As the sun appeared across Darwin on Thursday 19 February 1942, it heralded in just another wet season day. Minutes before 10am a series of Japanese aircraft flew overhead and suddenly the town erupted with a series of massive explosions. World War 2 had arrived on Australia’s doorstep. Amongst the devastation was a direct hit by an 800 kilogram bomb onto the top of a steel topped slit trench next to the Darwin Post Office. The massive explosion instantly killed Darwin's postmaster Hurtle Bald, his wife Alice, their daughter Iris and six other post office staff. The story is told in a new book Direct Hit: The Bombing of Darwin Post Office by Brett Bowden.
Picture: Watts Collection, Northern Territory Library
Published: 20 November 2016
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