‘The entrance door to Australia’: Australia and East Timor before the Second World War

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On 2nd December 1941, just before the start of the Pacific War, Australian military planners noted Portuguese Timor as ‘the entrance door to Australia’. Although Portugal was neutral in World War II, fifteen days later, a joint Australian and Dutch military force invaded and this precipitated a Japanese attack on Timor two months later, and a bitter occupation. Prior this, there had been haphazard contacts between Australians and Timorese, especially with a number of expeditions to locate deposits of oil. This book is the first to detail the early contacts of Australia and Australians with Portuguese Timor. ‘This is a story that should be told … It should be on the reading list for every secondary school in Australia. Then, our understanding of the newly independent nation of East Timor, one of our nearest neighbours, would be better understood and appreciated.’ Hon Steve Bracks AC Premier of Victorian 1999 to 2007 Governance Adviser to Former Timor-Leste Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao