DARWIN, AUSTRALIA'S GREATEST SHAME

Australia, 1986, 100 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Paul Drane.

Darwin, Australia's, Greatest Shame, is a docudrama reminding Australians of the history of the Japanese attacks on Darwin in February 1942. The screenplay makes the point that information regarding the attacks was not available during the time nor in the decades afterwards. It was considered at the time by politicians that Australians would not be able to cope with the behaviour of people under attack in Darwin, especially the cowardice exercise by some of the armed forces and the disgraceful behaviour of many of the military police.

The film is interesting as a documentary. John Stanton does the narration. There is a touch of lecturing and hectoring, easy to do in hindsight. However, there are dramatisations as well as insertions of newsreel footage of the time and interviews with survivors of the attack. The interviews with the survivors are excellent, mainly men, who reminisce with great attention to detail, about what happened to them at the time, the experience of the armed forces, the general population, the role of the police. One woman remembers the evacuation.

In listening to the interviewees, one can build up the chain of events in the middle of February 1942. There was no preparation for such an attack. Many ships were in Darwin harbour, flights had been sent out for reconnaissance - and the Japanese squad was mistaken for some of these planes returning. Father John McGrath?, the missionary on Bathurst Island, radioed in the news that planes were on their way. While this was received in Darwin, the RAAF authorities were hesitant and did not warn the population.

When the bombing started, the destruction of the ships was horrendous. Many more people lost their lives than was stated officially. There was panic, people started to evacuate the city. While the police tried to create order, the military police, often drunk, ruled the city as they wished, often looting. The one train that left Darwin was not completely full. In the meantime authorities, the RAAF, gave ambiguous orders with the result that the men started to leave Darwin, some going as far as Adelaide River - and many even further. The administrator of Darwin also showed poor judgment, wanting to save crockery and cutlery at Government House rather than save people.

The film's screenplay makes much of an aboriginal servant girl buried under the rubble who was left for dead - the authority considering that she was dead, the police and other officials considering that she was not.

In the docudrama, the actual raids are reconstructed from a variety of footage. Father McGrath's warning, the reception at the RAAF, the arguments at RAAF headquarters are dramatised. The hearing and investigation into what went on is also dramatised - providing opportunity for flashbacks. The incidents with the administrator of Darwin are also dramatised, as are the shameful episodes with the military police.

The film has a very judgmental tone, especially in John Stanton's comments. However, the cumulative effect of the interviews and the reconstructions balances this out and leaves open the questions of heroism and cowardice. It highlights Australia's inexperience in facing the realities of war.

The film's structure guides the audience through the stages. They are:

1. The attack on Darwin: background information, the Japanese squadrons, their flight path, their destruction.

2. The initial behaviour of the people, the shock, the dropping of the bombs and the mutilation, deaths, heroism in people trying to help? The missionaries, the RAAF?

3. The focus on the RAAF and its response to Fr McGrath's warnings, the evidence given of the various officials as to what happened? The ambiguous orders - and the scattering of troops from Darwin.

4. The episodes with the military police, their authority, their personal styles, the looting - and the consequences for people who were robbed? The views of the civil police? The train leaving Darwin?

5. The army, its having to cope, again not doing well in the situation, scattering.

6. The role of the authorities, the civil authorities, Abbott and his reputation in Darwin, his behaviour after the bombing, getting his wife on the train to Alice Springs, calling on favours from other officials, ordering the police to save the crockery and cutlery. Also the episode with the young aboriginal girl and her death is recorded and reconstructed.

7. The film ends with the focus on the heroism that could be found in Darwin at the time, the mutual help, the superhuman attempts for people to save others, the attempts of people to maintain some semblance of law and order.

This film is not the final word on the attack on Darwin. However, made in the '80s and shown on the Seven Network, it was an opportunity for audiences to understand something of what had happened 50 years earlier.

The film also offers an opportunity for a number of veteran Australian actors to take part in the reconstruction of events. This adds to their dramatic strength and persuasiveness.