Battle of the Coral Sea,
May 4-10, 1942
Why the map was designed
The Battle of the Coral Sea, May 4-10, 1942 took place in
close proximity to the Queensland coast and townships such as Port Douglas & Cairns. This vital battle on Australia's doorstep seems never to have been give proper status and recognition, from Australia's viewpoint of
the conflict.
In the past decade, I've noticed very little indication that the battle ever took place, other than in local memory and occasional visits from Corvettes associations. This seemed to me to be to a troubling omission from our national history and consciousness.
To do the Battle of the Coral Sea some justice, I approached the
custodian of the Port Douglas museum, with an offer to design a cartographers map together with all of the salient
features of the various ships, tactics, stratigies and fleet movements.
To support the design and research I collected the relevent facts and history of the Allied forces
and Japanese contributions to the battle, from the first day through to the final surrender document signage on board the
USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
My offer was readily accepted and the map was commissioned.
In September 2000, the map was officially presented to the Port Douglas Museum, to an enthusiastic gathering.
It is my hope now to provide the map to a wider audience, so that knowledge of the Battle of the Coral Sea can be better understood, especially in terms of its significance to Australia.
Copyright 2000 Gavan Casey
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