When Chaos Threatened West Australia
CANBERRA, This Day. “Until Lieut.-General Gordon Bennett took charge of the Western Australian defences, it was proposed to evacuate about 80,000 people from Perth, according to a statement made by Western Australia s Minister for Agriculture. Mr. F. J. Wise. Perth has a population of 240,000. Following his escape from Singapore, Lieut.-General Bennett was appointed to command Western Australia’s defences on March 31, 1942. . _ A Fantastic Position “Western Australia’s defences were chaotic, and we had no chance of defending any part of the State north of Perth, said Mr. Wise. Instruction from military authorities, which came before the State Cabinet some time after Japan entered the war, was to the effect that about a third of Perth’s population was to be evacuated immediately invasion threatened. The position was fantastic. Our transport services at that time would have been incapable of moving so many people in so short a time. The areas to which it was proposed that they should he sent were totally incapable of providing them with food, water or sanitary arrangements. , , Lieut.-General Bennett completely scrapped that plan, and worked for and insisted on adequate defences being installed.
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Northern Advocate, 30 June 1943, Page 3
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194When Chaos Threatened West Australia Northern Advocate, 30 June 1943, Page 3
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