Darwin Post Office WorkersPrint Page

The marble tablet commemorates the Post Office workers who were killed in the bombing of Darwin in 1942 during World War Two.

In February 1942, two attacks by enemy aircraft were made on Darwin. These raids occurred at 9.58am on Darwin Harbour and Town and at 11.58am on Darwin Aerodrome. Official figures record that 243 people were killed and 350 people were wounded in the raids.

Prior to the bombing raid of 19 February 1942, most civilians had been evacuated and this option was offered to the Post Office staff but they chose to stay. Peter Bald the Postmaster and his family lived near the Post Office and had built an air raid shelter in their back garden for use by the family and the Post Office staff. Soon after the first raid on Darwin began the female telephonists and several male members of the staff sought shelter there. A bomb scored a direct hit on the shelter killing the postmaster, his family, together with several members of his male staff and the whole of the female staff. In all, ten postal and communications workers were killed.

A marble plaque erected in memory of 10 members of the Darwin Post Office staff, killed in the Japanese air raids of February 19, 1942, will be unveiled in Adelaide tomorrow. Money for the memorial and for one to be erected at Darwin Post Office was collected by voluntary subscription from postal officers throughout the Commonwealth.
Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW), 18 February 1954.

NOTE : This building closed on 11 October 2019 for redevelopment.  This plaque is inside the building but it is not accessible to the general public.

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