Lest we forget

Words by Sara Mulcahy

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.

At 928km north of Port Douglas, the Papua New Guinean capital 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 later stages of the second World War, as the Japanese forces made their way down the Malay Peninsula, the front line of the Pacific offensive reached PNG. Port Douglas and its surrounds were on high alert.

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. The old schoolhouse on Murphy Street closed down. It was a time of ration cards, censorship and military exercises on Four Mile Beach.
With its strategic location, the Douglas Shire and the nearby town of Cairns suddenly became a logistics hub for the Pacific war, while the Atherton Tablelands provided the perfect jungle warfare training ground for those heading off to PNG and Bougainville.

Military control posts were established along the beaches of the Coral Sea from Cooktown and the islands off Cape York to the north, via Cairns and Fitzroy Island, to Magnetic Island and Townsville to the south.

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 details of the raid.

The Bump Track, Connolly Road, Mowbray

In 1942, the Bump Track was the only way over the Great Dividing Range north of Cairns. Should the Japanese invade, evacuation plans were put in place that a convoy of trucks would follow the steep track to Hughenden 600km to the west, with each passenger permitted to bring one small suitcase.

To thwart the risk that Japanese ground forces could follow, the Australian Army placed landmines at the 800-metre mark. Once the last truck had passed this point, 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.

Anzac Park, Wharf Street, Port Douglas

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 date commemorating the 24 fallen of World War Two, and one of Vietnam. Mossman War Memorial (64 Front St, Mossman) pays tribute to the same local men and boys who lost their lives.

The sea mine that lies on the grass behind the Port Douglas memorial is one of those laid to protect Cairns Harbour against enemy attack in 1942. After the war, the explosives were detonated and disposed of, but this one drifted up to Port Douglas. It was safely disarmed on discovery in 1948.

Four Mile Beach, Port Douglas

Four Mile Beach was a popular landing strip in late 1920s and 30s for planes including the Royal Mail delivery service. During wartime it was used as a location for military landing exercises, including the Douglas Exercise in March 1944.

During the invasion exercise ‘enemy’ troops were cleared from the beach and foreshores, then bulldozers were landed from landing craft to push tracks through the jungle. Troops of the 17th infantry brigade had to wade ashore through shallow water when their landing barge was caught on a sandbar (pictured).