The Myth Continues: Lingering Fears and Prejudices

Abstract

By the end of 1942 fear of a Japanese invasion had receded considerably and the Axis forces were no longer the irresistible force that they once were. In this context, the threat of the Fifth Column in Australia should have quickly lost its potency; and in a number of practical ways — the beginning of the release of internees for example — fears of subversion did begin to diminish. After the arrests of the AFM in March 1942 it appeared that the Fifth Column had revealed itself and been dealt with. Yet, in the latter half of 1942 it remained very much in the public eye. In the press, the term remained in frequent use and its meanings were expanded, being now used to describe those who lacked war-mindedness. Instead of describing a feared network of Axis agents, it became a general term that referred to anything that harmed the Allied war effort. Instead of stories of sabotage or enemy radio transmitters, it now described examples of absenteeism from work, the evil effects of drink on the war effort,¹ or of cheating the rationing system.² In describing the Australian involvement in the attack on Lae in September 1943, the native inhabitants were no longer identified as a subversive force. Instead it was the tropical weather.³ The Australian Women’s Weekly was able to assure its readers that there was no such thing as a Fifth Column pigeon.⁴ As a result, the volume of press reports involving the Fifth Column expression did not diminish as the year progressed.