USS Peary
Of her crew of 144, only fifty-three survived. She sank stern-first in the harbour — the heaviest single loss of American life in Australian waters.
19 February 1942
In Memoriam
By nightfall, at least two hundred and thirty-five people were dead. This page is for them — the named and the unnamed, the servicemen and the civilians, on the day the war reached home.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
The fallen
MV Neptuna & the wharf
The merchant vessel Neptuna exploded at the main jetty; wharf labourers and ships’ crews were lost across the burning harbour.
The ships of the harbour
Nine vessels were sunk that morning — among them the Neptuna, Zealandia, Mauna Loa, Meigs and the Peary.
The town and the Territory
Servicemen, wharf workers, postal staff, hospital patients and civilians. By nightfall at least 235 were dead — a toll historians still count today.
The Darwin Post Office
They were offered evacuation.
They chose to stay.
A single bomb found the shelter in the postmaster's garden, where the telephonists and staff had gathered. Ten are remembered by name on the memorial that stands where they worked.
- Hurtle C. Bald Postmaster
- Alice L. Bald
- Iris E. Bald
- Archibald T. R. Halls
- Jean C. Mullen
- Eileen C. Mullen
- Jennie F. Stasinowsky
- Arthur W. Wellington
- Emily F. Young
- Walter R. L. Rowling
The toll of 19 February 1942 has never been settled. Figures range from 235 to more than 290. Every count is an attempt to hold a number to a grief that resists it.
Lest we forget.