TheAustralian home front during World War II played a significant role in theAllied victory and led to permanent changes to Australian society.

During the war theGovernment of Australia greatly expanded its powers in order to better direct thewar effort, and Australia's industrial and human resources were focused on supporting the Allied armed forces. While there were only a relatively small number of attacks on civilian targets, many Australians feared that the country would be invaded during the early years of thePacific War. By 1942 the Americans under Douglas MacArthur were arriving in large numbers and used Australia as one base of operations against Japan. In foreign policy reliance on the United States replaced reliance on Britain.

Robert Menzies was sworn in asPrime Minister of Australia for the first time on 26 April 1939 following the death ofJoseph Lyons.^[1] He led a minorityUnited Australia Partygovernment, after Country Party leaderEarle Page refused to serve in aCoalition government led by Menzies. On 3 September 1939, Australia enteredWorld War II, with Menzies making a declaration of a state of war in a national radio broadcast:

My fellow Australians. It is my melancholy duty to inform you, officially, that, in consequence of the persistence by Germany in herinvasion of Poland,Great Britain has declared war upon her, and that, as a result, Australia is also at war.^[2]

Earle Page as leader of the Country Party andJohn Curtin as leader of the Labor Party both pledged support to the declaration, and Parliament passed theNational Security Act 1939. A War Cabinet was formed after the declaration of war, initially composed of Prime Minister Menzies and five senior ministers (RG Casey, GA Street, Senator McLeay, HS Gullet andWorld War I Prime MinisterBilly Hughes). When Page still refused to join a government under Menzies, he was replaced byArchie Cameron as leader of the Country Party on 13 September 1939, allowing the conservative parties to re-form a Coalition by March 1940.^[3]

The recruitment of a volunteer military force for service at home and abroad was announced, theSecond Australian Imperial Force, and a citizen militia was organised for local defence. Menzies committed to provide 20,000 men to augment British forces in Europe, and on 15 November 1939 announced the reintroduction of conscription for home-defence service, effective 1 January 1940, freeing volunteers for overseas service.^[4]

By June 1940, Germany had overrun theLow Countries, Norway and France leaving theBritish Empire standing alone against Germany. Menzies called for an ‘all in’ war effort and, with the support of Curtin, amended theNational Security Act to extend government powers to tax, acquire property, control businesses and the labour force and allow for conscription of men for the "defence of Australia". Essington Lewis, the head ofBHP was appointed Director-General of Munitions Supply to assist with mobilisation of national resources.^[3] However, in spring 1940, the coal miners under communist leadership struck for higher wages for 67 days. On 15 June 1940 the Menzies government suppressed 10 communist and fascist parties and organizations as subversive of the war effort. Police and army intelligence made hundreds of raids that night, and later broke up public meetings in the capital cities.^[5] In July 1940, the Menzies government imposed regulations under theNational Security Act placing virtually all of Australia's newspapers, radio stations, and film industry under the direct control of the Director-General of Information. Newspaper publishers complained it was a blow struck at the freedom of the press. In January 1941, new regulations were directed against speaking disloyalty in public or even in private. The regulations were aimed at "whisperers" who undermined morale by spreading false rumours.^[6] During World War II manyenemy aliens wereinterned in Australia under theNational Security Act 1939.

Prisoners of war were also sent to Australia from otherAllied countries as were their enemy aliens for internment in Australia. About 7,000 residents were interned by Australia, including more than 1,500 British nationals. A further 8,000 people were sent to Australia to be interned after being detained overseas by Australia's allies. At its peak in 1942, more than 12,000 people were interned in Australia.^[7]

Jews seeking to escape the Nazis such as two-year-oldEva Duldig and her parentsKarl Duldig andSlawa Duldig were classified asenemy aliens upon their arrival due to their having arrived with Germanidentity papers.^[8][9][10] The Australian government therefore interned the three of them for two years in isolatedTatura Internment Camp 3 D with 295 other internees, mostly families.^[11][12][13] There, armed soldiers manned watchtowers and scanned the camp that was bordered by a barbed wire fence with searchlights, and other armed soldiers patrolled the camp.^[14] Petitions to Australian politicians, stressing that they were Jewish refugees and therefore being unjustly imprisoned, had no effect.^[14]

With the 1940 election looming, aRoyal Australian Air Force crash atCanberra Airport in August 1940 resulted in the death of the Chief of the General Staff and three senior ministers.^[3] The Labor Party meanwhile experienced a split along pro- and anti-Communist lines over policy towards the Soviet Union for itsco-operation with Nazi Germany in the invasion of Poland. At the1940 federal election in September, the UAP–Country Party Coalition and the Labor parties each won 36 seats and the Menzies Government was forced to rely on the support of two Independents to continue in office.^[15]

Menzies proposed an all party unity government to break the impasse, but the Labor Party refused to join.^[3] Curtin agreed instead to take a seat on a newly created Advisory War Council in October 1940.^[15] Cameron resigned as Country Party leader in October 1940, to be replaced byArthur Fadden, who became Treasurer and Menzies unhappily conceded to allow Page back into his ministry.

In January 1941, Menzies flew to Britain to discuss the weakness of Singapore's defences and sat withWinston Churchill'sBritish War Cabinet. He was unable to achieve significant assurances for increased commitment to Singapore's defences, but undertook morale boosting excursions to war affected cities and factories. Returning to Australia via Lisbon and the United States in May, Menzies faced a war-time minority government under ever increasing strain. In Menzies's absence, Curtin had co-operated with Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Fadden in preparing Australia for the expectedPacific War. With the threat of Japan imminent and with the Australian army suffering badly in theGreek andCrete campaigns, Menzies re-organised his ministry and announced multiple multi-party committees to advise on war and economic policy. Government critics however called for an all-party government.

After Germany attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, Australian trade unions supported the war.Australian Women's Army Service was formed in August 1941 as a non-medical support service for the military.

In August 1941, Cabinet decided that Menzies should travel back to Britain to represent Australia in the War Cabinet, but this time the Labor caucus refused to support the plan. Menzies announced to his Cabinet that he thought he should resign and advise the Governor-General to invite Curtin to form Government. The Cabinet instead insisted he approach Curtin again to form a war cabinet. Unable to secure Curtin's support, and with an unworkable parliamentary majority, Menzies resigned as prime minister and leader of the UAP on 29 August 1941. He was succeeded as prime minister by Fadden, the leader of the Country Party, who held office for a month.Billy Hughes, then aged 79, replaced Menzies as leader of the UAP. The two independentscrossed the floor, bringing down the Coalition government, and enabling Labor under Curtin to form aminority government.

Eight weeks after the formation of theCurtin government, on 7 December 1941 (eastern Australia time), Japanattacked Pearl Harbor, the US naval base in Hawaii. On 10 December 1941, the British battleshipHMSPrince of Wales and battlecruiserHMSRepulse sent to defend Singapore were sunk by Japan. British Malaya quickly collapsed, shocking the Australian population. British, Indian and Australian troops made a disorganisedlast stand at Singapore, before surrendering on 15 February 1942. On 27 December 1941, Curtin demanded reinforcements from Churchill, and published an historic announcement:^[16]

"The Australian Government...regards the Pacific struggle as primarily one in which the United States and Australia must have the fullest say in the direction of the democracies' fighting plan. Without inhibitions of any kind, I make it clear that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom."^[17]

Curtin predicted that the "battle for Australia" would now follow. Australia was ill-prepared for an attack, lacking armaments, modern fighter aircraft, heavy bombers, and aircraft carriers. Most of Australia's best forces were committed to fight against Hitler in the Middle East. On 19 February,Darwin suffered a devastatingair raid, the first time the Australian mainland had ever been attacked by enemy forces. Over the following 19 months,Australia was attacked from the air almost 100 times. Most elements of the Australian I Corps, including the 6th and 7th Divisions, returned to Australia in early 1942 to counter the perceived Japanese threat to Australia. All RAN's ships in the Mediterranean were also withdrawn to the Pacific but most RAAF units in the Middle East remained in the theatre.^[18]

U.S. PresidentFranklin Roosevelt ordered his commander in the Philippines, GeneralDouglas MacArthur, to formulate a Pacific defence plan with Australia in March 1942. Curtin agreed to place Australian forces under the command of General MacArthur, who became "Supreme Commander of the South West Pacific". Curtin had thus presided over a fundamental shift in Australia's foreign policy. MacArthur moved his headquarters to Melbourne in March 1942 and American troops began massing in Australia. In late May 1942, Japanesemidget submarines sank anaccommodation vessel in a daring raid onSydney Harbour. On 8 June 1942, two Japanese submarines briefly shelled Sydney's eastern suburbs and the city of Newcastle.^[19]

In an effort to isolate Australia, the Japanese planned a seaborne invasion ofPort Moresby, in the AustralianTerritory of New Guinea. In May 1942, theU.S. Navy engaged the Japanese in theBattle of the Coral Sea and halted the attack. TheBattle of Midway in June effectively defeated the Japanese navy and the Japanese army launched a land assault on Port Moresby from the north.^[16]

TheAustralian Women's Land Army was formed on 27 July 1942 under the jurisdiction of the Director General of Manpower to combat rising labour shortages in thefarming sector.

TheBattle of Buna-Gona, between November 1942 and January 1943, set the tone for the bitter final stages of theNew Guinea campaign, which persisted into 1945. MacArthur to a certain extent excluded Australian forces from the main push north into the Philippines and Japan. It was left to Australia to leadamphibious assaults against Japanese bases inBorneo.

Curtin went on to lead federal Labor to its greatest win with two thirds of seats in theHouse of Representatives and over 58% of thetwo-party preferred vote at the1943 federal election in August.^{[citation needed]} Labor won 49 seats to 12 United Australia Party, 7 Country Party, 3 Country National Party (Queensland), 1 Queensland Country Party, 1 Liberal Country Party (Victoria) and 1 Independent. The Labor Party also won all 19 of the seats contested for theSenate.^[20]

Concerned to maintain British commitment to the defence of Australia, Prime Minister Curtin announced in November 1943 thatPrince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the brother ofKing George VI, was to be appointedGovernor-General of Australia. He arrived in Australia to take up his post in January 1945. Curtin hoped this might influence the British to despatch men and equipment to the Pacific, and the appointment reaffirmed the important role of theCrown to Australia at that time.^[21]

As the end of the war approached, Curtin sought to firm up Australian influence in the South Pacific following the war but also sought to ensure a continuing role for the British Empire, calling Australia "the bastion of British institutions, the British way of life and the system of democratic government in the Southern World". In April 1944, Curtin held talks on postwar planning with President Franklin Roosevelt of the US and with Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Britain and gained agreement for the Australian economy to begin transitioning from military to post-war economy. He returned to Australia and campaigned for an unsuccessful1944 referendum to extend federal government power over employment, monopolies, Aboriginal people, health and railway gauges.^[16]

Prime Minister Curtin suffered from ill health from the strains of office. He suffered a major heart attack in November 1944. Facing the newly formedLiberal Party of Australia opposition led by Robert Menzies, Curtin struggled with exhaustion and a heavy work load – excusing himself from Parliamentary question time and unable to concentrate on the large number of parliamentary bills being drafted dealing with the coming peace. Curtin returned to hospital in April with lung congestion. With Deputy Prime MinisterFrank Forde in the United States andBen Chifley serving as acting prime minister, it was Chifley who announced theend of the war in Europe on 9 May 1945.^[16]

When Curtin died towards the end of the Second World War in July 1945, Forde served as prime minister from 6–13 July, before the party elected Ben Chifley as Curtin's successor.^[22] Following his 1945 election as leader of the Labor Party, Chifley, a former railway engine driver, became Australia's 16th prime minister on 13 July 1945.^[23] The Second World War ended with the defeat of Japan in the Pacific just four weeks later. Curtin is widely regarded as one of the country's greatest prime ministers.^[24] General MacArthur said that Curtin was "one of the greatest of the wartime statesmen".^[25]

The Japanese air force made 97 air raids against Australia over a 19-month period starting with Darwin in February 1942 until 1943. The Darwin area was hit 64 times. Horn Island was struck 9 times, Broome and Exmouth Gulf 4 times, Townsville and Millingimbi three times, Port Hedland and Wyndham twice and Derby, Drysdale, Katherine, Mossman, Onslow, and Port Patterson once.^[26]

Production of selected weapons for the Australian Army^[27]

Australian aircraft production during World War II^[28]

• Australian home front during World War I

• Australia–United States relations#World War II
• Australian women during World War II
• Australian Women's Army Service
• Australian Women's Land Army
• Home front during World War II
• Military history of Australia during World War II
• Military history of the British Commonwealth in the Second World War
• Military production during World War II
• Victory garden
• Volunteer Air Observer Corp

• Adam-Smith, Patsy (1984).Australian Women at War. Melbourne: Thomas Nelson Australia.ISBN 0-17-006408-5.
• Barrett, John. "Living in Australia, 1939–1945."Journal of Australian Studies 1#2 (1977): 107–118.
• Beaumont, Joan (2001).Australian Defence: Sources and Statistics. The Australian Centenary History of Defence. Volume VI. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-554118-9.
• Butlin, S.J. (1955).War Economy, 1939–1942. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 4 – Civil. Canberra: Australian War Memorial.
• Butlin, S.J.; Schedvin, C.B. (1977).War Economy, 1942–1945. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 4 – Civil. Canberra: Australian War Memorial.ISBN 0-642-99406-4.
• Darian-Smith, Kate.On the home front: Melbourne in wartime, 1939–1945 (Oxford University Press, 1990)
• Davis, Joan. "'Women's Work' and the Women's Services in the Second World War as Presented in Salt,"Hecate (192) v 18#1 pp 64+onlineSalt was the magazine of the Australian Army Education Service in the Second World War", with a circulation of 185,000
• Hasluck, Paul (1952).The Government and the People 1939–1941. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 4 – Civil. Canberra: Australian War Memorial.
• Hasluck, Paul (1970).The Government and the People 1942–1945. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 4 – Civil. Canberra: Australian War Memorial.ISBN 978-0-642-99367-0.
• McKernan, Michael (1983).All in! Australia During the Second World War. Melbourne: Thomas Nelson Australia.ISBN 0-17-005946-4.
• McKernan, Michael (2006).The Strength of a Nation. Six years of Australians fighting for the nation and defending the homeland during WWII. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.ISBN 978-1-74114-714-8.
• Mellor, D.P. (1958).The Role of Science and Industry. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 4 – Civil. Canberra: Australian War Memorial.
• Saunders, Kay.War on the homefront: state intervention in Queensland 1938–1948 (University of Queensland Press, 1993)
• Spear, Jonathan A. "Embedded: the Australian Red Cross in the Second World War." (PhD thesis, University of Melbourne, 2007)online.
• Spizzica, Mia. "On the Wrong Side of the Law (War): Italian Civilian Internment in Australia during World War Two."International Journal of the Humanities 9#11 (2012): 121–34.
• Willis, Ian C, "The women's voluntary services, a study of war and volunteering in Camden, 1939–1945" PhD thesis, School of History and Politics, University of Wollongong, 2004.online

• Year Book Australia, 1944–45 (1947)online, highly detailed statistics plus essays
• Year Book Australia, 1946–47 (1949)online, highly detailed statistics plus essays

• Hempenstall, Norma (compiler) (2021),When the Americans came to town : Enlarged revised edition, with new information and many more photographs (Enlarged and revised ed.), Capricorn Coast Historical Society Inc — describes the impact of US troops on Central Queensland during World War II

• Australian War MemorialHome front: Second World War

• Australia in World War II
• Home front during World War II
• Military history of Australia during World War II
• 1940s in Australia
• History of Australia (1901–1945)

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