Battle for Australia Day

In the Saturday edition of the West Australian, Paul Murray discusses the newly created Battle for Australia Day.

There is a bit of debate as to whether there actually was a battle for Australia as it has long been known the Japan did not have any concrete plans to invade Australia during WW2. It is believed any invaders taking on the vast barren distances (without sushi bars) from the North of Oz to civilisation could not easily be fuelled and fed. The argument by historians is that history is only about what actually happened and not what could have happened. People in Darwin and Broome along with Sydneysiders might argue the point after severe bombings and loss of life.

That being said, I personally believe that if U.S. men and materiel had not turned up in Australia, Japan would have won all the Pacific islands and eventually had a crack at invading Australia. Of course the U.S. build up was not entirely altruistic; they wanted to secure their own territories and the U.S. mainland.

Let's hope they do the same if we are threatened by Indonesia in the future.

A friend, Dennis, visited on Saturday afternoon with a couple of bottles of Swan Valley white. Very nice too; so nice that it inspired us to open another couple of bottles...just for comparison purposes of course. Joan ended up driving him home. I seldom do that these days, but when I do, I get a severe attack of phoneitis. Can't remember how many people I talked (mumbled) to.