pieces were always held under the table.
FOOTNOTES
----
8 Â Anthony Hordens was a large department store in Sydney.
7
Conduct Unbecoming
Daily Commercial News, a publication listing details of merchant shipping movements in Australia, included the following notice inserted into its front page on 29 July 1938:
EMERGENCY NOTICE TO MARINERS
NAVAL GUNNERY PRACTICE OFF PORT STEPHENS
Friday 5 August 1938 between 1500 and 2100 hours Gunnery Practice by ships of the Royal Australian Naval Squadron, south and eastward of Port Stephens in area enclosed between parallels 32 degrees 30 minutes South and 33 degrees 30 minutes South and between 10 and 60 miles offshore ⦠Shipping should keep out of the above area.
Port Stephens is a popular residential and recreational district 200 kilometres north of Sydney, named by its first European visitor, Captain James Cook who passed by in 1770. Today, the residents of Nelson Bay, Shoal Bay, Salamander Bay and other towns to be found on the rim of Port Stephens are proud of their expansive waterway and the lifestyle the region offers. Dolphins live and entertain in the gentle waters, and the bordering nature reserves, national parks, stunning scenery and white sand beaches draw tourists attracted by the water sports, fishing, whale watching and boat cruises that saunter across an area twice the size of Sydney Harbour.
Today, the permanent residents of Port Stephens number about 70,000, a rapid development from the pre-World War II population of only a few hundred. A sizeable portion of the 1930s population comprised fishermen escaping the economic ravages of the Depression. Early shipping and economic development of the area had been lost to nearby Newcastle with its fine harbour and substantial coal reserves. The void of residential appeal in Port Stephens before World War II resulted in the area being particularly attractive to the army and navy. Surrounding the port was a region of varying geographical features deemed to be ideal for military exercises. Further, access to Port Stephens was limited until a paved road into the area was constructed in 1942. The small permanent population provided minimal civilian intrusion into a district that became earmarked for special military consideration.
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Port Stephens was transformed by the army and later by the arrival of American troops. About 20,000 American and Australian troops used the beaches for initial training in amphibious warfare. The port entrance was fortified and radar installed as precautions against a Japanese attack.
An Unwelcome Attraction
If the pre-war residency interest in Port Stephens was low, government awareness of its potential was not â and this potential was not for commercial or residential development. Official attention in the area was far different.
In the late 1930s the intelligence services noted, with some disquiet, the unexplained number of Japanese visitors to Newcastle. The city and its immediate environs were not judged as tourist destinations, yet groups of Japanese made the trip and their cameras clicked away on almost anything. An opinion emerged that maybe the Japanese interest was directed at something other than tourist activity or the collection of general and geographical information. The backdrop to this judgement was the behaviour of the Japanese in China, and predictions within Australian intelligence that future Japanese expansionist aspirations would not be confined to the Chinese mainland.
In the event of war, the Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited steelworks in Newcastle would be a major supplier in the armaments industry. Eliminating this production may also have been an enemy objective. By early 1940, a defence planning scenario produced a possible enemy landing on the coast between Sydney and Port Stephens. A naval invasion at Port Stephens would quickly see the capture of the steelworks and the loss of a major
FOOTNOTES
----
8 Â Anthony Hordens was a large department store in Sydney.
7
Conduct Unbecoming
Daily Commercial News, a publication listing details of merchant shipping movements in Australia, included the following notice inserted into its front page on 29 July 1938:
EMERGENCY NOTICE TO MARINERS
NAVAL GUNNERY PRACTICE OFF PORT STEPHENS
Friday 5 August 1938 between 1500 and 2100 hours Gunnery Practice by ships of the Royal Australian Naval Squadron, south and eastward of Port Stephens in area enclosed between parallels 32 degrees 30 minutes South and 33 degrees 30 minutes South and between 10 and 60 miles offshore ⦠Shipping should keep out of the above area.
Port Stephens is a popular residential and recreational district 200 kilometres north of Sydney, named by its first European visitor, Captain James Cook who passed by in 1770. Today, the residents of Nelson Bay, Shoal Bay, Salamander Bay and other towns to be found on the rim of Port Stephens are proud of their expansive waterway and the lifestyle the region offers. Dolphins live and entertain in the gentle waters, and the bordering nature reserves, national parks, stunning scenery and white sand beaches draw tourists attracted by the water sports, fishing, whale watching and boat cruises that saunter across an area twice the size of Sydney Harbour.
Today, the permanent residents of Port Stephens number about 70,000, a rapid development from the pre-World War II population of only a few hundred. A sizeable portion of the 1930s population comprised fishermen escaping the economic ravages of the Depression. Early shipping and economic development of the area had been lost to nearby Newcastle with its fine harbour and substantial coal reserves. The void of residential appeal in Port Stephens before World War II resulted in the area being particularly attractive to the army and navy. Surrounding the port was a region of varying geographical features deemed to be ideal for military exercises. Further, access to Port Stephens was limited until a paved road into the area was constructed in 1942. The small permanent population provided minimal civilian intrusion into a district that became earmarked for special military consideration.
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Port Stephens was transformed by the army and later by the arrival of American troops. About 20,000 American and Australian troops used the beaches for initial training in amphibious warfare. The port entrance was fortified and radar installed as precautions against a Japanese attack.
An Unwelcome Attraction
If the pre-war residency interest in Port Stephens was low, government awareness of its potential was not â and this potential was not for commercial or residential development. Official attention in the area was far different.
In the late 1930s the intelligence services noted, with some disquiet, the unexplained number of Japanese visitors to Newcastle. The city and its immediate environs were not judged as tourist destinations, yet groups of Japanese made the trip and their cameras clicked away on almost anything. An opinion emerged that maybe the Japanese interest was directed at something other than tourist activity or the collection of general and geographical information. The backdrop to this judgement was the behaviour of the Japanese in China, and predictions within Australian intelligence that future Japanese expansionist aspirations would not be confined to the Chinese mainland.
In the event of war, the Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited steelworks in Newcastle would be a major supplier in the armaments industry. Eliminating this production may also have been an enemy objective. By early 1940, a defence planning scenario produced a possible enemy landing on the coast between Sydney and Port Stephens. A naval invasion at Port Stephens would quickly see the capture of the steelworks and the loss of a major
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