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Darwin bombing pushed immigration
A Fearful Nation
On the eve of World War II, Australia was a small, overwhelmingly European nation of around 7 million on the edge of Asia. Many white Australians of the time were terrified of being demographically overwhelmed by the far more populous nations of Asia to the north. Imperial Japan had more than 10 times Australia's population, at more than 73 million.
When the Japanese bombed Darwin, fears of an imminent Japanese invasion were rife across the continent. The invasion never materialized.
Postwar Migrants
Before 1945, almost all immigrants to Australia came from Great Britain or Ireland. After the war, for the very first time, Australia began encouraging immigration from across the European continent. By the 1960s, 3 million mainland Europeans from places like the Baltic states, Poland, Italy, the Balkans, and Greece had headed to Australia, many of them displaced refugees from the war.
Why did Japan bomb Darwin?
Japan launched the raid on 19 February 1942 to knock out Darwin as a base the Allies could use to defend Timor and Java, which Japanese forces were about to invade. More than 240 aircraft attacked in two waves, flying from carriers and land bases, and more than 230 people were killed. It remains the largest single attack ever launched by a foreign power on Australia. Darwin was bombed dozens more times over the following 21 months.
How did the war shift Australia's alliances?
For decades Australia had relied on Britain for its defense. The fall of Singapore in February 1942 destroyed the base Britain had built to protect the region. Prime Minister John Curtin had already declared in December 1941 that Australia looked to the United States for its security. In 1951 Australia signed the ANZUS Treaty with the United States and New Zealand.
Why did the government want so many migrants?
Australia created a federal Department of Immigration in 1945, led by Arthur Calwell, its first immigration minister. Calwell set a goal of growing the population by about one percent a year through immigration. Assisted passage schemes covered much of the fare, including for displaced Europeans leaving camps after the war. The department was established in 1945, the year the war ended.
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