The editorial cartoon from the Melbourne Argus of 9 December 1941, the issue which reported the Japanese landings in Malaya and air raid on Pearl Harbor. I guess it’s nice to know I can still be surprised, though, of course, there’s really no reason why I should have been.
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I changed my mind. I’m rooting for the Japanese now.
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My grandmother related to me how she used to be terrified of the Japanese due to newsreels and cartoon portrayals of them as these ghoulish nearsighted goblins with big sharp teeth. For most Aussies of that time it must have been the culmination of decades of Yellow Peril warnings.
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For most Aussies of that time it must have been the culmination of decades of Yellow Peril warnings.
Absolutely. Peter Stanley covers this very well in his recent book Invading Australia: Japan and the Battle for Australia, 1942 (which, despite the title, argues that there was no battle for Australia and no possibility of a Japanese invasion). This famous poster shows the sort of propaganda around at the time. (And this one.)
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Pingback from Airminded · Slap the Jap and make the Hun pay on 29 June 2009 at 1:40 am
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“Safety demands obedience” – good grief, what an Orwellian injunction, even in an emergency.
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Yes, it’s a little excessive, isn’t it? Interestingly, that poster matches one described in an oral account but which Stanley (who was the Australian War Memorial’s principal historian) suggests was confused with the other “he’s coming south” poster (in my other link). If the former principal historian of the Australian War Memorial didn’t know about it, it must have had a limited life or distribution range. I wonder how it ended up in NZ?
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