Battle for Australia

The Battle for Australia is a contested historiographical term used to claim a coordinated link between a series of battles near Australia during the Pacific War of the Second World War alleged to be in preparation for a Japanese invasion of the continent. Since 2008 these battles have been commemorated by Battle for Australia Day, which falls on the first Wednesday in September.

Battle for Australia
Part of Second World War during War in the Pacific

An Australian propaganda poster released in 1942. The poster was criticised for being alarmist when it was released and was banned by the Queensland government.
Date19 February 1942 - 2 September 1945
Location
Coral Sea, New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Australia
Result

Allied Victory

  • End of attacks following the capitulation of Japan
Belligerents

 Australia
 New Zealand
 Canada
 British Raj
 United Kingdom
 United States
 Norway

 Netherlands

 Japanese Empire

 Nazi Germany
Commanders and leaders

John Curtin
Joseph Burnett
David V. J. Blake
John Crace

Gerald Muirhead Godd

Chūichi Nagumo
Mitsuo Fuchida
Kanji Matsumura
Sakonjo Naomasa
Sasaki Hankyu
Robert Yesen

Theodor Detmers

Historiography and commemoration

The Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) and the Battle for Australia Commemoration National Council campaigned for over a decade for official commemoration of a series of battles fought in 1942, including the Battle of the Coral Sea, Battle of Milne Bay and Kokoda Track campaign, as having formed a "battle for Australia".[1] This campaign met with success, and in 2008 the Australian Government proclaimed that commemorations for the Battle for Australia would take place annually on the first Wednesday in September, with the day being designated "Battle for Australia Day".[1] This day recognises "the service and sacrifice of all those who served in defence of Australia in 1942 and 1943".[2] The day is not a public holiday.[3]

Peter Stanley, the former principal historian at the Australian War Memorial, 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'.[4] In a 2006 speech, Stanley argued that the concept of a Battle for Australia is invalid as the events that are considered to form the battle were only loosely related. Stanley argued, "The Battle for Australia movement arises directly out of a desire to find meaning in the terrible losses of 1942" and that "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 while the phrase "Battle for Australia" was used in wartime propaganda, it was not applied to the events of 1942 until the 1990s and that countries other than Australia do not recognise the "battle" of the Second World War.[5][6]

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See also

Notes
  1. Walters, Patrick (26 June 2008). "Battle won on dedicated Pacific war day". The Australian. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  2. "Anniversaries". Department of Veterans' Affairs. Archived from the original on 19 December 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2011.
  3. Blenkin, Max (26 June 2008). "'Battle for Australia' Day in September". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 December 2011.
  4. Stanley, Peter. "What 'Battle for Australia'?". The Drum. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
  5. Peter Stanley (2006). "Was there a Battle for Australia?". Australian War Memorial Anniversary Oration, 10 November 2006
  6. Stanley (2008), pp. 221–222

References

Further reading
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