Does your Country keep Secrets from its Residents?
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (342099)
Rockingham, Australia
February 15, 2016 10:39pm CST
74th Commemoration of the Bombing of Darwin
During World War II, the public were told only what the government of the time wanted them to know. Nowadays what with mobile phones, drones and the internet, it would be much harder to keep news under wraps.
One event which many Australians knew very little about at the time it happened concerned the bombing of Darwin in the Northern Territory by the Japanese. Seventy-four years ago, on 19 February 1942, the Japanese mounted two air raids on Darwin involving 54 land-based bombers and around 188 attack aircraft launched from four aircraft carriers. At least 243 people were killed and 300 to 400 wounded.
At the time Darwin was a small town with limited infrastructure. During the 1930s and early years of World War II, the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force had constructed bases near the town. The pre-war population was 5,800. The Japanese wished to prevent the Allies from using the bases against the Japanese invasion of SE Asia and their intended strike against New Guinea.
In addition to the human casualties, twenty military aircraft were destroyed and eight anchored ships sunk. One of the ships sunk was the American destroyer, USS Peary. More bombs were dropped on Darwin than on Pearl Harbour. Although I've known about it for some time now, it was years after the event that I first learnt of the bombing raids. In just a few days time, commemorative services will be held,74 years after the bombing. Have there been major events in your country of which you've had little knowledge?
Photo is of a World War I memorial in Albany, Western Australia
18 people like this
19 responses
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
17 Feb 16
This would make me worry, if I had not decided to let this type of thing go.
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44998)
• Preston, England
16 Feb 16
our government releases many secret files only after a thirty year lock down, so we should soon see the secrets kept from us since 1986
2 people like this
@arthurchappell (44998)
• Preston, England
17 Feb 16
@JudyEv me too - it can often be controversial
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342099)
• Rockingham, Australia
18 Feb 16
@arthurchappell And then there'll be all the recriminations party against party.
1 person likes this
@CaptAlbertWhisker (32748)
• Calgary, Alberta
16 Feb 16
The corruption here is no secret and for some reason, the residents cant do anything against it. I do believe that oil producing countries controls my country.,
2 people like this
@JudyEv (342099)
• Rockingham, Australia
17 Feb 16
Corruption is really hard to fight it seems. Australia doesn't have too much but there is certainly some - probably more than we think.
@CaptAlbertWhisker (32748)
• Calgary, Alberta
17 Feb 16
@JudyEv Have you heard about the Australian Inventor who invented a water fueled car? he was assassinated and got killed if my memory serves me right.
There is a guy in My country who also invented a water fueled car and he got imprisoned for estafa but many people believes he is innocent.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342099)
• Rockingham, Australia
17 Feb 16
@CaptAlbertWhisker I hadn't heard about that but have just researched it. I don't know whether to believe these claims or not.
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
16 Feb 16
How would I know, if they kept it secret? Bay of Pigs, Area 51, Kennedy's assassination all come to mind.
2 people like this
@veganbliss (3895)
• Adelaide, Australia
30 Mar 16
@JudyEv Have you seen our documentary "All The Way"? A real eye-opener that one! A trailer:
Skip navigation UploadSign inSearch Loading... Close Yeah, keep it Undo Close Sorry about that. Watch QueueQueueWatch QueueQueue Loading... Watch Queue Queue __count__/__total__ Loading... Find out whyClose A NZAC SubscribeSubscribedUnsubscribe Loading...
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
30 Mar 16
@JudyEv No kidding. I was in college when all the protests happened. I had friends who fought in that war, some of them did not come back. Too sad and pointless.
1 person likes this
@sueznewz2 (10409)
• Alicante, Spain
16 Feb 16
I expect so.... and even today in this digital / technical age.... I still believe there are secrets... it might be more difficult for them to cover up or hide certain information though....
2 people like this
@garymarsh6 (23404)
• United Kingdom
16 Feb 16
It was a terrible thing to happen. Every country is guilty especially where nuclear accidents occurred. The official secrets act come swiftly into being.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (342099)
• Rockingham, Australia
17 Feb 16
Nuclear tests were carried out in our deserts and the military were called in to help with various tasks - all without protective gear. That was covered up for years too.
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
16 Feb 16
I'm sure there are lots of things we are not told. Eventually it all comes out. I haven't figured out why they do that. That strike was huge. You would think it would be hard even back then to keep it quiet.
2 people like this
@RonElFran (1214)
• Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
18 Feb 16
I'm not sure the U. S. could have kept the bombing of one of our cities secret during WW2. Too much movement around the country, and too many news-hungry reporters. But they did keep secret the fact that Japanese bomb-balloons reached the Northwest and killed a couple of people. The secrecy wasn't to keep it from the population, but to prevent the Japanese from knowing it had been successful.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342099)
• Rockingham, Australia
19 Feb 16
I suppose reporters did as they told back then - and Darwin is miles from the rest of the country. The extent of the bombing was kept under wraps as much as possible. Japanese submarines got into Sydney Harbour but they kept that quiet too. Plenty of rumours but no substance in many cases. And if people were sworn to secrecy during those wars, they kept their word.
@JudyEv (342099)
• Rockingham, Australia
17 Feb 16
Some of the commanders during WWI and WWII made some very bad decisions.
@LeonGao (110)
• Jinan, China
5 May 16
No,citizens' secrets are exposed to the governments,we do not have secrets.And then,many social frameworks collect our phone number and home address.They sell our phone number to the fake company.So that the fake companys will call us everytime and disturb our life
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342099)
• Rockingham, Australia
14 May 16
We get a lot of calls from crank companies too. They are a real nuisance.
@veganbliss (3895)
• Adelaide, Australia
30 Mar 16
That's just a tip off the iceberg that sank the titanic.
I posted tons of info on the paid Militarian Forum about what no-one told us about WW2 in the Pacific & our involvement specifically. Everything you thought you knew about that war & the powers behind it is blatantly false! To be very brief, here's some of the links I used (there are more for anyone interested):
The Brisbane Line. A Reappraisal, by Professor Drew Cottle, Upfront Publishing, Leicestershire, UK 2002
http://www.larouchepub.com/eiw/public/1995/eirv22n20-19950512/eirv22n20-19950512_026-britains_pacific_plot_against_th.pdf
1 person likes this
@bluesa (15022)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
16 Feb 16
@JudyEv , that was quite a secret kept! And absolutely our country has kept secrets from us, especially during my parents times, and even now they try to hide certain things, but, yes, media and social media is making it more difficult these days.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (342099)
• Rockingham, Australia
17 Feb 16
That's true too but the bombing was a big thing at the time. It's amazing they kept it as quiet as they did.