The war in the Pacific reached the shores of Australia on 19 February 1942. Darwin was bombed by aircraft operating from four aircraft carriers in the Timor Sea. Within days Timor fell to the Japanese, the Australian cruiser HMAS Perth sank during the Battle of the Java Sea, while Broome, Derby and Wyndham in Western Australia, Townsville and Mossman in Queensland, and Port Moresby in New Guinea were all bombed by Japanese aircraft.