Page 20 - Port Douglas Magazine 42

history.
Lest we
forget
The Japanese bombing of Darwin during
World War 2 is well documented, but
many Aussies have little idea of the very
real threat that was faced here in FNQ
20 Port Douglas Magazine & Travel Planner
Horn Island in the Torres Strait, 40km off the tip of Cape
York, was home to more than 5000 Australian and American
troops. The tiny island was the target of eight air raids
between from March 1942 and June 1943 making it only
military installation in Queensland to be regularly targeted
by the Japanese. It was hit by more than 500 bombs over the
18-month campaign.
To the immense relief of the dwindling number of locals in
Port Douglas, the threat of a mainland Queensland invasion
never eventuated. But there are historical sites that you can
visit in and around town to get an impression of what life
must have been like, living on a wartime knife edge.
MIALLO JAPANESE BOMBING SITE,
MIALLO-BAMBOO CREEK ROAD, MIALLO
On 31 July 1942, a Japanese air raid dropped eight 250kg
bombs over Mossman. Where most of these bombs fell has
never been established but one landed near a slaughter yard
on the Daintree Road, and another exploded on a sugar
cane farm near Bamboo Creek. It smashed the windows of
the farmhouse and a two-year-old girl was taken to hospital
with a fractured skull. The bomb left a large crater seven
metres across and one metre deep. Fifty years later the site
was recognised with a plaque bearing an inscription of the
“WITH ITS STRATEGIC LOCATION, THE details of the raid.
DOUGLAS SHIRE AND THE NEARBY TOWN THE BUMP TRACK, CONNOLLY ROAD,
OF CAIRNS SUDDENLY BECAME A LOGISTICS MOWBRAY
In 1942, the Bump Track was the only way over the Great
HUB FOR THE PACIFIC WAR, WHILE THE Dividing Range north of Cairns. Should the Japanese invade,
ATHERTON TABLELANDS PROVIDED THE evacuation plans were put in place that a convoy of trucks
would follow the steep track to Hughenden 600km to the
PERFECT JUNGLE WARFARE TRAINING west, with each passenger permitted to bring one small
suitcase. To thwart the risk that Japanese ground forces
GROUND FOR THOSE HEADING OFF TO PNG could follow, the Australian Army placed landmines at the
800-metre mark. Once the last truck had passed this point,
AND BOUGAINVILLE.” the road was to be blown up, sealing off the interior from the
coast. After the war the mines were detonated, leaving behind
three large craters that over the years have been slowly filled by
erosion. The Bump Track is now a well-marked walking track.
Military landing exercise on Four Mile Beach ANZAC PARK, WHARF STREET,
PORT DOUGLAS
Miallo Japanese bombing site The Port Douglas War Memorial with its digger statue was
originally erected to commemorate the soldiers of Port
Douglas and district who served and fell in the Great War
1914-1918. A plaque was added to the memorial at a later
WORDS by Sara Mulcahy one of Vietnam. Mossman War Memorial (64 Front St,
date commemorating the 24 fallen of World War Two, and
Mossman) pays tribute to the same local men and boys who
At 928km north of Port Douglas, the Papua New Guinean capital
lost their lives.
of Port Moresby is half the distance to Brisbane. And at no time
was its proximity more starkly apparent than in January 1942. In
The sea mine that lies on the grass behind the Port Douglas
the later stages of the second World War, as the Japanese forces
memorial is one of those laid to protect Cairns Harbour
made their way down the Malay Peninsula, the front line of the against enemy attack in 1942. After the war, the explosives
Pacific offensive reached PNG. Port Douglas and its surrounds
were detonated and disposed of, but this one drifted up to
were on high alert.
Port Douglas. It was safely disarmed on discovery in 1948.
Home to just a few hundred people at the time, the Commonwealth
Government called for voluntary evacuation of the town, and many
heeded the warnings, relocating inland or heading south to safety.
Four Mile Beach was a popular landing strip in late 1920s
The old schoolhouse on Murphy Street closed down. It was a time of FOUR MILE BEACH, PORT DOUGLAS
ration cards, censorship and military exercises on Four Mile Beach. and 30s for planes including the Royal Mail delivery service.
With its strategic location, the Douglas Shire and the nearby town During wartime it was used as a location for military landing
of Cairns suddenly became a logistics hub for the Pacific war, while exercises, including the Douglas Exercise in March 1944.
the Atherton Tablelands provided the perfect jungle warfare training During the invasion exercise ‘enemy’ troops were cleared from
the beach and foreshores, then bulldozers were landed from
ground for those heading off to PNG and Bougainville. landing craft to push tracks through the jungle. Troops of the
Military control posts were established along the beaches of the Coral
Sea from Cooktown and the islands off Cape York to the north, via 17th infantry brigade had to wade ashore through shallow
water when their landing barge was caught on a sandbar
Cairns and Fitzroy Island, to Magnetic Island and Townsville to the (pictured).
south.