Pearl Harbor is often compared to the Darwin attack but the similarities are very few. Although both were ‘surprise’ initial raids on an enemy of the Japanese Empire, the destruction caused in each raid was disproportionate in the extreme.

Some people say Darwin was ‘bigger’ than the Pearl Harbor strike. For example, the chairwoman of the Northern Territory’s Centenary of Federation committee in 2001 said: ‘It was bigger than Pearl Harbor … and it’s time the nation knew about this.