The Bay is on Fire

SBS Australia

10-07-2025

In the first episode of Uncle Charlie: The Invisible Hero, host Paulien Roessink asks what happened on March 3rd 1942. We'll hear from Edie Wright about her Uncle Charlie's experience, local historian Michael Lake about what the region looked like at the time, academic Bas Kreuger about why there were Dutch people in Broome and from survivors from the attack.
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SBS Dutch
10/07/2025 28:34 English
Hosted and produced by: Paulien Roessink
NITV Radio team: Kerri-Lee Barry and Ngaire Pakai
SBS team: Joel Supple, Max Gosford and Bernadette Phương Nam Nguyễn
Follow this podcast on the SBS Audio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Paulien Roessink: This podcast is produced on the lands of the Cammeraygal People. We'd like to pay our respects to elders past and present and acknowledge the thousands of years of storytelling on this land. This episode also contains references to war, and mentions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have passed away. Paulien Roessink: It's 1942, and we're in a small town called Broome, on the lands of the Yawuru people, on the northwest coast of Western Australia. The summer heat is still clinging to the early days of autumn. The wet season is about to begin. The sunshine is reflecting against the clear blue waters of Roebuck Bay and sizzling the red sand of the shore. Paulien Roessink: 15 flying boats carrying evacuees from the former Dutch East Indies are moored at the bay for a pit stop to refuel and re-supply. Soon they will continue their journey South. Now, if you don't remember your school history lessons, that's okay. It's World War II and these Dutch citizens are fleeing the former Dutch East Indies because the Japanese have just won the battle of the Java Sea. A local young Aboriginal lad by the name of Charles D'Antoine is working at the bay. Edie Wright: My uncle Charlie's job, he went out and clean the boats, he cleaned the flying boats and he would wait for the bigger boats to come in with the fuel and they would refuel the boats and then they would continue their journey to either Perth or to Melbourne or Sydney. Paulien Roessink: This is author Edie Wright, Charles D 'Antoine's niece. She's written a book about her Uncle Charlie's experience on this day, because for those in Broome on the 3rd of March 1942, they could have never imagined what was to come.
Edie: And then when he saw the Japanese Mitsubishis, he knew that they were going to be attacked.
When he went out it was just absolute carnage. The water was alight, there was billowing smoke, planes were of fire. People screaming and yelling in the water. And he knew that if he didn't jump off his boat, that would explode too. So he jumped in and there was a Dutch lady and her child. Uncle Charlie couldn't speak Dutch, but they managed through sign language, he managed to tell her hang onto my back and hold your baby tightly. Hang on and I'll take you. And he was swimming along and there was another little girl, and she was about 5 or 6 – I don't know the exact age - and she was in the water. So he picked her up and he put her on his back. Paulien Roessink: On this day, 88 civilians and Allied military personnel were killed. In the eyes of many, Charles D'Antoine was a hero. Performing an act of selflessness, risking his own life to make sure others were saved. Edie: He never to this day, that I know of, he never got any recognition from the Australian government. It was the Dutch who honored him and recognised him for what he did. Paulien Roessink: I'm Paulien Roessink, a journalist and presenter with SBS Dutch. This interview with Edie you're hearing, is one I did last year for my program. But it's a story that's stuck with me. To Charles D'Antoine's family, rescuing the Dutch was an heroic act. So why is it that the Dutch government honoured this man, while the Australian authorities didn't? Paulien Roessink: This is 'Uncle Charlie: the invisible hero', a podcast from SBS Dutch and NITV Radio. In the next three episodes I'll be speaking to historians, community members, survivors and family members about what it means to be recognized for heroism, to figure out why Uncle Charlie didn't get officially recognized by the Australian government. To get to the heart of this question we must ask, what exactly happened on the 3rd of March 1942, when the bay was on fire... I know Uncle Charlie's story. I know what he meant to the Dutch community and what his story means to his family and to the local community. But I wanted to understand what the town of Broome was like before this horrific day. Michael Lake: I came on a two-year teaching contract. Broome was was not unfamiliar to me. I lived as a teenager in the next closest southern town, which is Port Hedland. And I spent, a fair bit of my holiday time in Broome and attended, one of the first Shinju Matsuris, which is the Festival of the Pearl. Paulien Roessink: This is Michael Lake, a Broome local since 1980. He calls himself an accidental historian for the Broome Historical Society & Museum. Michael: What started me on the journey was being asked by my Dance and Drama teacher, to write a synopsis on the air raid, so they could prepare a performance for the [00:00:30] anniversary of the air raid. Paulien Roessink: …and he has been a volunteer guide and researcher for the past 8 years. Paulien: could you describe life in Broome in the early 40s? Michael: Broome was quite a sleepy small little place. It was quite significant in terms of shell production, mother-of-pearl, but as the Winds of War started to blow The advantage that Broome had was, its geographical location to, then the Dutch East Indies. So an air bridge was established, initially through Darwin. But then, as the war came closer, Darwin came too risky So, the Australian authorities Aviat, made the decision to make Broome the forward operating base. Paulien Roessink: This means that Broome became a gateway for people moving South... Michael: Record shows that about three or four days before the raid, 5,000 people passed through Broome, heading South. So, yes, it was a very, very busy place. There's a famous comment from one of the Americans who was here helping out with the forward operating base, who he reckoned it was busier than LaGuardia Airport in New York at the time. It was a major logistic exercise just keep keeping the fuel supply for the aircraft, both the land base and the sea base planes. People were getting on board for various reasons. So there were members of The Diplomatic Corps left Singapore, other nations naval attaches, there was dependence. Everyone was thinking after the battle of the Java sea, it was not quite every man or woman for themselves, but it was getting close. Paulien Roessink: In early 1942, Darwin experienced its first attack of World War 2. Japanese forces mounted two air raids on Darwin. To this day, The Battle of Darwin was the largest single attack mounted by a foreign power in Australia. With the need for a safe airport between Australia and the Dutch East Indies, Broome was set up as the next air bridge between the regions. It was a safe, flight path and just out of range for the Japanese zero planes. Michael: What Allied intelligence didn't realize, there was a unit inside the Imperial Naval Air Service of Japan that had been experimenting with long-range fuel tanks what we would now call drop tanks. And there was this one particular unit of Zeros, that had been trailing the technology, and they were headed up by their commander Shibata. And Shibata had noticed that the radio traffic coming out of Broome had just gone sky high. So he said something's going on in Broome so he sent the initial reconnaissance aircraft. The reconnaissance aircraft prior to the raid, just showed that there were about 10 to 12 aircraft sitting on the tarmac at the Broome Airdrome, [00:12:40] but nothing on the bay. So Shibata basically said right, this is a target that's are lifting material into the Dutch East Indies. It needs to be neutralized. The idea was that they would come, hit the targets that are on the ground here, and leave. It was to be a precision raid. The mission commander when they rounded Gantheaume Point, which is one of the peninsulas in the Broome area, they realise that unlike the reconnaissance photos of the day, there was flying boats on the bay. So very quickly the mission commander Morano said, I'll have three aircraft and pilots to hit the airdrome. Three, aircraft and pilots to hit the sea planes, that were now had arrived during the night. And three to fly top cover, including himself, so if that were any Allied fighter aircraft, they could be dealt with by those three. So very classical attack setup. And they went methodically and about their work. Michael: Now, the issue arises because the sea planes had arrived during the night, and the tides were not correct to get people off the seaplanes. So, the ones that arrived the night, still had people on them, and they were doing their best to make themselves comfortable by sitting on the wings and all that sort of thing. The main casualties happened in the bay, and the predominantly they were Dutch civilians. Bas Kreuger: If you look at a map, you can see that the shortest route from from Java to Australia is ending in Broome, or not exactly, but Broome was the only place they could reach where they could refuel. They would refuel and then fly South of Port Headland, and on to Perth, Freemantle, and then they were no any longer be in range of the Japanese Air Force, so they were supposed to be safe. But they didn't really know that the Japanese Fighters had such an extreme long range. Paulien Roessink: Bas Kreuger is a Dutch historian who has done a lot of research for the Dutch government into what happened in Broome, on that third day of March in 1942. I asked him, why so many Dutch citizens were in Broome, on the day of the air raid. Bas: There were about 15 flying boats in Roebuck Bay in Broome, and they were all coming from the Netherlands East Indies from Java. And that was because in 27, 28 February there was the Battle of the Java sea that was lost by the Allied Fleet against Japanese, and they invaded Java. They brought about 8,000 people from from Java back to Australia. [00:01:00] On 2 March, they sent, the Japanese sent a reconnaissance flying boat from Timor - they had occupied Timor - from the Coupon Airfield, to fly over Broome. Paulien: How many people died that day? Bas: It's difficult to say that with any certainty, because there were no passenger lists I think around 80, 85 were killed. Again we don't know for certain how many. You can count the number of graves, but a lot of people were also, died on board of the of the flying boats that sunk to the bottom of Roebuck Bay. Some were swept away in the currents, or even worse, eaten by sharks. So we don't know with any certainty how many really died that day. Theo Doorman: I remember as a six-year-old, it was about sundown Paulien Roessink: Theo Doorman was one of the young Dutch passengers on the flying boats. The crew had prepared some pea soup in an electric pan, and we each got a spoon, and could take some soup from the pan. So suddenly there was rattling of machine guns, But it appeared that that was only to try the guns, whether they worked. My mother and I slept on, on one of the bunks. In the early morning, [00:08:19] at about 7:30, we looked from a porthole and saw below us sort of bay, and we we came down and landed. Paulien Roessink: I asked Theo why he was leaving the Dutch East Indies. Theo Doorman: My father was a naval officer. He was a rear Admiral in 1942, and commander of the combined striking force of the ABDA Nations – ABDA stands for American British Dutch and Australian. A combined effort to stop the Japanese onslaught, that was directed on the oil fields in Indonesia on Borneo and Sumatra. Paulien Roessink: Karel Doorman, Theo's father, is an important person in Dutch maritime history. The Dutch navy named several ships after him and, in the Netherlands, there are plenty of streets and squares that bear Karel Doorman's name. Theo Doorman: The final battle, the battle in the Java Sea, was on the 27th of February. And in that battle the Allied ships all went down. From there, they try to escape via Strait Sunda, the Sunda Straits, but they came smack in the middle of the Japanese landing on West Java. [...] My father stayed on board of his ship when it sank, and died there presumably. Paulien Roessink: Within days after the Battle of the Java Sea, Theo and his mother travelled to Surabaya, where they got the opportunity to evacuate to Australia. Theo Doorman: there were four Catalina flying boats, lying in a piece where a river was dammed off and could provide a sort of runway for these flying boats to take off. So, in the afternoon of the 2nd of March, we took off there, together with other evacuees. We flew to Australia. everybody was high-strung, that's certainly the case. Paulien Roessink: So, at about 9.30 in the morning in Broome, Theo's flying boat is resting on the calm waters of Roebuck Bay. Some of the passengers are sitting on the wings of the plane, stretching their legs as the plane is getting resupplied and refuelled for the next part of the journey. Theo Doorman: So my mother stayed with me, within the plane in the little luggage she had, she had taken some toys with her; my favourite airplane, which was a sort of metal plane with folding wheels and so on, and some soldiers. And I was alone playing there with my soldiers.
And suddenly there was a lot of noise. And I saw a Zero flying close over and rattle rattle rattle. My mother came charging in and yanked me, to more to the front of the plane under the bunk and started laying on top of me. And next to us, there was a Mr. and Mrs. Kramer, he was a naval officer also. And she had been wounded in the head by a bullet.
And then we go the second attack. It was directed at the gasoline tanks, which were between the two motors on the on the top wing. And of course they burned. My mother again yanked me and we got to the cockpit. There was one of the hatches was open, so we jumped on the starboard side - first my mother in the water, and then myself. So when we jumped in the front of the plane, we were swept by the current under the burning wing. I didn't see my mother anymore, but I saw a curtain of burning gasoline, and oil and everything roaring. I was directed by the current by diving and by swimming sideways. I managed to get out sideways under this flaming thing above my head. But I had lost my mother and I saw another head, I swam with him, and we swam probably for half an hour, three quarters or maybe an hour. And there were patches of water, which were, which was steaming hot, because of the oil which had burned. And suddenly an American motorboat came out they took us on board and after 10 minutes, luckily, my mother was pulled out of the water. In the boat there were several wounded people. I remember, I sat on one of the side seats, and below me was a man with his back, there was completely open.
Apparently, I felt a sting, I also had a sort of cut above my, my eye - and my mother took my handkerchief out of my pocket on the right side, and that was soaked with blood. And then then they discovered, I had this shot. Paulien: Did you realise what was going on? Theo Doorman: I didn't know much about the whole attack. that photo of Roebuck Bay with all these burning wrecks with this enormous umbrella of black smoke hanging above it. And me looking at the photo, realizing that I had swam somewhere between the whole thing. Well, that was very, very, very much later, 50 years later. And my mother, she eventually was nearly 98 and was a bit hazy and didn't remember very much of it, but one thing she did remember until before her death – was; she had kicked her shoes out and on bare feet, she had to walk on the tarmac, which was steaming hot. It definitely made a large effect on me. People now have a lot about PTSS, but certainly, my whole life well, I had nightmares. Theo Doorman: There are presently three survivors that are still living, we two are there and there's David Sjerp who was then a baby, and held above water by his father, so he didn't drown. Paulien: Did you did you see Josine van Aggelen? Theo Doorman: No, I met her very much later. Paulien: May I ask how old you are? Josine van Aggelen: I'll be 90 in September. Paulien: Oh, so just as old as Mr. Doorman. He'll be 90 this month too. Wow, what a tough woman you are, you're still so good that you can still remember everything. Paulien Roessink: Josine was on a flying boat with her parents. Josine's father - Johannes van Aggelen - was a sergeant aircraft mechanic on the Cataline Y-59 flying boats. The Naval Air Service got ordered to divert to Australia. Josine and her mother flew with the departing aircraft crews, just like many other families, when the attack happened.
Josine van Aggelen: I knew immediately that I no longer had a father and a mother. We were still on the plane. And my father came out of the dome where they shooting out of. He went two steps down and crouched behind me. And then suddenly 'bang'…. He was gone. And later my mother probably picked me up because she was helping people exiting the plane. She threw me out too, but I believe she was also injured, because normally she could swim. I was holding her and then she sank away.
Paulien Roessink: For over 70 years it was a mystery for Josine who saved her life. It wasn't until 10 years ago – when the company Pia Media produced a short documentary about her war story. And in the process of retelling the story, the documentary makers discovered that it was Uncle Charlie who saved her. Josine van Aggelen: it was very brave of him, because there was a lot of oil in the water and it was also burning. And later I heard that there were also sharks swimming - I'm glad I didn't know that. But maybe they were scared off by the noise or the fire or something like that. I did have a little trauma because I didn't like when people came near me when I was swimming. I had it for a long time and I had to unlearn it by standing in the shower and putting the showerhead on my face. And now I don't suffer from it at all anymore. But it did take a long time. Paulien Roessink: Earlier we heard from Charles D'Antoine's niece, Edie, who spoke about how he was awarded for his heroism. Uncle Charlie received a letter from Queen Wilhelmina, the queen of the Netherlands at that time, and an ''Erepenning,'' a silver medal from the Dutch government. I asked Bas, the historian from earlier, about how often the Dutch were awarding people for brave acts during the war. Bas: There's a list of non Netherlands people who received medals during the war. For the Broome disaster, there were three medals given out. So a white Australian and an Aboriginal Australian, both got the same bronze medal for their work that day. I don't know if that that really special, because I think the Dutch, especially in the Dutch East Indies, had a relationship with Indonesians, so they were maybe looking at it a little bit different than at that time in Australia. Paulien Roessink: And as we already know, the Australian government didn't acknowledge Uncle Charlie's actions. Michael, from the Broome Historical Society & Museum, shares his thoughts about that. Michael: Roebuck Bay is not a good place to dive, so they're completely obscured and just two or three of the wrecks get exposed on the very very low tides a lot of people, went above and beyond that day and Charlie was one of them. Where Charlie was a bit different is, he certainly didn't get the recognition. I think he should have been exceptionally highly decorated. I think particularly of Andy Islands, he was a radio operator on one of the British aircraft, and he jumped out of the aircraft dinghy and started putting women and children into the dinghy. He not only got military citation, but he got a civilian citation as well, from the British government. So he ended up commander of the British Empire. Possibly, if it was anybody else, it might have got the George Cross or the equivalent thereof. But I just don't think it suited the political environment of the time. Paulien: How does the local community remember him? Michael: I think that he was remembered as being a very quiet man, who underplayed how brave he was. And it really required others to tell the story. And also to certain degree, it wasn't in the government interests of the day, to publicize the fact that an Aboriginal person had been so brave. And so, I think there was almost a shame factor there. And so the story didn't get the mileage or that it should have. If it had been any other person, the decorations would have been much higher and much more aflusive. Charlie was not recognized by the Australian government, it was the Humane Society of Australia, they gave him a medal. And then it was quintessentially, the Dutch government, that recognized him. It was a story that we, you know, wasn't quite swept under the carpet, but it was pretty close to it. As I once heard it from one of his relatives, Uncle Charlie came to join the Army, but he had enough action one day. So, he sort of said that I don't think that's a, that's the path for me after. And I mean, who would blame him, you know, to do just be caught in the middle of a firefight and then to dive into shark-infested waters, rescuing people. And then what people forget is, after the living were brought to shore, it then was the rather gruesome task to then recover the dead and give them a quick decent burial on the foreshore. So, Charlie would have done that, and that that is almost beyond comprehension [...] Very rarely do any of us of our modern generation have to face that kind of thing. Only generally emergency workers who are called out to the worst situation, and I think that probably was probably was enough for Charlie. Paulien Roessink: In the next episode we'll hear from Uncle Charlie's family. They share with us their special memories of him and talk about his heroic efforts. Edie: They didn't acknowledge the efforts of Uncle Charlie, the bravery of Uncle Charlie because at the time, you know, the policy was that, you know, we were still being assimilated, and we were still being seen as subservient type people in Australia, and it just went unrecognized. Douglas Clements: It upset him. He never he had to get him sitting out and get him to talk about it. Otherwise he didn't talk about openly, only if you sit down and ask them questions. Paulien Roessink: This is 'Uncle Charlie: the invisible hero' - a podcast from SBS Dutch and NITV Radio. I'm your host Paulien Roessink. The NITV Radio team is Kerri-Lee Barry and Ngaire Pakai. From the SBS Audio podcast team: Joel Supple, Max Gosford and Bernadette Phương Nam Nguyễn. This episode was mixed by Mandy Coolen.
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