Could a similar thing be a problem at Sydney?
Indeed Danny, in May 1942 exactly that happened - see
Australia Attacked - Sydney Harbour for a very quick overview.
Darwin was attacked by air a number of times - it was recently the 70th anniversary of the first raid (19th Feb 1942). I believe they were attacked something like 64 times all the way through to November 1943.
We're still no closer to having official confirmation that there was indeed a permanent blackout in Australia, but the evidence for that having happened is certainly stacking up! I'll ask a few people and report back.
And Fred - Happy Birthday, and all that - and thanks very much for that description of preparations for a raid. There are a few little gems in that - I particularly liked hearing about the Elvington engineer giving you a test!
Adam