cember 1941 attacks by the Japanese forces on Pearl Harbour, Malaya, Hong Kong and Singapore � construction of the gun emplacements was almost complete. The construction cost of all of Fort Bribie's concrete structures was ?55,000, about $2.5 million in 2010 dollars.
On 19 February 1942, Darwin was bombed in two raids killing at least 243 people and wounding between 300 and 400 more. By November 1943 Darwin was bombed 64 times, with other towns also attacked including Townsville. The ferocity and success of the attacks suddenly created a very real dread in the Queensland population.
In July 1942 after failing to take Port Moresby by sea in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Japanese landed on Papua New Guinea's north coast and moved south, capturing Kokoda on 29 July. This was the first time any Australian territory had been occupied by an enemy force.
Reinforcements were sent to Fort Bribie and Fort Cowan Cowan, strengthening the existing defences at the two forts. A number of 155mm guns from the First World War were provided to upgrade Australian coastal defences, and new forts were constructed during 1942-43 at Skirmish Point on south Bribie Island and Rous on Moreton Island. The Skirmish Point Battery at Woorim contained two fixed 155 mm gun emplacements on Panama mounts.
The Pacific War also brought the Americans soldiers. Brisbane during the Second World War
It was widely believed at the time that the American and Australian armed forces and governments had conspired on a plan to abandon Australia north of Brisbane to the Japanese in case of invasion. The plan, known as the Brisbane Line was never official policy, but the alleged strategy gained support after General Douglas MacArthur referred to it during a press conference in March 1943, where he also coined the term 'Brisbane Line'.
Many historians of the WW2 period on Bribie island refer to Brisbane Line and draw it from Fort Bribie due west to Charleville, then
