'The Spearhead reaches SOUTH - ALWAYS SOUTH!' (Curtin leaflet)
A tall Australian government broadside headed 'The Spearhead reaches SOUTH'. Black arrows fan from Tokyo across a map of Asia and the Pacific toward Australia; below, a photograph of Prime Minister Curtin, his signed message that Australia faces 'the darkest hour in her history', and six rules, each marked by a pointing hand. The tell is staged imminence (arrows, 'invasion and desolation') paired with a fixed list of prescribed conduct.
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Commonwealth of Australia (Curtin government); signed by Prime Minister John Curtin
- Region
- Oceania
- Country
- Australia
- Medium
- Leaflet
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Curtin Government
- Leader
- John Curtin
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front, Labor
- Event
- World War II
- Techniques
- Fear appeal
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Australian War Memorial, retrieved September 29, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (AWM: 'Copyright expired. Copying permitted')
Commonwealth of Australia, c 1942. Australian War Memorial, RC02368.
Text on the object
The Spearhead reaches SOUTH - ALWAYS SOUTH! [map with arrows from TOKYO / JAPAN to WAKE IS., GUAM IS., HONG KONG, STH BURMA, FRENCH INDO CHINA, PHILIPPINE IS., MALAYA, SINGAPORE, BRITISH N'TH BORNEO, DUTCH BORNEO, CELEBES, NEW GUINEA, NEW IRELAND, NEW BRITAIN, SALAMAUA; AUSTRALIA] AUSTRALIANS, you must be seized with the dire fact that we are in imminent and deadly peril. The spearhead of the Japanese hordes reaches south—always south. I can put it no more plainly than this . . . Australia faces the darkest hour in her history. Lands to the north of us which believed themselves safe and free already have known the iron heel of the invader; or momentarily await his landing. The Government has striven ceaselessly on your behalf; has stated your claims overseas; has called on you for more and still more effort; has exhorted you to realise to the full that what was but a threat yesterday may mean invasion and desolation in the very near future. If you fail to answer that call you help the enemy. For many of you, life still moves along pleasant paths. For many, the working pace of peace time has not given place to the pressure appealed for in war production. For many of you, readiness to provoke strikes or lockouts suggests an ignorance of, or disregard for, national and personal security. Those things cannot continue. We are now a nation compelled to fight, to organise every resource we have as an indispensable contribution to the total war effort of the united people. Those Australians who are fighting, working, adapting themselves grimly to a wartime way of life cannot be let down by a careless, carefree section who may wreck the whole future of our race. [signature] John Curtin IT'S TOTAL WAR YOU MUST OBEY THESE RULES STOP LOCKOUTS, STOP STRIKES Keep war production at full blast. How can we ask Britain and America to strike for Australia if Australia strikes against itself? DON'T WASTE MONEY, FOOD AND PRECIOUS PETROL Maximum personal economy is essential to safety. HELP YOUR LOCAL A.R.P. WARDENS ALL YOU CAN They are doing a vital job for your safety. Join them yourself—better to be rescuer than rescued. BLACKOUT REGULATIONS MUST BE OBSERVED One lighted house in a street can wreck a city. How would you feel for ever after if the fault were yours? IN AN EMERGENCY STAY PUT AND SIT TIGHT Don't move from your home or office unless ordered by a responsible official. Frantic crowds only create panic. Keep a clear head. KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT Rumours are often deliberately spread by the enemy. Don't listen to them; don't repeat them. Dictators FORCE obedience. Democracy requests it, but in wartime, observance of regulations MUST be a rigid rule for all. EVERYONE must Fight or Work!
