Castle Hill, Townsville
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Castle Hill is a huge pink granite monolith standing in the heart of the north Queensland city of Townsville. It rises to a height of some 286 metres above sea level and dominates the skyline of this (currently) relatively low level city. There are a number of marvelous vantage points from which to view the city below and also across Cleveland Bay to nearby Magnetic Island.
[edit] WW2 history
During WW2 the slopes of Castle Hill that faced Rowes Bay and the Strand, were probably used to locate some defensive machine gun emplacements and possibly some mortar pits.
In the North Ward area of the city at the start of the road up to the summit a rock retaining wall is located in front of an ammunition magazine.
The road up Castle Hill was closed to traffic on about 12 March 1942 to ensure that the construction of military facilities such as the Green Street Bunker were not obvious.
The erection of the above-ground Green Street Bunker (Project 81) at West End (near Sidney St.) was approved on 12 March 1942.
The Officers Mess building later became the RAAF Recruiting Centre in Sturt Street.
Information received states the tunnel that went to the basement of Buchanan's Hotel in Sturt Street and it is unclear where the other one went. There was a flight of stairs down to the entry to these two tunnels. There were no indication of the tunnels found when the adjacent Commonwealth Building was refurbished.
This building was used as the North Eastern Area Command HQ and is located between the Officer's Mess building and Buchanan's Hotel.
Unconfirmed reports indicate approval was given for the construction of an underground Area Combined Headquarters in Castle Hill in 1943. One of the problems is that many of the wartime infrastructure in northern Australia were built by civilian contractors (such as ex Mayor of Thuringowa Dan Gleeson) and their records are not available.
There would have been many machine gun positions around the lower ridges of Castle Hill during World War II including the Yarrawonga area and above Smyth Street at Belgian Gardens and of one directly above the Tobruk Baths on the cliffs below the houses.
There is still an ammunition magazine located at North Ward which was probably used to re-supply these emplacements in that general area. The 9th Australian Advanced Workshops AEME was told that the Americans were contemplating or had actually begun excavating a tunnel under Castle Hill. The reason given by the Americans was to save travelling time from one part of the city to another. However, it was not completed. [1]
Three different veterans from 36 Squadron RAAF remember going to North East Area Headquarters at a site in Sidney Street, West End. [2]
Rumors say there was a tunnel from the Victoria Street Bridge in the centre of Townsville that took you up inside Castle Hill. This tunnel was referred to as the "Red Brick Tunnel". There are in fact at least two red brick tunnels that probably date back to pre 1900 times. The other one runs the full length of Stanley Street. [1]
The Queensland Main Roads Commission played a major part in Queensland during World War 2 building roads, aerodromes, fortifications, railway works, buildings, camps, etc. [3] Many people walk up Castle Hill for regular exercise. There are many different ways to walk up to the top e.g., by road or by goat tracks
[edit] References
- ^ a b Dunn, Peter. Tunnels/Bunkers under Castle Hill in World War 2. Accessed 2006-08-11.
- ^ Dunn, Peter. Combined Operations Intelligence Centre. Accessed 2006-08-11.
- ^ The History of the Queensland Main Roads Commission during World War II 1939 - 1945: "Fortifications, command post, engine room, and searchlight emplacements were also constructed on Signal Hill. The site selected for the command post was on a pinnacle of rock on the crest of Castle Hill. This necessitated a long and heavy haul of material and men to the parking area at the top of Castle Hill. Thence the material had to be man-handled along a goat track to the site of the job. All concrete had to be mixed by hand and formwork and concrete placed in a very restricted area with a vertical drop on three sides."
