long range Zero's to get to them dropping their fuel tanks about 100 Nm north of Broome to make the distance, the Japs knew the catalina's were there becuase they flew reconnasance (sp) missions all over the coast of Australia with no one to stop them. Many of the 80 were dutch civilians fleeing the japanese from the East indies. Read here for more info (very interesting)
http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/collecti...nts/Broome.pdf
I have stood at the wrecks and seen them first hand.
Another interesting fact, does anyone know who and where the first shot was fired in anger at the beginning of WWII? I will leave this a little while to see if any one knows.
Cheers, Dennis.