Tomorrow when the war began: Australia invaded? By whom? How
could it happen? Why would it happen? What would it be like? What would we do?
The popular Tomorrow
Series by John Marsden raises the spectre of an invaded Australia. Noah’s Ark
sets out to examine the questions raised by this proposition.
Under what circumstances could such a thing occur? What
international upheavals and geo-political manoeuvres would need to take place
for an invader to threaten our shores? What would be their motivation?
If it did happen, how would our existing military alliances
and forces stack up against those of neighbouring nations?
Is it possible?
The story unfolds as we follow a journalist and his family
being drawn into the accelerating crisis. They personify the faith that such a
thing could never occur, the disbelief when threat becomes reality and the
terror felt by so many in the history of the world but not known in Australia
since the darkest days of World War 2: the fear of an invader’s approach.
As our forces are swept aside and the enemy advances
southward on Australian soil, Noah’s Ark draws on historical precedent. For
example, a hastily raised militia force makes a desperate stand on the banks of
the Clarence River, in Northern NSW: a plan that was actually formulated to
oppose a Japanese invasion in WW2. Similarly, military officers are stationed
in all major media outlets to restrict the flow of bad news to the general
public, creating a situation similar to that when the HMAS Sydney was sunk by the Kormoran
in 1941: the newspapers were not allowed to print what the grapevine had
already broadcast.
Noah’s Ark also examines the plight of Asian Australians -
turned on just as those from Europe were during the two World Wars of the 20th
Century.
The characters of Noah’s Ark are driven from their homes,
forced to flee by these historical forces in a conflict ultimately generated by
climate change and competition for resources between emerging superpowers in
the Asian Century.
