Download address by his excellency major general michael jeffery ac cvo mc

ADDRESS BY
HIS EXCELLENCY MAJOR GENERAL MICHAEL JEFFERY AC CVO MC
GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
ON THE OCCASION OF
THE BATTLE FOR AUSTRALIA COMMEMORATIVE CEREMONY
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL CANBERRA
6 SEPTEMBER 2006
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Major General John Hartley, Chairman, Battle for Australia National Council
The Honourable Bruce Billson, MP, representing the Prime Minister
The Honourable Kim Beazley, Leader of the Opposition
Mr Jon Stanhope, Chief Minister of the ACT;
Mr Bill Stefaniak, ACT Leader of the Opposition;
Major General Tony Fraser, representing the Chief of Defence Force
Senior officers of the Australian Defence Force
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
It is a great privilege this morning at this beautiful setting of the Australian War Memorial, to give the
commemorative address on the Battle for Australia.
When considering Australian military history, and it is an inspiring one, most Australians probably
recall such epic struggles as the Battles of Gallipoli, the Somme, El Alamein, Kokoda, Kapyong and
Long Tan, thanks to the extensive publication of material on these significant military conflicts - and
rightly so.
However, much less has appeared in print about the closer to home aspects of the Battle for Australia,
specifically the defence of the Australian continent from Japanese attack and potential invasion during
World War Two.
But if this important component of our nation's history is to be both remembered and preserved - as it
should - we must ensure that the consequences, sacrifices and achievements arising from the stirring
events that took place in the Indian and Pacific regions, from 1941 to 1945 including the mobilization of
our nation, are appropriately remembered and commemorated.
And the Battle for Australia was indeed a series of stirring events.
For the first time our nation's shores were attacked. And for some time after, we were told by our
leaders that the Battle for Australia was for real and that air and naval attacks on our coastal cities and
towns could develop into a full-scale invasion by a powerful and brutal enemy. Thus the nation
mobilised; no part of our community unaffected; the entire population involved in a genuinely perceived
struggle for national survival.
The repulse of our then enemy, and his eventual defeat, would involve the overseas deployment in the
Indian Ocean and Pacific theatres of hundreds of thousands of servicemen and women in a gruelling
campaign, sometimes against great odds, that would see 17,500 lose their lives and some 30,000 suffer
from wounds or sickness.
The consequences were also far-reaching. Australia would truly come of age with an identity and
maturity not previously seen or felt. Increasingly independent, it would embark on a path of national
development and enhanced international relationships that would result in the blooming of a proud,
confident and prosperous nation.
It is for these reasons that the Battle for Australia needs to be remembered and suitably commemorated.
So how did it happen?
In 1941, before Japan's surprise attack entry into World War Two, Australian soldiers, sailors and
airmen were sent to Europe and the Middle East to fight magnificently with the Mother Country against
Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The Australian 6th, 7th and 9th Divisions were deployed to the Middle
East to fight at Sidi Barrani, Tobruk and El Alamein, whilst thousands of RAAF aircrew fought in the
brutal and costly air war of the European theatre. Our fighting ships were deployed far and wide
including in the Mediterranean and throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
The Japanese attack into the Indian and Pacific areas began in December 1941 with a surprise attack on
Pearl Harbour, a simultaneous attack on Malaya and the Philippines and a rapid advance southward that
would capture the Dutch East Indies.
Facing a global conflagration on two fronts, the Allied priority was necessarily the defeat of Nazi
Germany. Australia, India, Burma, Asia and the south-west Pacific were to do what they could with
quite limited resources, until such time as Germany was defeated.
Australia's greatest involvement in the first weeks of the war was in Malaya where the 8th Division,
after a hard fighting withdrawal down the Malay Peninsula, was forced to surrender at the fall of
Singapore. Meanwhile, as a result of agreements with the UK, the Netherlands and the US, Australian
forces were committed to Timor, Ambon and to key points in New Guinea, such as Rabaul. A number
of independent companies were deployed thinly in an arc from the New Hebrides and New Caledonia to
the Admiralty Islands. A large force of coast watchers was also raised, including the North Australia
Observer Unit, or the "Nackeroos" as they became affectionately known. When elements of the 6th and
7th Divisions were returned from the Middle East in early 1942, most returned to Australia and only
small numbers were deployed, before the fall of Singapore, to strengthen the Malay barrier - the
notional line extending down the Malayan peninsula, through Singapore to Indonesia, under the shortlived American-British-Dutch-Australia Command.
The early Japanese success with only eleven divisions but with strong air and naval forces was so
stunning that its leaders were forced to revise their initial strategy and choose between a number of
competing options. They considered strengthening their existing defensive perimeter, clearing the
British from the Indian Ocean, invading Australia, cutting the lines of communication between Australia
and the United States and finally, by occupying Midway Island, bringing the US Navy's carriers into a
decisive battle where they would be destroyed, thereby giving the Japanese essential sea control.
The chosen option was to destroy the British fleet in the Indian Ocean, cut communications between
Australia and the US - which included the seizure of Port Moresby - and occupy Midway. The invasion
of Australia would be reconsidered later.
Of course, at this time, Australians were not to know this. Japanese air attacks against Australia began
with a major assault on Darwin on 19 February 1942 when ninety Japanese aircraft, followed soon after
by a second wave of 54, bombed and strafed the town and ships in the harbour, killing 243 people and
inflicting heavy damage. In all, Darwin received 64 air raids and other centres - Townsville, Katherine,
Wyndham, Broome, Derby and Port Hedland - were also bombed. Such attacks continued until May
1943.
This meant that war was no longer simply an issue for military personnel, as it now affected all
Australians. I clearly remember, as a young boy, the construction and provisioning of an air-raid shelter
in my family's backyard in Perth. I am sure many others share similar memories. But these preparations
from potential invasion helped unify the country and fostered a strong, sense of patriotism.
Japanese midget submarine operations were also launched against Eastern Australia. Three entered
Sydney harbour on the night of 31 May 1942 and a replica is suspended in ANZAC Hall here. Two of
the midget submarines were sunk or scuttled but only after they sank the converted ferry Kuttabul,
killing 19 sailors. A few days later, another submarine fired shells into a Sydney suburb while another
bombarded Newcastle.
Japanese submarine attacks continued until June 1943. Nineteen ships were sunk aggregating 80,873
tonnes with a loss of 503 lives. The most significant loss was that of the Australian hospital ship
Centaur. On 14 May 1943, she was near Stradbroke Island, off Queensland's coast, steaming for New
Guinea to embark wounded soldiers. In the early hours of the morning, a Japanese torpedo sunk the
Centaur with the loss of 268 lives.
Lieutenant Ellen Savage, one of twelve nursing officers on board and the sole survivor of them,
displayed great heroism despite her own extensive injuries, and was awarded a George Medal. Part of
her citation reads:
"She rendered conspicuous service whilst in the raft attending to wounds and burns sustained by other
survivors. Sister Savage's example of high courage and fortitude did much to maintain the morale of
her companions during their ordeal."
And while it is now clear, following the Japanese carrier losses in the Battles of the Coral Sea and
Midway and after hard fighting, the defeat of their land forces at Kokoda, Milne Bay and Guadalcanal
they were forced on the defensive, and Australians for much of 1942 continued to prepare for the
possibility of a direct assault on our mainland.
In this process, whilst Australians at home did not suffer as severely as did many civilian populations
elsewhere, the war did have a profound impact on the Australian home front. Not only did the nation
experience attacks on its own soil for the first time, the Australian people faced unprecedented levels of
concern as Japan advanced seemingly unstoppable in the Pacific. The domestic landscape changed, as
Australians became fearful of possible spies and saboteurs, such that by 1942, eighteen internment
camps were established across the continent containing German, Italian and Japanese Australians.
The Curtin Government implemented a wide range of measures in preparedness for a "total war"
situation. For example, there was an urgent need to increase available manpower for the armed services
and the production of arms and munitions. Resources were increasingly marshalled under government
control and civilians willingly surrendered many of their individual rights. People on the home front
were expected to make economic and social sacrifices for the war effort.
The Curtin Government launched a campaign of "Austerity" in August 1942 and home-front
propaganda pushed the concept of "equality of sacrifice". Ration cards came into being. People were
expected to work harder and avoid luxuries and waste. However, despite the difficulties and hardships
experienced on the home front, many Australians remember this time for its sense of unity, when people
for the most part worked hard and pulled together.
Whilst Australia continued to fortify itself in 1943, General Douglas MacArthur, as Supreme
Commander, commenced offensive operations against the Japanese, gradually forcing them into a
northward retreat. The Americans and her allies now had land and ship-based air superiority to properly
support Allied assaults against the Japanese.
We recall the bitter fighting from mid-1942 including the battles on the Kokoda Track, the beach-heads
of Buna, Gona and Sanananda; the Guadalcanal campaign; the battle of Shaggy Ridge in late 1943/early
1944; Finschhafen and Wewak and the liberation of New Guinea, Labuan and Borneo in early 1945.
At this stage of the war, the Allies were preparing for what might have been a very costly invasion of
Japan, pre-empted in August 1945, when Japan surrendered unconditionally after atomic bombs were
dropped on Hiroshima, then three days later on Nagasaki.
And so ended the Battle for Australia.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is both timely and fitting that we record and commemorate these events in
paying tribute to the hundreds of thousands of servicemen and women and the civilian population of
Australia who so ably supported them in those hard fought years, and in so doing, ensured this country's
survival and unparalleled future prosperity.
Thank you.