Seventy-five years ago, five Australians, including an eleven-year old boy and his mother, were executed for spying by a Japanese firing squad in Rabaul, in the Australian territory of New Guinea. Writer and journalist, Ian Townsend, unearths the story behind their deaths.  In doing so, he uncovers a forgotten story of World War Two. The Japanese invaded and occupied the island of New Britain, then a part of Australia, and intended it to be there South Pacific military base. Over a thousand Australians died. It was the first combat in WW2 between Australians and an invading force. Why don’t we know this part of our history? Paul Barclay is in conversation with Ian Townsend