The edge of the storm: Cooktown, Cairns and Townsville at war

In the dark days of 1942 and 1943, the war in the Pacific impacted significantly on Australia. Yet in comparison with many other theatres of war, the damage remained limited - shelling of coastal cities, submarine activity, and some air attacks. In the north, aerial attacks assumed a definite pattern - the brunt was taken by Darwin (bombed 64 times with over 200 deaths), along with various Northern Territory airfields, and areas of the Western Australian coast, especially Broome (with over 80 deaths). Far North Queensland (FNQ) fared better: while often overflown by reconnaissance aircraft, the highly vulnerable Horn Island off the tip of Cape York was attacked on ten occasions, Townsville was bombed only three times, while Cooktown and Cairns suffered no raids although an aircraft off course bombed outside of Mossman, north of Cairns, causing one casualty. Amusingly, the Axis news broadcasts claimed that the bombing of Townsville was a disaster for the Allies - Radio Tokyo said in early August 1942 that raids had been some of 'the heaviest since the fall of Singapore', while Radio Berlin in early September claimed that Townsville had been evacuated because of the 'particularly violent Japanese raids'.