TOPIC 4
Australia
under attack
Ringed with menace
Recommended levels
UPPER PRIMARY
LOWER SECONDARY
MIDDLE SECONDARY
Darwin’s first and most devastating attack in February 1942.
AWM 134955
ESTABLISHING THE CONTEXT
Focus questions
Background information
How was Australia attacked during World War II?
Because of Australia’s relatively isolated position in the
world, we have rarely been in danger of attack. In
World War I the war was fought mostly in distant
places such as Europe and the Middle East. But during
World War II, when the Japanese were advancing in the
Pacific, parts of Australia came under direct attack. The
best known attacks were the air raids on Darwin and
the midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour. But
other places on Australia’s coastline also experienced
attacks which resulted in loss of life and other damage.
What happened when Japanese midget submarines
attacked Sydney Harbour in 1942?
How did Australians respond to these attacks?
Teacher briefing
The activities in this unit are designed to develop
students’ knowledge and understanding of the attacks
made on Australia during World War II and the ways in
which Australians responded to these attacks. The
midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour is a major
focus of this unit. Students will enjoy studying the
animation which recreates the events of the attack. The
suggested activities are intended to develop knowledge
of these events and skills of interpretation, analysis and
synthesis. Students are also encouraged to consider the
attack from both the Australian and the Japanese
perspectives. Teachers may wish to adapt some of these
activities to investigate attacks in other parts of
Australia.
Key terms for Topic 4
threat
menace
advance
invasion
air raid
defence
An aerial view, taken in March 1945, of the Green Point end of
the Sydney boom defences, looking across the harbour towards
Georges Head. The boom gate is open to allow an approaching
AWM 304574
steamer and a Manly ferry to pass through.
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MAKING CONNECTIONS
Activity 4.1
Small group discussion
LEARNING
CONTEXT AND PURPOSE
This activity is intended to provide an opportunity
for students to build on their own experiences and
understanding. The choice of questions to raise in
this activity should be made at the teacher’s
discretion (depending on the age and background
of the students). Teachers may wish to share with
the class a close encounter of their own with
danger. In considering questions about the kinds of
danger Australia faces today, teachers might
question students about their knowledge of terrorist
threats and the action the government is taking to
counter them.
Activity
Students discuss the following questions in pairs or
small groups. The teacher monitors discussion and
follows up with whole class activity to collate student
responses in a mind map or other appropriate format.
Have you ever been in physical danger or felt you
were in danger?
Describe what happened. How did you feel?
If your family home was in danger from an attack,
how might you and your family prepare to defend
yourselves?
Look at the map of Australia. Why do think that
Australia might be difficult to defend?
Which parts of Australia would be most in danger
of attack?
Suggest ways in which an enemy might attack
Australia.
How could we prepare to defend ourselves from
such attacks?
How effective do you think these preparations
would be?
Is Australia in danger today? What kinds of danger
do we face?
What preparations would you expect our
government to make to defend Australia? Who
should be involved?
Nine people were killed when this air-raid shelter was hit by Japanese bombs. Darwin was subjected to 64 bombing raids between February
1942 and November 1943. Attacks were also made on Sydney, Newcastle, Broome, Townsville and on shipping in Australian coastal waters.
AWM 306378
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BUILDING KNOWLEDGE
Activity 4.2
Fact-finding mission
GO TO CD-ROM
Work Sheet 4A: Overview of Attacks
on Australia During World War II
(4A_WS_over.pdf)
LEARNING
CONTEXT AND PURPOSE
Students should have some understanding of the
Japanese advance in the Pacific following the attack
on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and the threat
posed to Australia by the Japanese capture of
Singapore and the invasion of New Guinea.
This activity provides students with a general
overview of attacks made on Australia’s coastline
during World War II. It is a basic fact-finding
exercise which may serve as the basis for further
investigation. Teachers may increase the level of
difficulty of this activity by providing only the
headings and website details.
Activity
Working individually or in pairs, students access
the relevant sites about attacks on Australia during
World War II to complete the table.
The teacher provides a map of Australia and asks
students to locate each of the places attacked.
The teacher may review student findings by asking
questions about the kind of weapons used in the
attack, comparing casualty figures, damage, and
so on.
CLICK AND FIND
Web pages for this activity
www.ww2australia.gov.au/underattack
Five crewmen were killed when the merchant ship SS Allara was
torpedoed and damaged off the coast of Newcastle in July 1942.
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Lieutenant Kieu Matsuo’s midget submarine emerging from the
AWM 305088
waters of Taylors Bay, Sydney Harbour, June 1942.
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Activity 4.3
LEARNING
Image file
CONTEXT AND PURPOSE
Students should already be familiar with the sites of
attacks on Australia from Activity 4.2. This activity
familiarises students with the different types of
weapons used and the ships that were attacked.
Information about terms such as HMAS (His/Her
Majesty’s Australian Ship), MV (Motor Vessel), USS
(United States Ship), should be provided. Students
will develop their ICT skills by downloading images
from the website into an image file, inserting them
into a document and adding appropriate text.
GO TO CD-ROM
Work Sheet 4B: Image Fact File
(4B_WS_image.pdf)
Activity
CLICK AND FIND
Students work individually or in pairs to find images to
match the list in the box below and save them in their
own image file. They may also search for relevant
information to provide captions for the images.
Web pages for this activity
www.ww2australia.gov.au/underattack/airraid.html
www.ww2australia.gov.au/underattack/broome.html
www.ww2australia.gov.au/underattack/ships.html
www.ww2australia.gov.au/underattack/comenace.html
midget submarine
Lewis machine gun
HMAS Kuttabul
USS Starr King
City of Rayville
corvette, HMAS Deloraine
oil painting of attack on Darwin, Feb 1942
Students use their image file to:
produce a short fact file for each image including
details of its identity and significance
MV Koolama
Dornier Do 24 flying boat
mine
create information pages using MS Publisher (or
other suitable application) incorporating a relevant
image fact-file text for each.
The wreck of the depot ship HMAS
Kuttabul at Garden Island, Sydney, in
June 1942.
John Fairfax Pty Ltd
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Activity 4.4
Fact-finding mission, map
activity and crossword
Activity
Working in pairs or small groups, students study the
animation of the midget submarine attack on Sydney
Harbour and complete the following:
GO TO CD-ROM
Work Sheet 4C: Map Activity
(4C_WS_map.pdf)
Source Sheet 4D: Midget Submarine
Attack on Sydney Harbour – Text
(4D_SS_sub.pdf)
Work Sheet 4E: Fact-finding Mission
(4E_WS-fact.pdf)
Work Sheet 4F: Crossword
(4F_WS_crswd.pdf)
Answer Sheet 4F: Crossword Solution
(4F_ANS_crswd.pdf)
LEARNING
CONTEXT AND PURPOSE
This activity introduces students to the dramatic
events of the midget submarine attack on Sydney
Harbour on the night of 31 May 1942. In the map
activity students will gain knowledge of the main
sites and features of Sydney Harbour needed for an
understanding of the attack. The timeline and
question sheet requires them to select the most
relevant information from the Flash animation for
an understanding of the people involved and the
sequence of events leading to the sinking of
HMAS Kuttabul.
Enter on the map provided (Work Sheet 4C) the
following places mentioned in the animation: North
Head, South Head, Harbour Bridge, anti-submarine
boom, steel mesh anti-torpedo boom, location of
USS Chicago and HMAS Kuttabul, final location of
Matsuo’s and Chuman’s midget submarines before
their destruction.
Use a dotted line to show the flight path of
the Japanese floatplane on its reconnaissance
mission over Sydney Harbour.
Use another line to show the route taken by Ban’s
submarine for the attack on HMAS Kuttabul.
Record answers to the questions on the time line
(Work Sheet 4E).
Students can test their knowledge of some key
people and places involved in the midget submarine
attack on Sydney Harbour by completing the
crossword (Work Sheet 4F).
CLICK AND FIND
Web pages for this activity.
www.ww2australia.gov.au/underattack/sydharbour.html
The midget submarine from which
the bodies of Lieutenant Matsuo
and Petty Officer First Class Tsuzuku
were recovered, resting on the
shore of Sydney Harbour.
AWM P03690.001
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Activity 4.5
Activity
PowerPoint or poster
presentation
After exploring the animated segment on the midget
submarine attack on Sydney Harbour, students work in
small groups to select what they consider to be the
most important events of the attack. They should:
LEARNING
present their selection in a five or six frame
MS PowerPoint presentation or poster
choose an appropriate image and/or scan in their
own diagram for each frame
provide a short caption to explain the image
add appropriate audio effects.
CONTEXT AND PURPOSE
This is an exercise in selection and synthesis. Students
choose the most important events of the attack and
sequence them in an MS PowerPoint or poster
presentation with appropriate explanatory captions.
CLICK AND FIND
Web pages for this activity
www.ww2australia.gov.au/underattack/sydharbour.html
Students have the opportunity to develop their ICT
skills by using the MS PowerPoint program. They can
experiment with a variety of features including inserting
images from the website, slide transition, animation
and audio effects. To reinforce their knowledge of the
events, the class could discuss the appropriateness of
each group’s presentation.
ICT skills check list
Locate information from a website
Create an image bank and add text
Use MS PowerPoint
Use MS Word or MS Publisher to create a news
story
Rear Admiral Muirhead-Gould with survivors from HMAS Kuttabul.
John Fairfax Pty Ltd
A Movietone News film of Japanese submarine attacks.
AWM F00349
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This Flash animation re-enacts the submarine attack on
Sydney Harbour.
www.ww2australia.gov.au/underattack/sydharbour.html
THINKING ANALYTICALLY
Activity 4.6
Interpreting and analysing
sources
GO TO CD-ROM
Work Sheet 4G:. Interpreting and
Analysing Sources (4G_WS-int.pdf)
LEARNING
CONTEXT AND PURPOSE
Students need to be familiar with the variety and
nature of historical sources. They should understand
how to interrogate sources to determine issues of
fact, opinion, motive and bias and to draw
conclusions based on this interrogation. The
teacher will need to give brief contextual details for
each of the sources. Sources 1 and 2 are newspaper
stories from the Sydney Morning Herald of June 1942.
Source 3 is a leaflet produced in the aftermath of
the Japanese attack on Broome on 3 March 1942.
Source 4 is also a leaflet produced during the war.
This activity would be a very useful preparation for
Activity 4.7 – creating newspaper stories and posters
to reflect differing perspectives of attacks on Australia.
Fears of a Japanese invasion of Australia are reflected in images
such as Ringed with Menace by James Northfield.
Leaflet, AWM ARTV09061
ON THE WEBSITE AT THIS ADDRESS
www.ww2australia.gov.au/underattack/comenace.html
www.ww2australia.gov.au/underattack/sydharbour.html
Activity
Students work in small groups to read, discuss and
record their responses to the work sheet questions on
the sources. For example, one group could discuss
Sources 1 and 2, another group could discuss Sources 3
and 4. The teacher could then conduct a whole class
discussion to compare and/or collate student findings.
CLICK AND FIND
Web pages for this activity
www.ww2australia.gov.au/allin
The funeral in Sydney of the four Japanese submariners who
died in the attack on Sydney Harbour as it was reported in
The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 and 11 June 1942.
John Fairfax Pty Ltd
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Activity 4.7
Stories Posters Board game
GO TO CD-ROM
Sample 4H: Newspaper Story
(4H_SAM_news.pdf)
Activity
Students choose one of the following:
1 Newspaper reports
(i) Choose an appropriate Newsletter format from
MS Publisher (or other application) to write a frontpage newspaper story that would have been
published in Sydney the day after the midget
submarine attack. The article could include:
a dramatic headline
a short introductory paragraph briefly
summarising the main events
brief eyewitness accounts, eg from a
Maritime Services Board watchman, survivors
of HMAS Kuttabul
an appropriate image imported from the
website.
Air Raid Precaution officials in conjunction with the Metropolitan
Fire Brigade issued a series of air raid precaution instructions with
accompanying photographs so that all Australians would be
prepared for Japanese air attacks. This photograph demonstrates
the correct position to adopt in a trench or shelter to avoid
drawing enemy fire or suffering concussion.
AWM 011522
OR
(ii) Use the same format as above to write the
front-page story that would have been published in
a Tokyo newspaper the day after the attack.
OR
(iii) Using the same format write the newspaper
story that would have appeared after the Japanese
air raid on Darwin in February 1942. The story
could include some of the following details:
Students may use Sample 4H to plan their
newspaper layout. Presentation of work in an
appropriate MS Publisher format will develop
ICT skills.
The teacher might provide a showcase for student
work by a wall display, publication on the school
intranet or other appropriate format.
ships sunk, damage to Darwin, casualties,
survivors, acts of heroism, capture of Japanese
prisoner.
2 Create a poster
Students explore the sites of different attacks
on Australia during World War II. Working
in small groups, they choose one of these
attacks and design a poster advising the
public what to do in the event of another attack.
3 Create a board game
The teacher makes A3 size copies of the map of
Sydney Harbour (Work Sheet 4C) or have students
design their own. Students work in small groups to
create a board game of the events surrounding the
midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour – from
either an Australian or a Japanese perspective. For
example, a monopoly style game, including chance
cards for obstacles and mishaps or quiz cards requiring
students to provide correct answers before moving on.
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CLICK AND FIND
Web pages for this activity.
www.ww2australia.gov.au/underattack/sydharbour.html
GO TO CD-ROM
Extension 4I: Japanese Attacks
(4I_EXT_japattack.pdf)
This work sheet details resources students
may wish to use to learn more about
Japanese attacks on Australia during
World War II.
RESPONDING CREATIVELY
Activity 4.8
Dialogues Radio play
LEARNING
CONTEXT AND PURPOSE
Students communicate their knowledge and
understanding of the attack on Sydney Harbour
and/or Darwin in oral form. Students have the
opportunity to use their imagination and empathy
skills to create ‘authentic’ dialogues of the chosen
events. Teachers should also encourage students to
consider these events from a Japanese perspective.
They should have some knowledge of the Japanese
tradition of bushido, attitudes to capture/surrender
and perhaps some information on the kamikaze
pilots. Teachers may wish to adapt some of the
following activities to investigate other attacks
around Australia.
ON THE WEBSITE AT THIS ADDRESS
In 1968 Mrs Matsuo, mother of one of the submarine
commanders, visited Australia. She presented the Australian War
Memorial with a handwritten copy of her memorial poem and
received her son’s senninbari, or thousand stitch belt, which had
been recovered from his body shortly after the raid.
AWM collection
www.ww2australia.gov.au/underattack/airraid.html
Activity
Working in pairs or small groups, students choose one of the following:
1 Persons for this activity: Captain of a Japanese mother submarine and the three Japanese naval officers
(Matsuo, Chuman, Ban) who manned the midget submarines for their attack on Sydney Harbour.
Scenario
On board one of the Japanese mother submarines outside Sydney Harbour in the hours before the
midget submarine attack. Ito’s reconnaissance flight over Sydney Harbour has just radioed
information on the location of the anti-submarine boom gate and the USS Chicago in Sydney Harbour.
Using the map of Sydney Harbour (Work Sheet 4C) and the information provided in the midget
submarine attack Flash animation, create the conversation between the Japanese officers as they plan
their attack on the USS Chicago.
2 Persons for this activity: Lieutenant Kenshi Chuma and Petty Officer Takeshi.
Scenario
One of the three midget submarines that attacked Sydney Harbour in 1942 was caught in a
submarine net. Realising they were trapped, the two crewmen, Lieutenant Kenshi Chuman and
Petty Officer Takeshi, blew themselves up in their craft.
Create the dialogue between Lieutenant Kenshi Chuma and Petty Officer Takeshi in the minutes
before they blew up their craft.
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3 Based on a study of the Flash animation of the midget submarine attack, students re-create the
communications between the Maritime Services Board watchman, the officers on board the
USS Chicago and HMAS Kuttabul and the naval authorities in the time between the first sighting
of a midget submarine and the destruction of the Kuttabul.
4 Students reconstruct the main events of the midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour or the
air raid on Darwin by creating the script for a radio play and performing and/or recording it.
The play could include:
narrator to set the scene and provide links between episodes in the play
exchanges between those involved
reports from eyewitnesses
sound effects, including appropriate background music.
Teacher resources
Working the Web: Investigating Australia’s wartime history, ‘Australia under Threat: The defence of Australia
1942– 43’, pp 77–80, Department of Veterans’ Affairs, 2004
National Centre for History Education Professional Digest, ICT and inquiry learning, www.hyperhistory.org>Teachers’
Guide>Making History: ‘Engaging the Past’, ‘Historical Literacy’, ‘History and ICT’
Summary of CD-ROM items for Topic 4
Work Sheet 4A:
Work Sheet 4B:
Work Sheet 4C:
Source Sheet 4D:
Work Sheet 4E:
Work Sheet 4F:
Answer Sheet 4F:
Work Sheet 4G:
Sample 4H:
Extension 4I:
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Overview of Attacks on Australia During World War II
Image Fact File
Map Activity
Midget Submarine Attack on Sydney Harbour – Text
Fact-finding Mission
Crossword
Crossword Solution
Interpreting and Analysing Sources
Newspaper Story
Japanese Attacks