SHI number
Coffs Harbour City Council
1360220
Study number
Item name: WWII concrete bomb store – part-underground
Coffs Harbour
Location:
Planning: Northern
Address:
Suburb/nearest town: Coffs Harbour 2450
Local govt area: Coffs Harbour
State: NSW
Other/former names:
Parish:
County:
Area/group/complex:
Group ID:
Aboriginal area: Gumbainggar
Curtilage/boundary:
Item type: Built
Group: Defence
Category: Ordnance Store
Owner: Local Government
Admin codes:
Code 2:
Code 3:
Current use: Not in use
Former uses: Concrete part-underground bomb store
Assessed significance: Local
Endorsed significance:
Statement of The part-underground concrete bomb store in Howard Street is of high local significance. The need to defend
significance: the Australian coastline saw the use of Coffs Harbour as a strategic base for RAN and RAAF surveillance
activities during 1943-1944. Several WWII buildings and inter-connected installations survive and demonstrate
the role Coffs Harbour played in WWII coastal surveillance and form part of the larger collection of surviving
WWII buildings and sites across NSW.
Date:
09/12/2014
Full report
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Page 1 of 8
SHI number
Coffs Harbour City Council
1360220
Study number
Item name: WWII concrete bomb store – part-underground
Coffs Harbour
Location:
Historical notes Following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941 and the subsequent progress of the Japanese Army
of provenance: through south-east Asia, capturing Singapore in February 1942 and New Guinea shortly after, Coffs Harbour
became part of Australia’s local system of coastal defence in anticipation of a Japanese mainland invasion.
According to Neil Yeates, Coffs Harbour’s potential as a defence base was recognised as early as 1935 when
preparations for another major war were already underway. Coffs Harbour was located midway between Sydney
and Brisbane, it had a well-developed sea port, access to the North Coast railway and Pacific Highway, and it
had an airport.
In the late 1930s, preliminary surveys were conducted along the NSW coast to establish wireless transmitting and
receiving stations with surveys of the Nowra, Nabiac and Coffs Harbour areas. It was at this time (1937) that a
site on Victoria Street was chosen for an aerial beacon. It was built for civilian use as an emergency night light
for the Coffs Harbour air field to be used as part of a proposed inter-capital airmail service. According to the
Coffs Harbour Advocate in 1937, the beacon revolved every 10 seconds and was visible for 80 miles.
Local war preparations in the 1930s included the creation of a local volunteer militia, the formation of a High
School Cadet unit, and the reformation of groups such as the Red Cross, CWA and a branch of the National
Emergency Service.
Following the outbreak of the war in Europe, men from the Coffs Harbour enlisted, as they did throughout
Australia, and fought overseas. Civilians were given training in emergency evacuations, there were blackouts
every night, barbed wire entanglements were erected along the beaches and headlands, and emergency plans
were put in place, for example, to destroy local infrastructure such as roads and the jetty in the event of Japanese
occupation.
After 1941, Australian Defence Department activities around Coffs Harbour intensified with all three armed
forces represented.
Australian Army
The 12th Australian Light Horse Regiment was transferred from Armidale to Coffs Harbour in early 1942 and
headquarters were set up on what are now the ninth and 23rd tees of the golf course. At roughly the same time,
the 8th Battery, 102 Anti-Tank Regiment was stationed at Coffs Showground and consisted of four troops of four
anti-tank guns and one headquarters troop.
The 12th Light Horse Regiment became the 12th Motor Regiment in March 1942 and carried out patrols and
guard duties in Coffs Harbour until August 1942 when it was moved to Kempsey. In mid-1942 the 8th battery
was also moved to Kempsey.
The army also set up a jungle training warfare centre for 600 trainees at Lowanna. It began operation on 25
October 1942 with all trainees under 19 years of age and continued until March 1943.
RAN Activities
The Australian Navy used Coffs Harbour as a base for MLs (Motor Launches) to track enemy submarines and
Coffs Harbour became a busier port than usual during the war. Regular commercial trade along the coastal
shipping routes continued and the harbour received many visits from naval ships. Boats from the North Coast
Steam Navigations (NCSN) Co were requisitioned for wartime service and the harbour was visited by many
boats carrying timber, food and cargo for troops in New Guinea, MLs for submarine surveillance, and conveys of
10-12 ships accompanied by corvettes for protection.
RAAF Activities
On the 18 December 1941, immediately following Pearl Harbour, the Commonwealth Government announced
the acquisition of 118 acres of land at Coffs Harbour for ‘defence purposes’ and a further parcel of 14 acres on
the Pacific Highway. The larger parcel of land included Coffs Harbour’s rudimentary air field.
Date:
09/12/2014
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Page 2 of 8
SHI number
Coffs Harbour City Council
1360220
Study number
Item name: WWII concrete bomb store – part-underground
Coffs Harbour
Location:
The RAAF took control of Coffs Airport on 9 April 1942 and established No 12 Operational Base. Immediate
works to the airport to create a dedicated RAAF facility included the construction of a triangular runway, a
Bellman hanger, an operations centre, underground fuel depots, 12 camouflaged hideouts and associated
aerodrome buildings.
On the Pacific Highway land, the RAAF constructed a wireless transmitting station to work in conjunction with
the wireless receiving station built on City Hill. Both involved the construction of concrete underground bunkers.
Two additional underground concrete bunkers were built – one on Howard Street as a bomb store and another on
the far eastern side of the airport as an ammunitions store. A firing range and three gun emplacements on South
Coffs Headland were also built.
In September 1943 approval was granted by the Allied Works Council to provide squadron camp facilities at
Coffs Harbour. The project was given an ‘A2 priority’ rating and saw the construction of accommodation and
other buildings on and around City Hill and near the aerodrome, comprising mess halls, officers’ huts and
airmen’s tents.
As part of the war effort, the works were secret and the original files do not name Coffs Harbour; instead the
location is given as ‘situated within 5 miles by road of a town, the railway of which is within 380 miles of
Sydney’.
The immediate threat to Australia was from Japanese submarines attacking local cargo ships, and Coffs Harbour
Airport was used as a base for dawn-to-dusk aerial surveillance of coastal waters to protect shipping lanes.
Avro-Anson planes were first used, followed by Beaufort Bombers and Lockheed Ventura planes. The
longer-range Lockheed Venturas were able to sweep up and down the coast from Moreton Island to Nowra, and
30 miles offshore.
Both RAN vessels and the RAAF surveillance planes attacked several Japanese submarines in Australian waters
and assisted in the rescue of survivors from torpedoed US boats.
With the retreat of the Japanese from early 1943, the immediate threat to Australian waters diminished and the
RAAF Operational Base at Coffs Harbour was disbanded on 8 January 1944.
Thematic studies of WWI and WWII sites in NSW
Appendix G of the 2001 Thematic Study of WWII Aerodromes in NSW by Andrea Brew/NSW Heritage Office
identified Coffs Harbour as an Advanced Operation Base and Air Observers School. It was a satellite aerodrome
with Evans Head serving as the parent aerodrome.
The study recommended all satellite aerodromes identified in the study (including Coffs Harbour) be considered
for LEP listing.
The study also noted the importance of surviving wartime aerodromes according to the number, length and
design of their runways. ‘If an aerodrome had three lengthy sealed runways that formed a triangle, it has far more
significance that an aerodrome that has one short airstrip in a field’ (Section 2.13.6).
‘Runway design and condition of runways are important indicators of the importance of a particular aerodrome.
The higher the number of runways and the better the finish on the surface signified an aerodrome that had a
heavy use and consequently, probably had more infrastructure, personnel, aircraft and degree of importance in
the war effort’ (Section 2.13.6).
The 2006 Study of WWI and WWII buildings, sites and cultural landscapes undertaken Hindmarsh and
Robertson included Coffs Harbour in its survey. It provided the following description:
Coffs Harbour Airport (former air base)
Three 150 foot wide (3600 ft, 3000 ft and 3300 ft long), tar-sealed runways comprised the original runway
Date:
09/12/2014
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Page 3 of 8
SHI number
Coffs Harbour City Council
1360220
Study number
Item name: WWII concrete bomb store – part-underground
Coffs Harbour
Location:
configuration of the air force base. There were 12 camouflaged hideouts with hardstandings and gravel taxiways
on the eastern side of the aerodrome set into the timbered sand hills fronting the ocean beach. Today the original
runways form part of the general aviation part of the Coffs Harbour Regional Airport, there being a new, longer
runway now in use by commercial passenger jets from Sydney and Brisbane. There is no sign of early aerodrome
buildings or the hideouts within the current boundaries of the regional airport.
Former RAAF Operations Room (now Cartoon Gallery)
A reinforced concrete semi-underground bunker comprising two rooms; the larger room is the former operations
room (now used as a gallery space); the smaller room the former plant room holding two generators and
air-conditioning plant connected to the outside via steps (now used as office and storage space). The ventilation
shafts on top of the bunker are intact but blocked up due to the need to air condition the gallery space. The
escape shafts have also been blocked off at the lower level. An entrance building has been grafted onto the east
side of the bunker.
Semi underground bunker
A reinforced concrete semi-underground bunker located near the end of Howard Street at the point where the
carriageway splits into two (the bunker is located on the lower side of the upper carriageway). The bunker is
heavily buried in soil and obscured by vegetation. It appears to have been either an ammunition storage bunker or
a power generation bunker for a wireless transmitting
station or radar station.
Coffs Harbour Battery
A small concrete gun emplacement located on the south headland of the harbour with a clear view south along
the coast as well as over the harbour. The emplacement consists of a small area for the gun and a small shell
room located at the front of the emplacement. The battery is in a state of partial collapse.
Robertson and HIndmarsh did not provide any comments on the South Coffs Headland gun emplacements or the
underground concrete store on the eastern side of the airport.
Themes: National theme
4. Settlement
State theme
Towns, suburbs and villages
7. Governing
Local theme
Defence
Designer: Works and Services Branch, Department of the Interior
Builder: Allied Works Council and Civil Construction Corp
Year started: 1943
Date:
09/12/2014
Year completed:
1943
Circa: No
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Page 4 of 8
SHI number
Coffs Harbour City Council
1360220
Study number
Item name: WWII concrete bomb store – part-underground
Coffs Harbour
Location:
Physical description: Plans and specifications for several Allied Works Council buildings in Coffs Harbour are held in the National
Archives. Plans exist for the part-underground bomb store in Howard Street (NAA - DEF 35276G). It can be
assumed it was built to a standard plan and specification.
It comprises a part-underground concrete store for storing explosives. It is overgrown with shrubs and bushes
and difficult to access.
List of known Allied Works Council buildings in Coffs Harbour:
1937 – (demolished) Beacon Hill: some possible surviving remnant structures.
1941 – (demolished) Squadron Camp Facilities, City Hill and Coffs Aerodrome: 18 timber-framed building
approved in October 1941 and additional buildings in November 1942.
1942 – Three gun emplacements, South Coffs Headland (approved November 1942).
1942 – Triangular runway, Coffs Aerodrome (completed by December 1942; extended early 1943).
1942 – (demolished) Bellman hanger and operations centre, Coffs Aerodrome (completed by December 1942)
1942 – Concrete bunker and receiving station, City Hill (approved for construction December 1942. Architect
Con O’Neill.)
1942 – (demolished) Concrete bunker and transmitting station, Pacific Highway (approved December 1942)
1942 – Underground concrete ammunitions store: located on the far eastern side of Coffs Harbour Airport.
1943 – Concrete bomb store, part-underground structure located on road verge in Howard Street (approved
March 1943)
1943 – Firing range, location not known (approved March 1943)
Physical condition
level:
Physical condition: Good.
Archaeological
potential level:
Archaeological
potential Detail:
Modification dates: 1950 aerial photos show that, after the RAAF Operations Base at Coffs Airport was disbanded in January 1944,
most of the wartime buildings were removed from the airport itself and in the area at the base of City Hill which
housed the squadron camp facilities. The area where the camp stood is now occupied by houses or incorporated
into roadworks at the intersection of Albany, Barrie and Howard Sts and Hogbin Drive.
The acquired land on the Pacific Highway (including the concrete underground bunker) was sold in 1950. The
bunker was unearthed in 1989 as part of works to the Pacific Highway and subsequently demolished, despite
community attempts to preserve it.
The City Hill operations bunker was returned to civil control via the Department of Civil Aviation and was used
as the radio transmitting station for the Coffs Airport until 1980. Coffs Harbour City Council acquired the site
from the Commonwealth Government in late 1987 and adapted the building for use as an art gallery which
opened in August 1996 as the Bunker Gallery.
Recommended List on a Local Environmental Plan (LEP)
management: Produce a Conservation Management Plan (CMP)
Prepare a maintenance schedule or guidelines
Carry out interpretation, promotion and/or education.
Management: Management category
Management name
Statutory Instrument
List on a Local Environmental Plan (LEP)
Recommended Management
Produce a Conservation Management Plan (CMP)
Recommended Management
Prepare a maintenance schedule or guidelines
Recommended Management
Carry out interpretation, promotion and/or education
Date:
09/12/2014
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Page 5 of 8
SHI number
Coffs Harbour City Council
1360220
Study number
Item name: WWII concrete bomb store – part-underground
Coffs Harbour
Location:
Further comments: Many Coffs Harbour locals believe additional bunkers and wartime structures were built at Macauleys Headland
and Park Beach. Research for this heritage study has not found any evidence to support these claims.
The Commonwealth Government acquired nine acres of land on Macauleys Headland in January 1949 for a
proposed VHF Radio as part of civilian works to the airport. By October 1949 it was decided the site was
unsuitable and the land was returned to its former owner in November 1954. Any surviving built remains on this
land from that period are of minor archaeological significance.
Barbed wire entanglements and trenches were built along the beach and survived well after the war but evidence
of large-scale permanent built structures at Park Beach has not been found.
Criteria a): The part-underground concrete bomb store in Howard Street is of high local significance in demonstrating the
[Historical part Coffs Harbour played in WWII coastal surveillance.
significance]
The threat of a Japanese invasion of Australia was real for a brief time between early 1942 and early 1943. The
need to defend the Australian coastline saw the use of Coffs Harbour as a strategic base for RAN and RAAF
surveillance activities. Particularly in the case of the RAAF, this led to the construction of a series of buildings
and inter-connected installations, several of which survive that tell the exciting story of Coffs Harbour’s
participation in World War II. The surviving buildings include:
•
concrete bunker and receiving station at City Hill (now the Bunker Gallery)
•
concrete bomb store on Howard St
•
concrete ammunitions store at Coffs Harbour Airport
•
three gun emplacements at South Coffs Headland
•
the surviving wartime triangular runway at Coffs Airport
•
possible remains of underground petrol stores etc in the grounds of Coffs airport, as indicated in wartime
maps held in the National Archives (archaeological).
Criteria b):
[Historical
association
significance]
Criteria c):
[Aesthetic/
Technical
significance]
Criteria d):
[Social/Cultural
significance]
All Coffs Harbour’s surviving WWII sites are of high social significance. The role Coffs Harbour played in
wartime coastal surveillance during the greatest threat of Japanese invasion is well-known and a source of local
pride. There are many servicemen and their families still living in the area and are concerned about the future of
these sites. The intensity of Coffs Harbour’s wartime activities is also reflected in the continued life of several
regiments and military organisations up to the present day:
•
Fitzroy Barracks, Duke Street, Headquarters of Charlie Company, 41st Battalion, Royal NSW Regiment
•
27 Australian Army Cadet Unit
•
Australian Air League
•
331SQN Air Force Cadets
•
Naval Cadets, Training Ship Vendetta, Coffs Jetty
•
RAAF Association, made up of ex-Air Force personnel and aviation enthusiasts.
Criteria e): Of high local significance having potential to reveal information about Australia’s WWII activities in relation to
[Research mainland coastal surveillance.
significance]
Date:
09/12/2014
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Page 6 of 8
SHI number
Coffs Harbour City Council
1360220
Study number
Item name: WWII concrete bomb store – part-underground
Coffs Harbour
Location:
Criteria f):
[Rarity]
Rare within the Coffs Harbour local government area and of high local significance.
Criteria g): Good representative example of WWII buildings built to a standard design by the Works and Services Branch,
[Representative] Department of the Interior within the Coffs Harbour local government area and of high local significance.
Intactness/Integrity: High level of integrity.
References: Author
Neil Yeates
Title
Coffs Harbour Vols 1 and 2
Year
1990
EJE Consulting
CHCC Heritage Study
1998
Australian Defence Forces
SP 553/1 NSW Coastal Fortifications – files relating to Coffs Harbour
1940
Australian Defence Forces
C4896 Defence Establishment Plan Collection 1925-1949
Coffs Harbour Advocate
Select newspaper index
Andrea Brew/NSW Heritage Office
Thematic Study: WWII Aerodromes in NSW
2001
Robinson and Hindmarsh
WW I and II: Survey of Buildings
2006
Ted Ovens
Coffs Harbour – On Full War Alert 1942-1943!
1990
Studies: Author
Robin Hedditch
Title
Coffs Harbour Heritage Study
Parcels: Parcel code
Lot number
CROWN LAND 7025
Section number
Number
Plan code
DP
Latitude:
Longitude:
Location validity:
Spatial accuracy:
Map name:
Map scale:
AMG zone:
Listing: Name
Data entry: Data first entered: 13/06/2013
Date:
09/12/2014
Easting:
Title
Heritage study
Data updated: 20/08/2014
1940
Year
2013
Plan number
1114279
Northing:
Number
ListingDate
Status: Partial
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Page 7 of 8
SHI number
Coffs Harbour City Council
1360220
Study number
Item name: WWII concrete bomb store – part-underground
Coffs Harbour
Location:
Image:
Image missing
Caption:
Copy right:
Image by:
Image date:
Image number:
Image url:
Thumbnail url:
Date:
09/12/2014
Full report
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Page 8 of 8