The Western Australian emergency of March 1942 was a series of local responses that occurred in relation to activity in northern

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

that gave Australian military forces serious concerns about the capacity of the Japanese to move down the Western Australian coast. The air raids on Broome and other locations in

March 1942 The following events occurred in March 1942: March 1, 1942 (Sunday) *The Second Battle of the Java Sea was fought, resulting in Japanese victory. The cruiser HMS ''Exeter'' and the destroyers HMS ''Encounter'' and USS ''Pope'' were sunk. *T ...

caused the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

to reinforce the military forces located in Western Australia to defend the state. The action was taken to defend against the

possibility Possibility is the condition or fact of being possible. Latin origins of the word hint at ability. Possibility may refer to: * Probability, the measure of the likelihood that an event will occur * Epistemic possibility, a topic in philosophy ...

that a force of Japanese warships and planes would attempt to attack the cities of

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

and

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. The speed and extent of Japanese expansion to this time was considered a major threat to the region. Extensive preparations and actions throughout the state of Western Australia were conducted to avert attacks and to prepare the population against possible invasion. Japanese propaganda was produced at the time to spread the idea of invasion or bombing of southern Australian cities. Authorities were attempting to allay fears a month before the Darwin bombings. The events surrounding the bombings and response by authorities in northern Australia were referred to as "Japanese Scare" tactics.The term is not specifically referred to in the titles of papers presented, but the years events are over-viewed. See The work undertaken in Fremantle and Perth to prepare for an imminent invasion or attack was the most extensive in the history of Western Australia. The establishment of the

Fremantle submarine base Fremantle submarine base was the utilisation of Fremantle Harbour as a submarine base in World War II. The submarine base was second only to Pearl Harbor in the Pacific theater, with US, British and Dutch submarines operating from Fremantle dur ...

was a part of the defensive actions, and it remained active until the end of the war. The subsequent

Western Australian emergency of March 1944 During March 1944, the Allies of World War II rapidly reinforced the military units located in the state of Western Australia to defend against the possibility that Japanese warships would attack the cities of Fremantle and Perth. This redepl ...

was in effect a repeat of the 1942 emergency.

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