As part of our learning in Year 10 History of Australian experiences of war in World War II, the students attended the annual Darwin Defenders Commemoration Ceremony at the Shrine of Remembrance. They were fortunate to witness the flyover of aircraft, which have been recommissioned for the RAAF and which were involved in action around that time.

We listened to Dr Rosalie Triolo’s speech, which this year, was aimed at students in an effort to help them understand the significance of these bombings to people their age.

Dr Triolo has kindly agreed to let us publish her speech here for everyone to read.

Carolyn Callaghan
Learning Leader: Humanities

Student Reflection

Recently, the Year 10 History students attended the commemoration service of the bombing of Darwin in 1942 at the Shrine of Remembrance. We saw various memorable symbols around the event, listened to interesting speeches and had moments to reflect and respect the people who fought for our country. The commemoration service was filled with a band of police forces, the navy and air forces and many schools, who came together to commemorate this important time. Two of our students represented the school by placing a wreath on behalf of Kilbreda in remembrance of this day along with the other VIP’s.

One of the very memorable speeches was by Dr Rosalia Triolo, who presented about how students and teachers at a school in Darwin were affected by its bombing. They faced terrifying challenges. Dr Rosalia interviewed five different people, of all ages who experienced this traumatic event as children, which allowed us as students of Kilbreda to understand the situation they went through.

Important moments were shared, included when they were told to wear a necklace that was made out of a piece of string and an eraser. This was used to chew on if a bomb hit so that the impact wouldn’t shatter their teeth. When they were informed of a suspected bomb threat they would have to hide in black out rooms covered in paper with blankets shielding them from light and the attention drawn away from them.

Many teachers left the school in order to serve their country and through this, many students lost some of their most important role models. Some teachers didn’t return to school because they were scarred both mentally and physically or they died fighting for the country.

​​The two raids of Darwin in 1942 killed 235 people with a further 300 to 400 wounded. 30 aircraft were destroyed including nine out of the ten flying in defence, nine ships in the harbour and two outside were sunk and some of the civil and military facilities in Darwin were destroyed.

Lest we forget.

Lily Mealor and Stella Biviano
Year 10