‘Somewhere North of Somewhere’: The Place of the 1942 Bombings of Darwin in Historical Memory

Gibbons, Fiona (2025) ‘Somewhere North of Somewhere’: The Place of the 1942 Bombings of Darwin in Historical Memory. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

On 19 February 1942, the town of Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia was bombed by the Japanese. This was the first time that Australia had been attacked on mainland soil. In the twenty-one months that followed, Darwin was attacked over sixty more times. Whilst there have been a significant number of works that focus on the attacks themselves, investigations into how they have been commemorated and fit into the Australian narrative are relatively few. As the first in-depth study of the commemoration events of the Bombing of Darwin, this thesis uses a chronological approach to chart the development of the commemorations over time and the factors that affect their changing nature. It explores ideas around immigration, war memory and identity, national identity and anniversaries, using these themes as a focus to explore the commemorations in different time periods. The thesis examines the way in which these commemorations and commemorative experiences have changed as those with first-hand memory dwindle in number, exploring how modern and technological developments have helped to capture new ways of commemorating. The overarching thread that weaves through this thesis is the idea that there is a difference and separation between the north and south in Australia. The thesis argues that this separation has affected the way in which the attacks have fitted into the wider Australian historical discourse.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of History
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	27 Nov 2025 10:40
Last Modified:	27 Nov 2025 10:40
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/101121
DOI:

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