YESTERDAY marked the 67th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin by 188 Japanese aircraft at 9.58am, killing an estimated 900 people. The attack, the first on Australian soil, came 10 weeks after the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbour.Australia was totally unprepared even though there was a strong defence force presence in Darwin. A commemoration service to mark the anniversary was held by the Darwin Defenders 1942 to ‘45 association at the Bendigo and District RSL.A Darwin Defender, Bill Hosking from Golden Square, told the gathering of his experiences in travelling from his RAAF camp at Werribee to Darwin.They travelled by train into South Australia until the broad gauge line ran out and then their trucks, ammunition and supplies were transferred to a narrow gauge train for the trip to Alice Springs.“The train engine was so small that we never got over walking pace all the way,” Mr Hosking said.He said that at steep inclines, the engine would pull half the wagons up the slope to a siding and then come back for the others.“This happened three times, so it was pretty slow going.”When they reached Alice Springs, they travelled in their trucks up a two-wheel track to Darwin in a never-ending battle with the bull dust churned up by the convoy.They reached camp at Pell Field 20km to the south of Darwin, 10 weeks after leaving Werribee.