"This shows Broome on the left and Derby on the right being bombed by Japanese Zero aeroplanes. There are black clouds of anti-aircraft artillery fire. The land is painted red symbolising blood.
This painting shows my grandmother, Mollie Dowling during the bombing of Broome and Derby in the Second World War. The central portrait is of my grandmother today. She is 83 years old and remembers the war well.
When people were evacuated after the bombing of Broome and Derby, my grandmother was a tram conductress while the Australian forces were in barracks in Perth prepared to defend Western Australia's north from attack. Many evacuees accused Aboriginal people of telling the Japanese where to bomb exactly. The fear and propaganda of the time suggested that Aboriginal people should be put in internment camps for national security. My grandmother wore white gloves, white makeup and white stockings to appear as a white woman in order to keep her job. Perth had a curfew for Aboriginal people in the city limits after dark. She helped other indigenous people get out of the city before they were arrested. To this day, she hates the Japanese with a passion not because of what they did but because she was accused of not being patriotic enough because she was Aboriginal."
Julie Dowling
