Territory Read Free Page A

fired as she drifted ablaze on the harbour waters.
    The Neptuna , berthed at Main Jetty, was hit amidships. She burned fiercely. A time bomb, the intense heat threatening at any moment to ignite the heavy ammunition and depth charges she carried.
    The Zealandia and the British Motorist , both at anchor, were hit and sank at their moorings. The harbour was an inferno, erupting in pockets of flame and belching blacksmoke and, as shells screamed through the air and explosions showered the shoreline with debris, the township of Darwin too became a blaze of destruction.
    Foong Lee ran up Smith Street. His one aim was to get back to his father whom he knew would be in a state of utter terror and confusion. People were screaming in the streets, panic-stricken. He passed C.J. Cashman’s store and, halfway up the block, the force of an explosion caused him to stagger. He fell to his knees, hauled himself back up on his feet and looked over his shoulder. Cashman’s had been hit. Sheets of galvanised iron had been hurled across the street and smoke billowed from the windows of the gutted building. Two bodies were sprawled on the pavement. Foong Lee ran on.
    Paul Trewinnard made no attempt at all to run for cover. What was the point? In his opinion there seemed no specific place in Darwin any safer than another. There had been no preparation for an event such as this, although there damn well should have been, he thought. Where were the Government-built bunkers? Where was the massive defence force which should have been present to drive away the marauders? He was as fearful as the next man, he’d be the first to admit, as he sqatted, covering his head with his arms, water and debris showering about him, but he might as well stay where he was. If he was going to be killed then he’d watch the spectacle first.
    And as he watched, Paul’s fear was mingled with awe. Out on the harbour, the Peary , already twice hit and adrift, her guns still bravely blazing, suddenly destructed. The vessel’s magazine exploded and, in the instant before she was engulfed in flames, Paul could swear he saw men flying through the air. Black oil flooded the harbour, black smoke billowed up into the morning air and the once-proud Peary , now a massive ball of fire, burned on the water. His own fear now forgotten, Paul thought of the men who, only seconds previously, had been firing thoseguns. This was Armageddon, he thought. The annihilation was total.
    After the first hideous moments of shock, Aggie Marshall ran for cover. The post office was only a block away, on the bend of the Esplanade, so she headed there. If she was to die then at least she’d be with people she knew. She crossed Bennet Street, the post office was right ahead of her. Then she was thrown backwards by a force so strong it lifted her off her feet. The noise was deafening. Surely her eardrums must have burst, she thought briefly. Then she knew nothing as she hit the pavement and was showered with rubble.
    Foong Lee ran down Knuckey Street to the corner of Cavenagh. All about him others were running, screaming, wailing, terrified, and the air was thick with smoke and the sickening smell of cordite. It seemed to him that the whole of Darwin was exploding. He looked up Cavenagh Street. His shop was a block away. He stepped from the kerb. But he had barely crossed Knuckey Street before the force of another explosion threw him to the ground.
    When the smoke had cleared and he’d struggled to his feet, there was no shop a block away. There was no block at all. Just wasteland. Amidst the pall of smoke and dust, there was no delineation of streets and houses. There was nothing but rubble. Half of Chinatown had been obliterated.
    Foong Lee walked towards where his shop and his home had been. As he walked, he ignored the mayhem which surrounded him. He ignored the fire which crackled about his feet, licking at the dried timbers which had once been verandah posts. He walked