When Great Britain declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939, Australia was quick to follow suit, immediately sending soldiers to help support Britain on the Western Front. Certainly, the Australian servicemen are worthy of honour for their bravery and heroism. But here are four stories of Australian heroism you may not have heard: a dog who warned of incoming air raids, women who took up the plough, a reporter who risked his life to tell a horrific story, and Aborigines defying racism to serve their country.
Gunner, the Australian sheepdog and air raid siren
At only six months old, Gunner was rescued from the wreckage of Darwin after Japanese planes bombed the city in 1942. Aircraftman Percy Westcott adopted the young pup, not knowing what an important role he would soon play in protecting the people of Darwin. Typical of his breed, Gunner had exceptional hearing. He could hear Japanese bombers minutes before they showed up on radar, and his barking let citizens know to take cover. He helped alert the town to 60 air raids, giving citizens advance warning and saving countless lives.
Women stepping up for their country
With so many of Australia’s men off fighting in the war, the Australian homeland was left with a labor shortage that made meeting the population’s food needs difficult. Many scoffed at the idea of women working on farms, but volunteer women formed the Australian Women’s Land Army (AWLA) and rose to the challenge of ploughing, harvesting, and milking cows to keep Australia’s citizens fed.
Women also worked in auxiliary branches of the military as ambulance drivers, mechanics, and anti-aircraft gunners. Others served as nurses, often putting themselves in great peril. Australian nurses Margaret Anderson and Vera Torney received medals for bravery after shielding soldiers from enemy fire with their own bodies.
Wilfred Burchett, fearless Australian reporter
After Americans dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, Australian reporter Wilfred Burchett was the first reporter on the scene, arriving even before American troops could assess the damage. His vivid description of the devastation was so stirring that Allied forces attempted to censor it.
“Hiroshima does not look like a bombed city,” he wrote. “It looks as if a monster steamroller had passed over it and squashed it out of existence… It makes a blitzed Pacific island seem like an Eden.” Of the victims of radiation poisoning, Burchett wrote, “For no apparent reason their health began to fail. They lost appetite. Their hair fell out. Bluish spots appeared on their bodies. And the bleeding began from the ears, nose and mouth…The flesh started rotting away.”
Burchett wanted his article to serve as a “warning to the world” of the effects of an “atomic plague.” Many have since called it “the scoop of the century.”
The Aborigine question
Australians weren’t quite sure what to do with the Aboriginal population when war broke out. Originally, Aborigines were not allowed to enlist in the Australian army, though that policy changed as the war progressed. Some Australian commanders wanted to relocate and contain all Aborigines, unsure of their loyalties.
Although they weren’t granted the vote or citizen status until the 1960s, more than 3,000 Aborigines fought during World War II. The exact number is difficult to ascertain, as some lied about their heritage in order to enlist early on, and others who served in special reconnaissance units were never formally enlisted (or paid). It hasn’t been until more recent years that the Aborigines’ contributions during the war have really come to be recognized.
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