Wartime Stories from Australia
The real story of the war doesn’t lie on the battlefield, it lies in the millions of little stories of human lives intersecting with a world at war. Read the StoryMuch of the fighting in WWII happened oceans away from Australian shores, but Australia still has some amazing stories from the second world war. This month I’ve been thinking about three of them, and how they might work as backdrops for romance stories. Here are three.
Japanese submarines in Sydney Harbour
In the very early morning on May 29 1942, three midget submarines launched from larger vessels off the coast and snuck past Sydney’s (somewhat lacking) anti-submarine defenses. They were undoubtedly hoping to wreak havoc and maybe strike the HMAS Canberra or the USS Chicago which were both moored in the harbour. Of the three subs, one hit a sea wall and exploded below the HMAS Kuttabul, a ferry that had been converted into a supply ship for the war. Twenty one sailors were killed. Another sub was depth charged and critically damaged. When it was recovered, the two Japanese crew had self inflicted gunshot wounds. The other escaped from the harbour and headed North up the NSW coast. Its fate remained a mystery until 2006 when the sub was discovered by amateur divers.
You can read more about that story here.
Entrnce to the Cowra Breakout Memorial
A few days later Sydney, Brisbane and other cities along the east coast of Australia came under attack by full-sized submarines firing on the cities. Such an attack couldn’t have been more than a scare tactic (especially when the tide of the war was about to turn at the Battle of Midway) but it must have been terrifying for civilians in cities previously untouched by the conflict.
The Brownout Strangler
This month marks eighty years since another terrifying event from World War II, when Melbournians were terrified by a serial strangler roaming the streets. The press dubbed the killer The Brownout Strangler because, unlike many other cities around the world, Melbourne wasn’t subjected to strict blackout regulations. (Lights were dimmed rather than cut out completely, hence a ‘brown out’.)
The Brownout Strangler killed three women in May 1942 in progressively more gruesome attacks. A US GI was eventually arrested for the crimes. Eddie Leonski was apparently motivated by a hatred of his mother. He was tried in Australia by US laws, found guilty and hanged.
The Cowra Breakout
I recently visited the site of the Cowra breakout. Cowra is a country town in New South Wales. Isolated and inland, it was the perfect place for a POW camp.
During WWII, Australia took prisoners of war from around the world as part of its international obligations. At first Italian prisoners were housed in the camp. Generally speaking, the people of Cowra got on well with the Italian prisoners. They worked on local farms and there are many reports of romances with local girls! But the Japanese Imperial Forces had an honour culture that espoused “Death before imprisonment”. One night in August 1944, the Japanese prisoners staged an ugly, messy riot and attempted to breakout. Two Hundred and thirty one Japanese prisoners of war were killed, along with four Australian servicemen, and 108 were wounded.
This event clearly had an impact on the peaceful country town (who now maintain a strong connection with the Japanese). Read the full story here. The site of the former POW camp is now a contemplative, reflective memorial site that gives further details about the makeup of the population and the events leading up to the breakout. Cowra also maintains a significant Japanese war cemetery, the only one in Australia.
Which of these stories do you think would make a good backdrop for a WWII romance set in Australia? Contact me and let me know what you think!
