19th February 2010
Every year on 19th February the city of Darwin pauses to mark one of the most significant moments in Australia’s history, the Bombing of Darwin by Japanese Imperial Forces on 19th February 1942. It was on this day that the first of at least 64 air raids on Darwin and the Top End commenced. Sadly, many perished during these attacks.
This morning we attended the commemoration service which started at 9.58am with the sounding of the air-raid sirens as they did 68 years ago. This was followed by a re-enactment by Defence Force Personnel along with a fly past of FA 18 Hornets. Anyone who didn’t know what was going on would have had quite a fright what with the sirens, then the gun fire, then the planes flying over!
After the service, we walked up to the modern, white Parliament House located across the road from the restored Government House which is a fine example of an elegant, tropical building, then onto Survivors Lookout overlooking todays port.
From Survivor’s Lookout we made our way down to the harbour which has undergone some significant development with hotels and a swimming lagoon complete with wave machine. All very clean and lush looking.
The afternoon was spent around the pool, just chilling and keeping cool, before we returned to the room to get our stuff ready to fly out to Cairns early tomorrow morning.