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According to www.today.wmit.net for March 3 In WWII, the first real attack of the Japanese on an Australian base occurred with the bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942. That attack scattered the naval base at Darwin and demoralised Australians. Darwin was bombed by the Japanese a total of sixty times between 19 February 1942 and 12 November 1943.

Shortly after this initial attack, the northwest coastal towns of Broome and Wyndham also came under fire. On 3 March 1942, a squadron of nine Japanese Zero Fighter planes swept over Broome, opening fire at the busy harbour and the aerodrome. At the time, the port in Broome was crowded with Dutch refugees fleeing the Japanese invasion of the Netherlands East Indies. Most of these were women and children who had been evacuated to Broome and were preparing to fly south to safety.

It is estimated that over one hundred people were killed and forty wounded in the Broome attack, a significant loss in a small town. Very low tides at the Broome jetty still reveal remains of Dutch sea planes bombed by the Japanese, and the wrecks of the flying boats can be seen on the muddy floor of Roebuck Bay. At the same time Broome was being bombed, eight Japanese fighters hit Wyndham, but the air raid was focused on the town's aerodrome.

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