MELBOURNE—The campaigns that helped ward off an invasion of Australia in World War II will be officially commemorated for the first time at inaugural Battle For Australia services around the country tomorrow.
The battle to keep the Japanese out of Australia began two and a half years into the war, when Singapore fell on February 15, 1942.
There were fears at the time Australia was Japan's next target, prompting then Prime Minister John Curtin to declare the battle had begun.
Federal Veterans' Affairs minister Alan Griffin announced in June the struggle would be commemorated on the first Wednesday of every September.
The day marks the first defeat of Japanese forces on land in the Battle of Milne Bay.
A defence spokesman said the Battle for Australia was a struggle that had never been envisaged in this country and stretched resources to the limit.
Mainland Australia was bombed by the Japanese, with Darwin the worst hit in regular raids between February 1942 and November 1943, and Japanese midget submarines sneaked into Sydney Harbour.
The spectre of a possible invasion via Papua New Guinea arose.
Australia's sailors, soldiers and airmen and allies who fought and died in Singapore, the Battle of Sunda Strait, Timor, the Kokoda Track, Milne Bay, the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, in the Solomons and at Savo Island will be acknowledged.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will attend a commemoration ceremony in Canberra tomorrow morning.
The biggest ceremony is to be held in Melbourne at the Shrine of Remembrance, with 2,000 school students, 200 guests and 100 veterans expected.
Mr Griffin will be there, along with representatives of the governor-general and the armed forces.
Personnel from the United States Navy and Royal Australian Navy ships visiting Melbourne to commemorate the US Great White Fleet visit in 1908, will also attend.
Other ceremonies will be held in NSW, Queensland, ACT, Western Australia and Tasmania.
