Belinda Murrell: Bringing Australian History To Life | Page 36

INSPIRATION

CAPTIVATED BY THE

TOP END

THE MURRELL FAMILY’S VISIT TO THE NORTHERN TERRITORY INSPIRED BELINDA TO INVESTIGATE
WORLD WAR II. IT LED TO SOME INTERESTING FAMILY STORIES . . .
The Murrell family loved their time in the Territory.

W

hen my family spent eighteen months travelling
around Australia, we stayed about three months
in the Top End of the Northern Territory, including
Darwin. During this time, we stayed on vast, remote
cattle stations and visited some incredibly beautiful places. As
well as the sheer beauty of the Territory, we were overwhelmed
by its history. Despite studying Australian History at university, I
had very little knowledge of the bombing of Darwin during the
Second World War and how widespread and lethal the Japanese
attacks on Australia were. It was this adventure that inspired me
to write the story of Poppy.

Martin, a part-Aboriginal servant who died in the first bombing
attack on Darwin.

Historic sites

A family tale about Vegemite

A huge thank you goes to my intrepid husband, Rob, for
introducing us to many of the Second World War historic sites in
the Northern Territory, from airstrips, bomb craters and bunkers
to the deeply moving Adelaide River War Cemetery where over
four hundred Australians who died defending our country are
buried. The youngest was only sixteen years old. Also buried
here are civilians such as Iris Bald and her parents, along with the
other post office workers and thirty-one Indigenous Australians
whose death was due to enemy action. Among these is Daisy

36 randomhouse.com.au/teachers

Writing this book required much research, including reading
letters, diaries and memoirs by Australian nurses, children and
women evacuated from Darwin, soldiers and POWs, as well
as articles from newspapers and magazines such as Army
News, The Sydney Morning Herald and Australian Women’s
Weekly and books such as Australia’s Greatest Peril 1942 by
Bob Wurth, which included the story of a young Manly boy who
spotted the Japanese spy plane.

As always, there are family stories and reminiscences told to me
by members of my family including: my father, Jerry Humphrey,
who spent several months as a veterinarian working on
Northern Territory cattle stations; and my great-aunt Clarice,
who told me stories of her brother Aubrey Jones, an Australian
soldier taken as a prisoner-of-war by the Japanese. He had his
leg amputated in a POW camp on the Burma Railway. It was
Auntie Clarice who told me the story of Vegemite used as paint.