Territory Read Free

wander down to the wharf to look at the warships. The US destroyer Peary had arrived this morning, the desk clerk had told him.
    â€˜Huge thing,’ the clerk had said, ‘quite terrifying really.’
    She’d be worth a look at, Paul thought, donning his Panama hat. He nodded to the uniformed doorman as he stepped out into the glare of the morning.
    Aggie Marshall walked down the Esplanade on her way to the post office. The Esplanade formed the harbourside boundary of Darwin’s township, sweeping down the coastline and turning in an L-shape north-east at the wharves.
    The streets of Darwin were busy, mainly with military personnel. Many of the older buildings along theEsplanade had been commandeered by the military, and men went about their business. The streets leading off to the left from the Esplanade and into the town centre were busy too. The civilians who had remained in the town were also going about their business.
    Foong Lee stepped out of his shop and started down the broad avenue of Cavenagh Street, walking beneath the welcome shade of the endless verandahed shops and crossing the small laneways which dissected the major streets of Chinatown. Just ahead, to his right, was Gordon’s Don Hotel on the corner of Bennet Street and beyond that, to his left, was the yung si , the massive banyan tree which stood at the far end of Cavenagh Street only half a block from the wharf end of the Esplanade. The yung si was a dominant feature of Chinatown, particularly to the children who played amongst its branches. Foong Lee made a habit of turning into Bennet Street just before he got to the yung si , then he’d walk up Smith Street and back into Cavenagh to complete his around-the-block stroll. It was a pleasant twenty-minute walk in all, at a leisurely pace.
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    The attack force had crossed the coast of the mainland to the east of Darwin. Upon instruction, they swung round to approach the town from the south-east, with the sun behind them. Far in the distance, and from twenty thousand feet up in the sky, Darwin Harbour looked magnificent. And vulnerable. Ships of every description sat like tiny dots on the vast blue water. Forty-five in number. And tucked away, on its tiny peninsula within the massive harbour, was Darwin itself. Most vulnerable of all. Innocently waiting. Undefended. A lamb to the slaughter, Akira Nakajima thought.
    â€˜Tora!’ The command barked through Nakajima’s headset. ‘Tora! Tora!’
    Akira Nakajima commenced his dive.
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    Paul Trewinnard had strolled down Lover’s Walk to the wharves and was studying the ships in the harbour when he heard the warning sirens. He thought it was a military exercise at first. Until he looked up.
    Aggie Marshall was outside the Hotel Darwin and just about to cross Herbert Street when she heard the wail of the sirens. An awful sound, it always unnerved her, even when she knew it was only an exercise of some sort. Then she looked up.
    Having turned the corner from Bennet into Smith Street, Foong Lee was outside the Bank of New South Wales when the sirens sounded. An air raid, he thought in the instant he heard them. He shaded his eyes and looked up.
    The whole of Darwin looked up. It was two minutes before ten o’clock on a Thursday morning and people stood in the street staring up at the sky in disbelief, unable to comprehend what their eyes perceived.
    Time stopped as the menacing horde swooped down from the sun. For the hundreds watching from the town, it seemed an eternity. Then, suddenly, the planes were overhead, so many they all but obliterated the sun. The light seemed to dim, the sky no longer seemed blue, and by ten o’clock, Darwin was under massive attack from the Japanese Imperial Air Force.
    The Peary was hit aft by a dive-bomber. Her bridge ignited and the crew worked valiantly to extinguish the flames. Then again, another direct hit. But she fought on. Upon her captain’s orders her guns still