10 workmates killed at Post Office

RICHARD Corr was just going about his day-to-day duties in the Darwin Post Office when the first bombs fell on February 19, 1942

Greg Corr sits at Darwin’s Civilian Memorial Wall, where his father is recognised for his role as a post office worker during the Bombing of Darwin. Picture: ELISE DERWIN

RICHARD Corr was just going about his day-to-day duties in the Darwin Post Office when the first bombs fell on February 19, 1942.

Almost immediately, the Post Office was hit and Richard fled to a shelter, only to discover it was full.

As he sheltered about 7m down the cliffs, near where the Cenotaph is now, the telegraphist from Barmera, SA, saw the bombs fall around him, and watched the ship MV Neptuna explode.

He would later find out that 10 of his colleagues in the Post Office had been killed.

Richard was 19 years old.

“Dad never spoke about it to us,” son Greg Corr said.

“He spoke about the good times of Darwin often, but he never spoke to us about the bombing.

“We only found out about it all because he wrote a letter to the Darwin Postmaster later in his life.”

Mr Corr said his life had been defined by the bombings.

“After the first raids, Dad got out of Darwin but ended up back there on February 26,” he said.

“Then, in April, he left and worked in Adelaide River, Katherine, and ended up joining the Navy as a telegraphist.”

During his time in the Navy, he travelled to New Guinea.

On his way back to Melbourne, the boat stopped in Sydney Harbour and he met a girl on the dancefloor.

“That girl was my mother,” Mr Corr said.

“People often say to me, if your dad had been killed in the bombing, you wouldn’t be here today.

“But if he hadn’t been here during the bombings, he wouldn’t have joined the Navy and he wouldn’t have met my mother either.”

Now Mr Corr has placed a plaque on the new Civilian Memorial Wall on the Esplanade.

The Civilian Memorial Wall is to recognise those impacted by the Bombing of Darwin.

Originally published as 10 workmates killed at Post Office