I really wasn’t expecting any of this. It was marked as a museum on my map, and it is one but there is no indication that real stuff was accessible. Pay your 11 bucks in the cafe and you get a guided tour of the place.
After a walk through the woods past monuments etc you get the feeling that there is more to see. There are two 9.2 inch naval gun emplacements, No. 2 is the only one safe enough for the tour.
The camouflage scheme around there was set back in 1942 when it was all desert type scrub. A little garish close up but effective from the air, apparently.
The guns themselves were scraped off in the 1960’s. The scrappy was charge 2000 Aus bucks for the whole site. Not a lot for cutting up two complete and functioning pieces of artillery heritage. The scraping is now much regretted. But at least they left the buildings in reasonable order.
The ammunition elevator that fed the gun with the nasties.
Then, much to my surprise, guide man got the big keys out and down we went...
Almost immediately it gets good. Ammunition charges room to the left and shell room to the right.
Charge room racks containing dummy charges.
Shell room containing dummy shells.
More shell racks with shell lifting jig. Oh, and shadow of the new Aussie style black leather hat.
Ammunition elevator. This would go up from here to send shells and charges into the gun above ground. The shell on the ground in the centre is a real one. I didn’t try all that hard but a good pull on its nose failed to move it. Moving the things around would all have had to be done with lifting gear, it wouldn't be practical to expect anyone to lift or carry these things.
Off down the tunnel. There was only one bend in it and all the rest was dead straight. There’s about 250 meters of this before you get out again.
Some space or other that I didn’t go into. Maybe next time.
Doctor’s/Surgeon’s space.
Generator room. Not the original engines but they’re to be commended for making the place as authentically original as they can.
I know some people like these things, possibly a little too much than is healthy.
Good to see the red ’danger lines’ put right at the end of the scale for a change. Go past that and you shouldn’t really be caring what it says.
And blast doors at the exit. These doors don’t go anywhere. They just swing out into the corridor and act as baffles for any blast coming down the hall at you. Enough to stop you being vaporised, they say.
Cheers...LD.
After a walk through the woods past monuments etc you get the feeling that there is more to see. There are two 9.2 inch naval gun emplacements, No. 2 is the only one safe enough for the tour.
The camouflage scheme around there was set back in 1942 when it was all desert type scrub. A little garish close up but effective from the air, apparently.
The guns themselves were scraped off in the 1960’s. The scrappy was charge 2000 Aus bucks for the whole site. Not a lot for cutting up two complete and functioning pieces of artillery heritage. The scraping is now much regretted. But at least they left the buildings in reasonable order.
The ammunition elevator that fed the gun with the nasties.
Then, much to my surprise, guide man got the big keys out and down we went...
Almost immediately it gets good. Ammunition charges room to the left and shell room to the right.
Charge room racks containing dummy charges.
Shell room containing dummy shells.
More shell racks with shell lifting jig. Oh, and shadow of the new Aussie style black leather hat.
Ammunition elevator. This would go up from here to send shells and charges into the gun above ground. The shell on the ground in the centre is a real one. I didn’t try all that hard but a good pull on its nose failed to move it. Moving the things around would all have had to be done with lifting gear, it wouldn't be practical to expect anyone to lift or carry these things.
Off down the tunnel. There was only one bend in it and all the rest was dead straight. There’s about 250 meters of this before you get out again.
Some space or other that I didn’t go into. Maybe next time.
Doctor’s/Surgeon’s space.
Generator room. Not the original engines but they’re to be commended for making the place as authentically original as they can.
I know some people like these things, possibly a little too much than is healthy.
Good to see the red ’danger lines’ put right at the end of the scale for a change. Go past that and you shouldn’t really be caring what it says.
And blast doors at the exit. These doors don’t go anywhere. They just swing out into the corridor and act as baffles for any blast coming down the hall at you. Enough to stop you being vaporised, they say.
Cheers...LD.
