On the 19th of February 1942, in the middle of the 2nd World War, mainland Australia came under attack for the first time in history, when Japanese forces mounted two air raids on the city of Darwin. The attack, led by the same commander responsible for the bombing of Pearl Harbour in 1941, was part of a Japanese plan to take control of all countries in the Pacific Rim. .
On the morning of February 19, 1942, following the fall of Singapore earlier that month, 93 Japanese bombers devastated the town of Darwin in two separate raids. The first raid was made in the morning by 72 bombers accompanied by fighter jets, and the second in the afternoon by 21 bombers. The two raids killed at least 243 people and between 300 and 400 people were wounded. However, the Australian government released to the public that only 17 people had been killed in the attacks to keep up the nation's morale.
Darwin's population, believing that a Japanese invasion was imminent, evacuated the city and began to move south to the Adelaide River.
The attacks on Darwin were not part of a direct plan for Japan to invade the Australian mainland, but rather the Japanese were preparing to invade Timor and thought it was in their best interests to make sure the allies could not launch a counter-offensive attack from Darwin.
The attacks made Australia realise that the war was going to have an effect on the country sooner or later, and that serious changes would need to be made to the nation's defensive strategies. Before Darwin was hit, it was felt that the war was happening in very far away places, and would not directly involve those living in Australia at the time. This attitude changed completely and many were inspired to help with the war effort in any way they could.
Due to Australia's low supply of resources, the Federal Government started a policy of "Total mobilization". This stated that "all Australians must voluntarily answer the Government's call for a complete giving of everything to the Nation.