Timeline
1942
Bombing of Darwin
On 19 February the first Japanese air raid on Darwin takes place. Many follow, but this is the biggest. More bombs are dropped on Darwin than on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
1945
International: End of the Second World War
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Japanese surrender ends the Second World War.
International: United Nations begins
At the San Francisco Conference, on 24 October, the United Nations comes into being with 51 member states.
1946
Pilbara strike
Aboriginal pastoral workers walk off stations in the Pilbara region. The strike lasts until 1949.
1947
Rocket range protest
Public meetings are held in protest at the proposed British-Australian rocket range to be established in the central Australian desert.
1948
International: Human rights declared
The United Nations adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
United Nations, 1948
International: Apartheid becomes law
In South Africa, laws to implement the policy of apartheid are passed, institutionalising racial discrimination.
1949
Aboriginal cooperative begins
The Pindan Cooperative movement is formed from the Pindan pastoral strikers. Aboriginal people make a living as miners of alluvial minerals, with the goal of gaining land tenure. Many activists are inspired by the cooperative movement.
These men came to Perth as witnesses in an action against Middleton, the Commissioner of Native Welfare, in 1958.
Source: Don McLeod, How the West was Lost, self published, Port Hedland, 1984
Source: Don McLeod, How the West Was Lost, self published, Port Hedland, 1984.