From the Little Darwin files comes this battered postcard, further proof of the friendly relationship between Australia and Japan long before WW11. It shows the warm welcome given to members of a Japanese naval squadron of three cruisers which visited Adelaide in May 1903 .
A number of people have expressed surprise at the Little Darwin report with information from historian Glenville Pike about the fact that the Northern Territory was defended by Japanese naval forces during WW1. (See NORTHERN TERRITORY WENT TO WAR DEFENDED BY OUR JAPANESE ALLIES ).
During the 1903 visit to South Australia,the flagship,Hashidate, under the command of Rear Admiral Hikonoto Kamimura ,fired a 21 gun salute. Fort Largs responded and the booming of the guns could be heard all over Port Adelaide.An official party from the squadron went by special train to the city from whence they were escorted in two carriages by mounted police to Government House to visit the Lieutenant –Governor, Sir Samuel Way.
Cable news came through that the Japanese government had decided to spend $23million on its navy. Rear Admiral Kamimura, who had given the Russians a shock at Port Arthur ,was “ very well satisfied” on receipt of the information.
Entertainment included a garden party,an afternoon tea party, a visit to the theatre,and students from the School of Mines went aboard the flagship. A proposed rifle shooting competition failed to eventuate.
A large naval party , which included 30 officers,90 midshipmen and 510 others, "saw the sights of the town "-this photo (above ) almost certainly being taken at the time.A small party went to Woodville Cemetery to see the grave of a cadet who died during the visit of a warship in 1887 and had been interred with naval honours.
Another Japanese warship, Kongko, had visited Australia in 1902, its officers calling on the Victorian Governor-General and had been entertained by the Naval and Military Club. In 1926,the Japanese training ship , Iwate, made a five month cruise, via Manila, Singapore, Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne , Hobart and Sydney. Prince Hironobu was a cadet aboard the ship, became the chief torpedo officer on the destroyers Akeno and Sazanami , served in the House of Peers in the Diet of Japan in 1932 and appointed superintendent of the Naval War College in 1939.
