AMELIA: If you were a kid back in the 1940s,
the world would have been a very different place.
But it wasn't just the cars or the clothes,
it was that the world was at war for a second time.
Australia was part of a group of countries -
including the UK, France and the US -
that were fighting against another group of nations,
led by Germany, Italy and Japan.
In some of those places, fighting and bombings were a regular threat.
But in Australia, most people felt like the war was a long way away.
That was until 1941.
Authorities started to worry that Darwin,
then a small town but also an important military base,
might be in serious danger of being bombed by Japan.
The government decided to evacuate
more than a thousand women and children on ships.
Wendy was five years old at the time.
She was shipped to Perth with no idea when she'd be able to return.
We set off down the dirt track to go to the wharf.
My father was standing on the back steps
and we turned a corner and we lost sight of him.
And my mother was so angry and crying.
We managed to board the ship just before they pulled up the gangplank
and before they pulled up the anchor.
On the 19 February 1942, war came to Australia's shores.
Japan wanted to destroy our country's northern defences,
so it could invade Timor and, in the process,
send Australia a warning.
Just before 10am, Japanese forces launched 188 fighter planes
from ships in the Timor Sea and headed for Darwin.
(SIRENS BLARE)
They bombed military bases, the town and the harbour,
sinking several ships, including a US destroyer.
A second attack followed soon after.
The two air raids killed at least 235 people
and wounded about 400 more.
It was, and still is, the biggest attack on Australia in its history,
but it wasn't the only one.
In total, there were more than 90 air attacks
on the Northern Territory.
This is a photograph taken
about six months after we came back from being evacuated.
Evacuees like Wendy were only allowed back into Darwin in 1945
when the war finally ended.
By then, she hadn't seen her dad for about four years.
Her family house and a lot of the town she knew had disappeared,
but she said it was good to finally be home safe.
There was a sense of relief that everything was peaceful
and the families were together again.
It was a wonderful sense.
Today, the city has grown and changed a lot,
but locals haven't forgotten the day Darwin was bombed.
This is Darwin Harbour
when it was bombed in 1942.
In the lead up to the 75th anniversary,
some kids have been learning about it and creating artwork.
We are recreating a famous painting
of the bombing of the harbour of Darwin.
At the moment, we're just doing the ocean.
We've been learning a lot about it
and we'd like to know because it's in Darwin's history.
Veterans and locals say it was a sad and important moment
in Australia's history that should always be remembered.