For Australians 1942 was a year of mixed tidings. Weighed against the victories on the Kokoda Trail, at Buna and Gona and at El Alamein was the loss of the 8th Division at Singapore and the realisation late in the year that although the tide of the war was turning in the Allies' favour there would be much bitter fighting ahead.

Conference Papers

About the Speakers

Speaker	Topic
Keynote address:
Michael Caulfield	Converting History into Film
Malaya and Singapore:
Dr Alan Warren	Malaya-Singapore Campaign
John Moremon	A failure to learn?: Preparing for war in New Guinea (drawing on the lessons of Malaya)
Garth Pratten	Scraping the bottom of the barrel?: Battalion command in the 8th Division
The War to the North:
Brad Manera	Australian Guerillas in Timor
Ian Hodges	The loss of HMAS Armidale
Lunch	Launch of Melanie Oppenheimer's book All work, no pay at 1pm
Australia at War:
Professor Alan Powell	Darwin Retrospective, 1942
Dr Drew Cottle	"A Brave Front?": Responses of Sydney's social classes to the Pacific War, 1942
Dr Peter Stanley	Australia under threat of invasion (1.2Mb, pdf) Conference presentation (4.38 Mb, Quicktime)
Dr Bobbie Oliver	Conscientious objectors
Dr Melanie Oppenheimer	1942: Year of austerity
Counter Offensives:
Professor David Horner	High Command and the Kokoda Campaign
Major General Steve Gower	Sacking the generals in Papua
Dr John Mordike	Air Power at Milne Bay, August - September 1942
Prisoners of War:
Professor Joan Beaumont	Prisoners of War
Rosalind Hearder	"Making bricks without straw": Australian doctors' responses to medical challenges in Japanese captivity
Dr Christina Twomey	"Working for the Jap": Australian civilian internees remember 1942
Professor Fran De Groen	Japan Party B Bound for Korea, 1942
Australia and the Global War:
Professor Peter Edwards	Prime Minister Curtin turns to America
Alastair Cooper	The Royal Australian Navy and Allied Command
Battles far Away:
Professor Hank Nelson	Australians in Bomber Command
Dr Mark Johnston	El Alamein
Panel discussion:	Australia and the war in 1942