The Western Australian emergency of March 1942 was a series of local responses that occurred in relation to activity in northern Western Australia that gave Australian military forces serious concerns about the capacity of the Japanese to move down the Western Australian coast. The air raids on Broome and other locations in March 1942 caused the Allies to reinforce the military forces located in Western Australia to defend the state. The action was taken to defend against the possibility that a force of Japanese warships and planes would attempt to attack the cities of Fremantle and Perth.