MG1962
Unregistered
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2006
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We're all Jedi, you know.
Hmmmmm which means.............let me see. New Zealanders are Ewoks and the Poms are the evil Siyth Lords.........yes?
Australia
- Thread starter Akhenaten
- Start date
Hmmmmm which means.............let me see. New Zealanders are Ewoks and the Poms are the evil Siyth Lords.........yes?
Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
You're onto it.
Don't forget the Gungans from the United States of Naboo. There's a colony of large-footed Wookies living in the PNW region of Naboo as well, according to some.
Don't forget the Gungans from the United States of Naboo. There's a colony of large-footed Wookies living in the PNW region of Naboo as well, according to some.
War and strife goes with our nation and seems our way of life. It does show the determined people who won't give in. Unfortunely the strong get killed,lucky the woman carry on the genes. One of the somber places is the Adlaide River cementry( we spoke of these things before and it's one place where I grit my teeth) Haunted lonely waste of young lives. Anyway our pharoah "Dave" has done a terrific job of inserting pictures and facts of many things that I hope other readers find interesting. If he hasn't run out of steam we have barely touched on the wonders of this great southern land. All the strange caves across the west and a beauty north of the Three Ways, our soldiers sheltered from the heat plus had a shot or two at those (hang on tights) the name eludes me? those pointy things that grow down from a cave ceiling. The tour guide goes ahead to chase the snakes because they like the mild conditions in the cave.
Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
Golly, 10 000 views of this stuff. Has TV gone off the air or something?
I believe some input is required from us blokes as well. I'm a bit hazy on the details.
You know, I was sure I'd done a post about the Adelaide River Cemetery, but I'm buggered if I can find it so I'll do another one.
I have to agree with you about the feel of the place. I'm glad I don't believe in ghosts, because it's full of them.
The Adelaide River War Cemetery
©Snockley @ Panoramio
The Adelaide River War Cemetery and the adjacent Adelaide River Wartime Civilian Cemetery are situated about 1 km (1 000 yd) from the Stuart Highway and 100 m (110 yd) from the Adelaide River in the town of Adelaide River, approximately 100 km (60 mi) south of Darwin, NT.
Northern Territory Government - Department of Natural Resources, Environment and The Arts
Remembering the Fallen
The adjacent Adelaide River Civilian Wartime Cemetery is the resting-place for some of the civilians killed as a result of enemy attacks on Australia, including those killed when the Darwin Post Office was bombed, as mentioned below.
©Craig Hamilton @ Picasa
On 19 February 1942, 188 Japanese planes were launched against Darwin, whose harbour was full of Allied ships.
This was the first time since European settlement that mainland Australia had been attacked by a foreign enemy.
It was the largest Japanese attack since Pearl Harbour, 7 December 1941, and followed a reconnaissance flight on 10 February 1942. On that day there were 27 Allied ships in the harbour and approximately 30 aircraft at the Darwin Civil and RAAF airfields.
The first attack lasted approximately forty minutes. The land targets included the Post Office, Telegraph Office, Cable Office and the Postmaster's Residence, where postal workers were killed.
The second attack began an hour after the first ended. Heavy bombers attacked the Royal Australian Air Force Base at Parap and lasted about 25 minutes
From the first raid on 19 February 1942 until the last on 12 November 1943, Australia and its allies lost about 900 people, 77 aircraft and several ships. Many military and civilian facilities were destroyed. The Japanese lost about 131 aircraft in total during the attacks.
Although these first two raids were the largest, the Japanese were to undertake many more raids on Darwin and other northern Australian towns over the next 20 months. Two weeks after the Darwin bombing, on 3 March 1942, the Western Australian town of Broome suffered Australia's second-worst air raid. The attack killed seventy people and injured another forty, as well as eight large aircraft and 16 flying boats, 24 aircraft in total.
Lest we forget
I believe some input is required from us blokes as well. I'm a bit hazy on the details.
One of the somber places is the Adelaide River cemetery (we spoke of these things before and it's one place where I grit my teeth). Haunted lonely waste of young lives.
<Polite snip. I'll get to the rest later
You know, I was sure I'd done a post about the Adelaide River Cemetery, but I'm buggered if I can find it so I'll do another one.
I have to agree with you about the feel of the place. I'm glad I don't believe in ghosts, because it's full of them.
The Adelaide River War Cemetery
©Snockley @ Panoramio
The Adelaide River War Cemetery and the adjacent Adelaide River Wartime Civilian Cemetery are situated about 1 km (1 000 yd) from the Stuart Highway and 100 m (110 yd) from the Adelaide River in the town of Adelaide River, approximately 100 km (60 mi) south of Darwin, NT.
Northern Territory Government - Department of Natural Resources, Environment and The Arts
Remembering the Fallen
The adjacent Adelaide River Civilian Wartime Cemetery is the resting-place for some of the civilians killed as a result of enemy attacks on Australia, including those killed when the Darwin Post Office was bombed, as mentioned below.
©Craig Hamilton @ Picasa
On 19 February 1942, 188 Japanese planes were launched against Darwin, whose harbour was full of Allied ships.
This was the first time since European settlement that mainland Australia had been attacked by a foreign enemy.
It was the largest Japanese attack since Pearl Harbour, 7 December 1941, and followed a reconnaissance flight on 10 February 1942. On that day there were 27 Allied ships in the harbour and approximately 30 aircraft at the Darwin Civil and RAAF airfields.
The first attack lasted approximately forty minutes. The land targets included the Post Office, Telegraph Office, Cable Office and the Postmaster's Residence, where postal workers were killed.
The second attack began an hour after the first ended. Heavy bombers attacked the Royal Australian Air Force Base at Parap and lasted about 25 minutes
From the first raid on 19 February 1942 until the last on 12 November 1943, Australia and its allies lost about 900 people, 77 aircraft and several ships. Many military and civilian facilities were destroyed. The Japanese lost about 131 aircraft in total during the attacks.
Although these first two raids were the largest, the Japanese were to undertake many more raids on Darwin and other northern Australian towns over the next 20 months. Two weeks after the Darwin bombing, on 3 March 1942, the Western Australian town of Broome suffered Australia's second-worst air raid. The attack killed seventy people and injured another forty, as well as eight large aircraft and 16 flying boats, 24 aircraft in total.
Lest we forget
HawaiiBigSis
List Management
How would that be different than any other cemetery?
And I learned something new today -- I never knew Japan attacked Australia!
Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
Touché, lovely lady.
Learning is why I'm here, and I love it when I can give some back. Would you like some more of this subject? Hawaii and Australia have some things in common with regard to WWII that you may find interesting.
Cheers,
Dave
arthwollipot
Limerick Purist Pronouns: He/Him
They got submarines into Sydney Harbour!
HawaiiBigSis
List Management
Touché, lovely lady.
Learning is why I'm here, and I love it when I can give some back. Would you like some more of this subject? Hawaii and Australia have some things in common with regard to WWII that you may find interesting.
Learning is also what keeps me coming back. And you've been doing a great job of teaching, Dave.
And yes, although I'm not much of war buff, knowing parallels between our homes would also be interesting to me.
HawaiiBigSis
List Management
On the subject of cemeteries (but a slight derail from Australia), the saddest graves I saw were along the Natchez Trace in Mississippi, where there was what appeared to be a group of children buried. Four or five little headstones, carved from wood, with the names of what appeared to be the children of an entire family. Their dates of birth, and dates of death within four or five days. None of them were more than nine or 10 years old when they died.
My heart broke for that family. A hundred or so years on, but it still was very sad...
Okay, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
My heart broke for that family. A hundred or so years on, but it still was very sad...
Okay, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
HawaiiBigSis
List Management
Wow! At the same time they were attacking Darwin? Hmmm.... I wish I had time to research right this second!
Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
That is indeed sad.
Thank you very much for that. See! I told you that you'd have something interesting for us.
Fear not! I'll just flog a couple of scribes into action and get something posted here about it.
As it happens, not long ago they found one of the submarines, just up the coast a bit from Sydney.
Stay tuned!
HawaiiBigSis
List Management
Thanks, but it's not about Australia...That is indeed sad.
Thank you very much for that. See! I told you that you'd have something interesting for us.
On the other hand, cemeteries are among my favorite places in the world, especially old ones. The new ones are too modern, and too orderly, almost sterile; the old ones feel more real somehow. (With the exception of the war cemeteries. They're altogether too real.)
I always imagine the stories of the lives told by the headstones. Sometimes they're sad, sometimes they're indicative of lives lived well loved and long.
Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
I know exactly what you mean.
Myself and a lot of other people have picked up a lot of history fom visiting old cemeteries throughout Australia.
Here's a note about the oldest European grave that I've visited in Australia. It is the very first one that ever there was.
Kurnell
Sutherland is where I grew up.
Do you have anything similar in Hawaii? Comparing the histories of our two countries is quite a valid subject for this thread, you know.
Myself and a lot of other people have picked up a lot of history fom visiting old cemeteries throughout Australia.
Here's a note about the oldest European grave that I've visited in Australia. It is the very first one that ever there was.
Kurnell
Sutherland is where I grew up.
Do you have anything similar in Hawaii? Comparing the histories of our two countries is quite a valid subject for this thread, you know.
HawaiiBigSis
List Management
I'd have to give it some thought. We probably do, but I don't really know of anything off the top of my head...Do you have anything similar in Hawaii? Comparing the histories of our two countries is quite a valid subject for this thread, you know.
On the other hand, I can tell a little story. (Like Old Bob's stories, it's anecdotal, so I don't know how true it is.)
Note the bars over the graves in the picture. I asked a local guy who was about my age what they were for. He said that during a specific season, people would place offerings of food on the bars for the ancestors. The local kids (himself included) would take the food right after it was placed, and everybody was happy: he'd get a snack, whoever placed the food felt that the offerings were accepted, the ancestors were honored.
I just like the fact that this particular cemetery has a gorgeous view...
Attachments
It's great to see BigSis enjoying the thread and Daves outstanding pictures. Has anyone noticed how blue southern photo's are? Australia has a haze of eucalyptus oil that puts a blue tinge on background. Also we have a dip in the atomsphere that lets in more UV, not so on northern photo's. Kodak made a differant film for Australia and had (or still have?) a small secret nuke reactor in Australia. We may get our own Hawaii in the future as we have a hot spot forming in Bass Strait(Tasmania) Now a bit of mystic stuff, has any one seen the odd lights that appear to run up the face of Mt Buffalo? (N.E.Victoria)
Sideroxylon
Featherless biped
Further to the link with Hawaii is fact that the carrier group that launched the attacks on Darwin was made up of the Akagi, Kaga Soryu and Hiryu – all of which participated in the Pearl Harbour raid. This is true of at least the first attacks on Darwin Harbour. There were a total of 64 raids on Darwin and its environs, including Adelaide River and various airfield fields. This is according to “Darwin’s Air War” which is an NT Aviation Historical Society publication I picked up from their great museum in Darwin. The centre piece of the museum is USAF B-52 – once at least a frequent visitor to Darwin.
I spent a lot of fun times as a kid camping around those northern airfields on Society expeditions to locate and recover various aircraft and parts. Unfortunately some of the old planes, including Spitfires, were bulldozed into pits and buried after the war – something to do with war loans and Australia not really owning them as I remember.
We shouldn’t forget our Dutch friends in all this and the contributions of the Netherlands East Indies Air Force, who had a squadron of B-25 Mitchells based at the Batchelor strip (Gould) near Adelaide River.
http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/nei-af.htm
Old Bob, you are right about Aussie skies – one of the first things I noticed over here was the lack of blue skies down to the horizon.
I spent a lot of fun times as a kid camping around those northern airfields on Society expeditions to locate and recover various aircraft and parts. Unfortunately some of the old planes, including Spitfires, were bulldozed into pits and buried after the war – something to do with war loans and Australia not really owning them as I remember.
We shouldn’t forget our Dutch friends in all this and the contributions of the Netherlands East Indies Air Force, who had a squadron of B-25 Mitchells based at the Batchelor strip (Gould) near Adelaide River.
http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/nei-af.htm
Old Bob, you are right about Aussie skies – one of the first things I noticed over here was the lack of blue skies down to the horizon.
arthwollipot
Limerick Purist Pronouns: He/Him
This is actually true. The ozone layer is apparently thinner in the southern hemisphere. And it's worse the further south you get, and affected by climate.
I spend a day sunbathing in Fiji a few years ago (2006) without sunscreen. I got a slight sunburn. If I'd done that in Batemans Bay in the summer (when there's comparable temperature) I would have been severely burned.
This is an anecdote and should be treated as such.
MG1962
Unregistered
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Oh I concur entirely - Here in Kansas, people will sunbathe in 100F heat all day, crisp up a little, but otherwise be fine. 20 minutes on a beach in Sydney gets the same result
It is curious with the thinning of the ozone layer, QLD gets more affected than the other states, were as you would think going south would be worse Victoria Tassie etc
MG1962
Unregistered
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There was also a full scale engagement at the mouth of Newcastle harbour.
The Eastern suburbs of Sydney, Dover Heights etc were also shelled a couple of times
And many people dont realise Broome was bombed by the Japanese during the war
Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
I love caves and caving. I'll do an article about Australia's limestone caves when we get done with cemeteries
Cheers,
Dave