Battle for Australia - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Battle for Australia is a contested historiographical

Historiography

Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...

term used to claim a link between a series of battles near Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

during the Pacific War

Pacific War

The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...

of the Second World War

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Since 2008 these battles have been commemorated by Battle for Australia Day, which falls on the first Wednesday in September.

Historiography and commemoration

The modern concept of a Battle for Australia owes its origin to a private letter dated 24 July 1997 that Pacific War historian James Kenneth Bowen wrote to the National President of the Returned & Services League of Australia (RSL), Major General W. B. Digger James, AC, MBE, MC. Mr Bowen was then Honorary Counsel and State Executive member of the Victorian RSL.

Peter Stanley

Peter Stanley

Dr Peter Stanley is an Australian historian. He is Head of the Centre for Historical Research at the National Museum of Australia. Between 1980 and 2007 he was an historian and curator at the Australian War Memorial, including as head of the Historical Research Section and Principal Historian...

—the former principal historian at the Australian War Memorial

Australian War Memorial

The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia...

—argues that the concept of a 'Battle for Australia' is mistaken as these actions did not form a single campaign aimed against Australia. Stanley has also stated that no historian he knows believes that there was a 'Battle for Australia'. In a 2006 speech, the principal historian at the Australian War Memorial

Australian War Memorial

, Dr. Peter Stanley

Peter Stanley

, argued that the concept of a Battle for Australia is invalid as the events which are considered to form the battle were only loosely related. Stanley argued that "The Battle for Australia movement arises directly out of a desire to find meaning in the terrible losses of 1942"; and "there was no 'Battle for Australia', as such", as the Japanese did not launch a co-ordinated campaign directed against Australia. Furthermore, Stanley stated that the phrase 'Battle for Australia' was not used until the 1990s and this 'battle' of the Second World War is not recognised by countries other than Australia.

In 2008, the Australian Government proclaimed that commemorations for the Battle for Australia would be held annually on the first Wednesday in September, with the day being designated 'Battle for Australia Day'.

Actions

Proposed Japanese invasion of Australia during World War II
Operation FS
Operation FS
Operation FS was the name of the Imperial Japanese plan to invade and occupy Fiji, Samoa, and New Caledonia in the south Pacific during the Pacific conflict of World War II...
Japanese air raids
Japanese air attacks on Australia, 1942-43
Between February 1942 and November 1943, during the Pacific War, the Australian mainland, domestic airspace, offshore islands and coastal shipping were attacked at least 97 times by aircraft from the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army Air Force...

, including:
- the bombing of Darwin and
- the attack on Broome
Battle of the Coral Sea
Battle of the Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought from 4–8 May 1942, was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. The battle was the first fleet action in which aircraft carriers engaged...
Japanese submarine attacks
Axis naval activity in Australian waters
Although Australia was remote from the main battlefronts, there was considerable Axis naval activity in Australian waters during the Second World War. A total of 54 German and Japanese warships and submarines entered Australian waters between 1940 and 1945 and attacked ships, ports and other targets...

, including:
- the attack on Sydney Harbour
  Attack on Sydney Harbour
  In late May and early June 1942, during World War II, submarines belonging to the Imperial Japanese Navy made a series of attacks on the cities of Sydney and Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia...
the New Guinea campaign
New Guinea campaign
The New Guinea campaign was one of the major military campaigns of World War II.Before the war, the island of New Guinea was split between:...

, including the
- Kokoda Track Campaign
  Kokoda Track campaign
  The Kokoda Track campaign or Kokoda Trail campaign was part of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign consisted of a series of battles fought between July and November 1942 between Japanese and Allied—primarily Australian—forces in what was then the Australian territory of Papua...
  
  and
- Battle of Milne Bay
  Battle of Milne Bay
  The Battle of Milne Bay, also known as Operation RE by the Japanese, was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Japanese marines attacked the Australian base at Milne Bay on the eastern tip of New Guinea on 25 August 1942, and fighting continued until the Japanese retreated on 5...

External links

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