World War II: New South Wales in 1942

A look at NSW involvement in World War II through the State Archives Collection, including the construction of roads, bridges and airfields in the Northern Territory, New Caledonia and Norfolk Island, along with war time activities on the home front.

On 1 September 1939 Germany invaded Poland and two days later Britain and France declared war on Germany. Australia also entered the war on 3 September, following the British lead. When Japan attacked the American Forces at Pearl Harbour in December 1941 Australia focused troops and resources on the Pacific War. 

Almost 1 million Australians served in the armed forces and over 27,000 Australians died while in military service. The war ended on 14 August 1945 when Japan surrendered, effectively ending the War.

The bombing of Darwin

On 19 February 1942 at 9.58am Japanese bombers began to arrive over Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia in the first of two attacks. This first attack lasted approximately 40 minutes and bombs were dropped on the Allied warships and merchant vessels in Darwin Harbour, the RAAF Base and civilian airfield outside of town, along with the Army Barracks and oil store. The second attack at about midday again concentrated the bombing on the RAAF Base.

It is estimated that approximately 683 bombs were dropped on Darwin over the two attacks. Between 250-320 people were killed and another 300-400 were wounded. In Darwin Harbour 10 ships were sunk and another 25 ships were damaged while at the airfields 23 aircraft were destroyed. Most of the military and civil facilities in the town were also destroyed. Between 4 March 1942 and 12 November 1943 there were 62 more bombing raids in the Northern Territory and parts of Western Australia.

Helping Darwin

NSW Government and the Northern Territory, 1940-42

Early in World War II Darwin was considered an ideal location for an Allied base from which troops could be deployed to defend the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) from the expected Japanese forces. A major problem though, was the isolation of Darwin. This meant that the town relied heavily on the sea for the transport of both goods and men for labour. From mid-1940 roads, bridges, airfields and other infrastructure in the Northern Territory were built for the Commonwealth Government by various state governments, including NSW. In particular, NSW helped to establish the Darwin Fire Brigade late in 1941.

Establishment of Darwin Fire Brigade

High explosive bombs

These two pages, from a four page article titled "Bombs", include diagrams of the types of bombs that the Japanese forces were known to use. It was published one year after the bombing of Darwin. 'Action: Journal of National Emergency Services NSW', Vol 2, No 5. Feb 1943, pp 34-35.

Further reading

• See NAA: Fact Sheet 195 The bombing of Darwin
• NAA RecordSearch – NAA:A431, 1948/215, Fire Brigade Darwin N.T. Establishment of, 1938-50
• Museum of Fire, Penrith, NSW
• Northern Territory Fire & Rescue: Our History

NSW prepares for war

The National Emergency Services

The National Emergency Services NSW (NES) helped to protect, educate and provide aid on the home front. The NES was established in 1939 and by the end of World War II 115,418 people had volunteered with the organisation. Nearly half of these volunteers were enrolled as wardens. During the War, from the Hunter to the Illawarra, there were 464 air raid sirens, 70,000 feet (21,336 m) of trench shelters, 36,000 ft (10,972 m) of covered trenches and 139 pillbox air raid shelters.

As well as arranging courses, the NES held practical exercises to equip their volunteers to deal with the real thing. This article, from Action, describes one such training exercise for rescue workers.

Air raid shelters

The State Government was responsible for providing air raid shelters for the travelling public from the Hunter to the Illawarra. Employers had to provide shelters for their employees and customers. The planning of air raid shelters for travellers began in Jun 1940. This map shows more than 20 Pillbox shelters (blue circles), along with trench shelters (blue zig zags). Paddington had a high density population, major bus and tram routes and (still is) the home of Victoria Barracks. Only seven pillboxes were eventually built.

Protecting NSW

Homefront

In May 1935 the Australian Government asked each State to begin making plans to protect their citizens against chemical weapons, such as poison gas bombs, carried by aircraft flying from a ship offshore. This was seen as a remote possibility but one with potentially disastrous results. The Federal Government defined the most vulnerable area in NSW as Newcastle, Sydney, Wollongong and inland to Lithgow. This area housed significant industries (including the manufacture of munitions), resources, infrastructure and population. Explosive and incendiary bombs were later added as potential threats and the State’s entire coast inland for 100 miles (161 kms) was defined as being at risk. On 1 February 1939 the plans were put into place when National Emergency Services NSW began operations.

Roof spotters

Roof spotters were part of a building's fire fighting capability. From 12 December 1941 NSW Government regulations required all government buildings and many industrial and business premises to be patrolled 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in case of air raids. Employees, usually volunteers, acted as fire wardens, first aiders and fire or roof spotters

Private property and parklands were taken over by the Commonwealth for the duration of the war for a variety of war-related uses. In 1938 the pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge had been inspected to find the best sites for fixing machine guns. From 13-15 November 1939 the No. 5 Section, 1st Anti-Aircraft Battery (Lewis Gun Section) held training exercises in all four pylons. A memo from 25 April 1942 describes an inspection of the Bridge pylons by the Army prior to them taking over control of all four pylons and guns being erected in two of them. The pylons were also used for troop accommodation.

Nock and Kirby's air raid precautions department offered all that the householder needed to protect their home and person from an air raid. Items sold included blackout curtains for the windows, backyard air raid shelters and fire fighting equipment.

NSW under attack

On 31 May 1942 Sydney found itself under attack from three Japanese midget submarines that entered Sydney Harbour under the cover of night.

The first submarine became trapped in anti-torpedo nets and the third submarine was sunk in Taylor Bay. The second submarine fired on the heavy cruiser the USS Chicago. One of the torpedos exploded near the depot ship the HMAS Kuttabul, killing 21 sailors.

Japanese submarines attack

It was submarines, rather than aircraft carriers, that would arrive in NSW. Between 16 May and 27 July 1942 Japanese I-Class submarines attacked fourteen merchant ships and a fishing trawler off south east Australia (from Port Macquarie NSW to Mallacoota Victoria). Seven ships were sunk and 62 seamen killed. Reconnaissance float planes carried by the submarines flew over Melbourne (26 February), Hobart (1 March) and Sydney (17 February, 23 May and 30 May).

Midget submarines, carried by three of the I-class submarines, entered Sydney Harbour on 31 May-1 June and attacked warships and torpedoed the Kuttabul, killing 19 Australian and 2 British naval personnel.

In the early hours of 8 June, submarine I-24 fired ten high explosive shells into Sydney’s eastern suburbs for 10 minutes. The exact number of shells fired by submarine I-21 during its same day 16 minute bombardment of Newcastle is not known. However using both official sources and eyewitness accounts, Jones and Carruthers estimate a total of 21 shells, most like 15 high explosive shells and 6 star shells. Many of the shells that fell on Sydney and Newcastle failed to explode.

This plan of the Harbour Protection Net, dated 22 April 1942, shows the arrangement of dolphins (piles) along with the opening and navigation signals. The central section of the net was built between 30 December 1941 and 13 March 1942. The intricacies of the gates and the question of how the net connected to the shore meant that the Navy did not accept the Maritime Services Board's plans for these until late April. Thus the protection net was not complete when the Japanese midget submarine from I-27 was caught up in it on 31 May 1942.

This article from the July 1942 issue of Action describes the shelling of Sydney on 8 June 1942 from the point of view of the National Emergency Services. In the aftermath of the shelling, the NES achieved their aim of quickly clearing the bomb damage and restoring services to afflicted areas.

In the collection

• NRS-9852 Maritime Services Board information files

Further reading

• NAA: Fact Sheet 192 – Japanese midget submarine attacks on Sydney, 1942
• AWM – G. Hermon Gill, Australia in the War of 1939-45, Series 2, Vol II – Royal Australian Navy, 1942-45 (in particular see Chapter 3, pp 58-99)
• David Jenkins, Battle Surface! Japan’s Submarine War against Australia 1942-44, Sydney, Random House, 1992
• Terry Jones and Steven Carruthers. A Parting Shot: Shelling of Australia by Japanese Submarines 1942, Narrabeen, Casper Publications, 2013

Outside our borders

NSW Department of Main Roads assist in the Northern Territory

From 1940 to 1943 the Australian Government co-opted the road construction authorities of the state governments to build roads, airfields and other defence works and infrastructure in the Northern Territory. One of these co-opted organisations was the NSW Department of Main Roads. By 1943 the Department had built airfields at both Norfolk Island and New Caledonia and helped the Main Roads Commission of Queensland to build the Ipswich to Charters Towers Inland Defence road. The men who volunteered to work on these projects came from within the Department and from other sections of state and local government.

Before deciding on the route for the all-weather road from Darwin to Adelaide River, the NSW Dept of Main Roads commissioned Adstra Airways of Mascot, Sydney to photograph the area between Adelaide River and Warlock, some 800 square miles or 207,199 hectares. This aerial survey was needed to quickly find the best route for the road across the rivers and creeks in the area. Based at Pine Creek aerodrome, pilot Norman Rodini and cameraman Peter Paynes photographed the area from 17 June to 7 July 1941.

Initially, the state road authorities dealt directly with the Army. In February 1942 the Allied War Council was created and by June 1943 it was the chief co-ordinator for the Northern Territory construction work. By 1943 state and local government employees volunteering to work in the Northern Teritory were enrolled in its Civil Construction Corps. In 1943 the NSW Dept of Main Roads maintained the roads it had previously built in the Territory, tarred 168 (270 km) of road between Darwin and Katherine and built 26 miles (42 km) of access roads. In conjunction with the RAAF it constructed five airstrips at Fraser, Tindal, Riding, McDonald and Long, and set up a water supply at the Batchelor airfield which included an eight mile pipeline. Some of the men who worked on the Batchelor water supply have signed this cartoon, ‘Survey of the Batchelor Water Supply on Xmas Eve’, which was drawn by WF Davis.

First convoy on completed road, north of Clermont, 1943. The NSW Dept of Main Roads, as constructing authority for the Allied Works Council, began work on 5 Sep 1942 and completed the road on 30 Apr 1943. It cleared 1,652 acres (668.5 hectares), built 70 concrete culverts, 104 cattle grids and 33 bridges. Over 2000 Civil Construction Corps members worked on the NSW section. This photo shows the first convoy using the completed road about four miles (6.4 km) north of Clermont.

Further reading

The roadmakers: a history of main roads in New South Wales, Dept Main Roads NSW, 1976.

• AWM: The Second World War Official Histories

Moving and arming NSW

NSW Government Railways

Transport

During World War II the NSW Government Railways carried out two main roles: moving and arming. Their first, and more traditional, role was the transport of military personnel and supplies, raw materials and equipment for war industries, along with the usual goods and passengers. With road transport limited by the need to import oil and sea transport under attack from enemy submarines, the railways were vital to the war effort. In the peak year of 1943-44 the NSW Government Railways moved over 13,686 million gross ton-mileage and 250 million passengers (not including military personnel).

Manufacture

The NSW Government Railways’ other role was the manufacture and/or assembly of a wide variety of defence needs, using skills and tools that usually built and repaired railway engines and rolling stock. The Railways made machine tools, jigs and gauges; shells; radar antennas; tanks; aircraft parts; gun barrels, shields and brackets; military and hospital tents, collapsible canvas water tanks, haversacks and kit bags, gun covers and 2,550 miles (4023.4 kilometres) of rope. In addition to this, they also maintained their engines and running stock, expected to perform well beyond their peacetime limits, and built and modified wagons to transport military supplies.

Munitions and defence equipment were manufactured by commercial firms and state government departments, including the Randwick depot of the NSW Government Tramways. State government and private engineering firms, co-ordinated by the Commonwealth government, worked together to meet Australia’s defence needs and create ‘mass production, on a nation-wide scale, of materials and articles of a higher degree of complexity and accuracy than had before been attempted in Australia’ (Mellor, p.1).

Some of the more than 2,000 male and female workers at the Dept of Aircraft Production’s factory at the Chullora Workshops, c.1943. The sign above their heads reads ‘NEAR ENOUGH IS NOT NEAR ENOUGH. BE EXACT!’ A second sign visible in other photos states ‘A CONCEALED MISTAKE IS A CRIME! IT MAY COST A BRAVE MAN HIS LIFE’. Production of the Beaufort Bomber began in 1940 and ended in April 1944. As well as the 700 Beaufort bomber sets produced and spare parts, segments of the Beaufighter and Lincoln airplanes were also constructed at Chullora.

Bristol Beaufort Bomber

The Bristol Beaufort Bomber included parts manufactured by 600 firms separated by thousands of kilometres, over three Australian states. The parts were assembled into larger sections of the plane at the railway workshops at Chullora NSW, Newport Vic, and Islington SA. Each of these workshops specialised in different sections of the plane. These larger parts were then turned into finished planes at the two main assembly workshops of the Department of Aircraft Production at Fishermen’s Bend Vic and Mascot NSW.

The Department of Aircraft Production’s factory at the Chullora Workshops made the front fuselage (including the seats of pilot, observer and navigator) and associated control equipment wiring, the retractable undercarriage, the stern frame, the engine nacelle fairing, and engine bulkhead panels. This image shows the front fuselages being fitted out on 6 April 1942. Eveleigh Workshops constructed wooden, leather or fabric covered parts.

For a full list of firms involved see Beaufort Restoration webpage.

The list below is the first of two pages of munitions jobs completed at the Randwick Tramway Workshops by the Department of Road Transport and Tramways. From August 1940 Randwick built Vickers Machine Gun tripods, packaging cases, and spare parts; parts for Bren Guns, 303 rifles, Austen guns, 25 pounder guns, 3 inch anti-aircraft guns, and Lewis guns; parts for machine gun carriers, generators, and charcoal burning kilns; and assembled wheels and axles for Garratt locomotives. The list names the firms the items were made for, including the Ministry of Munitions and General Motors Holden, and thus shows the complex subcontracting that occurred during World War II.

Radar systems needed to be strong enough to withstand tropical and wartime conditions, light enough to transport, easily dismantled and reassembled, and powerful enough to do the work. The Railways’ Chief Electrical Engineer’s and Mechanical Engineer’s Branches came up with a light weight antenna that used a rotating gear. It stood on top of a metal and canvas hut that housed the radar equipment. The image above is from Railways at War (Sydney, c.1947) and shows some of the aerials they designed and made.

Further information

DP Mellor, The Role of Science and Industry. Australia in the War of 1939-1945, Series 4-Civil-Vol 5, Canberra, 1958 (especially Chapters 14, 18 and 19).

NRS 20017 Item A92-4/11 Railways at War, (Sydney, NSW Government Railways, c.1947)

DAP Beaufort (Mk.VII) Bomber A9-141 – VH-KTW

Aboriginal Military Service

The military service contribution of Indigenous Australians to the nation from World War II onwards is a vital part of understanding our Australian history and identity. Many Aboriginal people were at odds over the issue of military service with some Aboriginal organisations arguing that military service would help the push for full citizenship rights while others believed it was an opportunity to undertake training in areas previously denied to them.

It is estimated that approximately 3000 Indigenous Australians served in the regular armed forces during the War. By mid-1941 the increased need for more troops meant that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were allowed to enlist in some of the smaller service units. As the Japanese pushed through Asia in 1942 both men and women of Aboriginal and Torres Island descent were performing vital tasks in the front line. We can only guess how many Indigenous Australians volunteers in total though, as the Defence Force did not allow Aboriginal people to state their heritage until 1980.

Related resources

• Search the National Archives of Australia website for WWII Service records

Research

Research for the World War II: 1942 Gallery was completed by Jennifer Sloggett, Archivist, Collections.