BY DAKOTA TAIT
It's been 80 years since the Shelling of Newcastle, when the city was attacked by a Japanese submarine at the height of the Second World War.
The bombardment came soon after the Attack on Sydney Harbour in 1942.
The Japanese submarine I-21 fired 34 shells at Newcastle, targeting the BHP steelworks, though very few of the munitions exploded.
The bombardment lasted three minutes, and while no one was injured, a house in the city's East End was damaged and a tram stop was hit by an unexploded shell.
The Australian gunners fired back at the submarine, but none of the shells managed to strike the vessel.
The attack was the only time the active fort saw combat.
Fort Scratchley Historical Society President Frank Carter says it's a pivotal moment in the Hunter's history.
"It's like the Attack on Sydney, when the mini-subs went in," he said. "It's just a big wake-up call."
"Newcastle was well-prepared in that it had plenty of defences around it, but I'm still not completely convinced by anything I've ever read that says that they really expected this to happen.
"For someone to sit out there in Stockton Bight and throw 26 rounds of high explosives at them, sort of let them know the war was real."
Fort Scratchley will be firing its guns on Wednesday afternoon to commemorate the anniversary.
After sounding the air raid siren, the guns are set to go off at 2:17pm, though the attack took place in the early hours.
"We don't do 2:17 in the morning - maybe because we won't get out of bed, and also I think we might upset the East End neighbours," Mr Carter said.
"So what we've done, tongue-in-cheek, is that we will fire at 2:17pm, twelve hours after the event."
Members of the public are being encouraged to come along, and Japan's Deputy Consul-General will also attend the event.
Mr Carter says it's important we don't forget Newcastle's wartime history.
"We as a society take it seriously given that how our whole being revolves around those two Mark VII guns," he said.
"They are the only two land-based guns in Australia to have been involved in a naval engagement."
"[The commemoration] is something we need to keep doing."
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| Image credit: Fort Scratchley Historical Society. |
