Fort Scratchley to fire guns to mark 80 years since Shelling of Newcastle

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."

Image credit: Fort Scratchley Historical Society.

Ukrainian community urging the Hunter to show solidarity amid Russian invasion

BY DAKOTA TAIT

The Hunter's Ukrainian community is calling on the region to show solidarity with the country and it's people, following the Russian invasion on Thursday.

Major cities and military installations have faced shelling, missile strikes, and heavy fighting, as Ukraine wrestles with fronts to the north, south, and east.

The Ukrainian Government is now reporting 137 people, including civilians, have been killed in the first day of fighting.

A vigil was held by the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Adamstown this morning.

Volodymyr Motyka, a representative of the Ukrainian community in the Hunter, says the mood was very sombre.

"Very, as one would expect, down," Mr Motyka said 

"There's nothing uplifting other than the impression that we're getting from various people, that a resistance is being put up."

Australia has joined the United States and other allies in placing heavy sanctions on Moscow, but have stepped short of offering military support.

Ukraine's President signed a decree for general mobilisation of the population, calling up conscripts and reservists to take part over the next 90 days. 

The Government says weapons will also be supplied to anyone willing to fight.

Mr Motyka says people are worried about their family and friends overseas.

He says moral support for the Ukrainian people, as well as financial support and donations from locals will go a long way.

"This can be done in the conventional way, there's Red Cross Ukraine," Mr Motyka said.

"You can do it through Rotary Australia, they are also linked to that kind of activity and support, and also Caritas, which is part of the Catholic Church with a Ukrainian arm, they do that extensively throughout the country."

Ukraine's neighbours are now preparing for an influx of refugees as war escalates and moves closer to population centres.

The United Nations expects at least 100,000 people will seek asylum to the country's west.

Mr Motyka says, while we're on the other side of the world, it's important for the Hunter to show solidarity with Ukraine.

"I think we have to maintain as much as possible, our resolve and focus on what is at stake," Mr Motyka said.

"We forget, at times, that although we live in the beautiful Hunter River area, the Hunter Region, in Australia, so far away, that we are directly connected."

Image credit: Ukrainian Catholic Church