Professional Documents
Culture Documents
AUSTRALIAS INVOLVEMENT IN
WW2
Key Points
World War II started when Great
Britain declared war on Germany in
1939. It ended in 1945.
The war was fought between the
Allied Nations (a group of countries
that included Great Britain, the
United States of America, Australia
and New Zealand) against the Axis
powers spearheaded by Germany,
Italy and Japan.
Almost one million Australians were
involved in World War II.
The Australian mainland came under
direct military attack for the first time.
World War II was the deadliest
conflict in history.
Why did Australia become involved in
WW2?
Robert Menzies:
My fellow Australians
It is my melancholy (sad) duty to inform you that, in
consequence of the persistence by Germany (because of what
Germany has done) in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has
declared war upon her, and that, as a result, Australia is also at
war.
No harder task can fall to the lot of a democratic leader than to
make such an announcement.
Great Britain and France, with the cooperation of the
Dominions (countries connected with Great Britain and France),
have struggled to avoid this tragedy. They haveI firmly
believe, been patient: they have kept the door of negotiations
open; they have given no cause for provocation (an attack).
But, in the result, their efforts have failed, and we are
therefore, as a great family of nations, involved in a struggle
which we must at all costs win, and which we believe in our
hearts we will win...
Document B
Document C
Russell Braddon, a 21-year-old Australian gunner, was captured and spent four years in Changi
prisoner-of-war camp. He survived, and went on to become an outstanding journalist. On April 23,
1983, two days before Anzac Day, he wrote an article for the Sydney Morning Herald called Remember
Singapore:
We were fed lies about our potential enemy. Disregarding Japans recent history (of which we were
ignorant), our intelligence officers (told) us that Japanese soldiers were both physically and militarily
inadequate.
we were toldthey were puny, myopic, afraid of the dark and badly armed. (If only) we had been (as
well-armed) as they wereas they raced through the jungle with confidence.
We may not be in a position to defend ourselves for another hundred years, but we should never
again be asked to face an enemy about whom everything that we have been told is either untrue or
wishful thinking.
The negative image created about the Japanese by propaganda during wartime was to have damaging
consequences. The residents of Singapore, including our own soldiers, truly believed that the eyesight
of the Japanese was extremely poor and that they suffered from being unable to see clearly at night.
So, they believed that the Japanese could not fly at night, and, therefore, not bomb at night. This
negative belief, applied to all Japanese flyers, became the basis on which predictions were made about
how the Japanese would behave; the facts were ignored.
So, when the Japanese flew over Singapore at night to bomb it, they were amazed to find there were
no blackout procedures (blackout is turning off all lights all over the city). In fact, the city was lit up
like a Christmas tree.
The negative stereotype that the Japanese were poor fighters, with poor equipment and poor eyesight,
that had been used by the British and Australians to make the Japanese seem hopeless and ridiculous,
falsely became the basis of determining the fighting ability of the Japanese.
Document D
Task Three
1a. Make a list of the things that made it easier for the Japanese to take over
Singapore, and also identify which document had the information. You may
wish to put this in a table like the one below:
1b. Using all the evidence write a detailed paragraph that sums up your findings.
2. Now reflect on the role of propaganda in the fall of Singapore: How did the beliefs
and attitudes about the Japanese (which had been created and promoted by
propaganda used by Britain and Australia) make it unnecessarily difficult for the British
and Australians when they had to defend Singapore?