The things they don't tell you at the time
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (362341)
Rockingham, Australia
July 8, 2025 7:57pm CST
The photo is of a kitchenette that was in the Chittering/Bindoon Museum but doesn’t have much connection to the following, just that it was in the same building.
There were several rooms devoted to World War I and II. One map gave the number of bombing raids that occurred on our northern shores. At the time, these raids carried out by Japan were hushed up to stop any scare-mongering. That couldn’t happen nowadays of course.
I knew Darwin had been bombed a couple of times but I knew little about any other bombing raids. However, Darwin was bombed 64 times, Horn Island seven times, Broome and Townsville three times, Wyndham twice, Catherine, Onslow, Mossman and Derby were bombed once each.
I realise this is nothing compared to what European cities went through, but I’m surprised at just how many cities were bombed. We were taught nothing about this through our school years.
17 people like this
20 responses
@xFiacre (14270)
• Ireland
9 Jul
@JudyEv And of course those who fought the invading Nazis in France we’re known as the Resistance, whereas those who fought the invading Europeans in Afghanistan, Kenya, Malaysia etc are recorded in European documents as Terrorists. Oh I’d love to edit the news.
3 people like this
@allknowing (152970)
• India
10 Jul
History was never my favourite subject and honestly I have not missed much (lol)
1 person likes this
@allknowing (152970)
• India
10 Jul
@JudyEv What I looked for while travelling I cannot say it had to do with any hisotry but how a place looked, their food, flowers, shopping Mall, pleasure rides, people....................
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (78472)
• United States
9 Jul
I just wrote a discussion about the POW camps in the US. I had never heard of that until a few years ago, when I discovered it reading on my own.
Even in the 1940s, I don’t know how they could have kept a town being bombed once (never mind 64 times!) that big a secret!!
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (78472)
• United States
9 Jul
@JudyEv — I had to look up the newspaper accounts. The Sydney Sun reported that Australian prime minister Curtin “appeal(ed) to the nation to face the facts like Australians.” What, drinking a Foster’s? 
(American stereotype of Australians as a joke.)
Interestingly, the paper also said that PM Curtin’s address after the bombing (Feb 19, 1942) included this comment: “If rumors circulate take no notice of them and deal sharply with any person who circulates them. The government has told you the truth.” (That would send warning sirens off in most people’s minds these days!) Oh, and yes, the Sydney paper spelled it as rumor. Saving ink for the war effort.
(American stereotype of Australians as a joke.)
Interestingly, the paper also said that PM Curtin’s address after the bombing (Feb 19, 1942) included this comment: “If rumors circulate take no notice of them and deal sharply with any person who circulates them. The government has told you the truth.” (That would send warning sirens off in most people’s minds these days!) Oh, and yes, the Sydney paper spelled it as rumor. Saving ink for the war effort. 1 person likes this
@JudyEv (362341)
• Rockingham, Australia
9 Jul
@FourWalls Hey, how about that? Thanks for going to that trouble.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (362341)
• Rockingham, Australia
9 Jul
I found it a bit staggering too that the south didn't know more about it. I was a bit young but I don't remember hearing any talk about it in later years. Communication would have been much more difficult and perhaps they put a 'gag' on those operating the telephone systems.
1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (50326)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
9 Jul
I like that kitchenette. Cutlery was held in the 'top' drawer and utensils in the other, and there'd be a big tub of ice in the bottom section to keep things cool... Cheese, butter, eggs would be kept behind the short door and milk on the bottom next to the ice... And you can see where the dishes were kept.
1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (50326)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
10 Jul
@JudyEv Now that you mentioned it, bread box (or pie safe) is probably more likely.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (362341)
• Rockingham, Australia
10 Jul
I think you have it exactly right! Although sometimes the short door was the 'bread box' for us. Here is the dresser that was in one of our house-sits. The 80-year-old owner had been born there and the house had always been in his family.
1 person likes this
@Traceyjayne (4930)
• United Kingdom
9 Jul
Both sets of my Grandparents had very similar to this. I wish I had been able to keep them ….wasn’t to be unfortunately. A neighbour who is 97 still has one .
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (362341)
• Rockingham, Australia
10 Jul
There was one in a house-sit we did. Both our families had similar ones to this too.
@sathviksouvik (21382)
•
9 Jul
thanks Judy it is sad that those cities were bombed
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (362341)
• Rockingham, Australia
9 Jul
Those in the south knew very little about it at the time.
@sathviksouvik (21382)
•
9 Jul
@JudyEv thanks Judy yes awareness creation is also required in the topic
1 person likes this
@aninditasen (17625)
• Raurkela, India
9 Jul
Wars are carried by country heads and they don't want the next generation to know about the bad things they did.
1 person likes this
@aninditasen (17625)
• Raurkela, India
10 Jul
@JudyEv That's because of the active media and the social media.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (48070)
•
9 Jul
I think I learned more about world history, and wartime happenings and conditions, in college than I ever did in high school. So many had it so very hard.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (48070)
•
10 Jul
@JudyEv
Yes, a lot of it was cut and dried, taught the same for years and years, and nothing added to it all. History is made every day, it didn't end after Vietnam, etc. But some people evidently think it did!
1 person likes this
@Vikingswest1 (7448)
• United States
9 Jul
It's been this way since Rome fell. Military leaders write history books. Historians record history. In my years in Junior High and Senior High school, I was taught that we invaded Panama to build the canal, that we were invited to build the Panama canal, and that the US joined militarily with Panama to defeat the tribes that held that territory to take it for the canal. Like you, we were not taught true historical events, just the official story.
I think every country since the beginning of time teaches what they want to be the truth to be and the historians record the actual events.
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (121902)
• Marion, Ohio
9 Jul
History is never accurate. It's written by the country it's taught in
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (199862)
• United States
9 Jul
In every country the government hides what it doesn't want you to know!!!
1 person likes this
@Beestring (15779)
• Hong Kong
9 Jul
My be you can find such information in a encyclopedia.
1 person likes this
@Ineeddentures (13313)
•
9 Jul
Wonder why they didn't want you to be taught this stuff
Did they think it might lead to a hatred of all things Japanese?
Or perhaps the truth would traumatised you
Our schools held nothing back
In primary school we were taught about the Holocaust and in 1966 Scottish kids were actually encouraged to support England in the world cup final against the Germans.
I wanted Germany to win.
1 person likes this
