Before the Storm: The Beginning of World War II

Abstract

In the opening period of World War II, there was little indication that the authorities were concerned that subversion could become an issue on the Australian home front. In the months before September 1939 the Department of Defence had prepared what was known as the War Book — a set of instructions and procedures to be followed by government bodies in the advent of war. As a precautionary measure against internal enemies, the book directed that internment was to be restricted to ‘the narrowest limits consistent with public safety and public sentiment’.1 Further to the powers outlined in the War Book, the government had prepared for the possibility of internal subversion with the passing of the National Security Act. This Act enabled the Australian government to invoke compulsory clauses of the Defence Act and to control areas that it was unable to control under the existing Constitution.