Underground bunker search at Bundaberg airport, Queensland

It WAS a long post, wasn't it? Sorry about that, but it can get tiresome answering the same sorts of knockers and justifying the project to every Tom Dick or Harry who "knows" that "this sort of thing just never happened".

Here are two relevant quotes which work well here:

"Only puny secrets need protection. Big discoveries are protected by public incredulity."
Marshall McLuhan


"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
William Shakespeare
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

The new regime in power at Bundy now won't have a bar of the issue. It seems that a planned airport upgrade and Business precinct at the airport has something to do with it. Now as I have mentioned previously above, We DON'T KNOW if the site contains 500lb aerial bombs and aircraft or not. We really WON'T KNOW until we are allowed to excavate the site.

plant-pilot could well be right about the site being an air raid shelter. That was my initial conclusion as well after performing the geophysical survey over the site. At the very least we have a previously unknown large-scale underground air raid shelter which is historically significant in itself and which deserves to be heritage listed.

If anyone has any questions about the site or the Bundaberg Bunker stories, let me know.

Cheers.

 

Don't apologise for the length of your post, mate. If it's a reasonable discussion, it adds to the thread as a whole so length is not an issue!

 

Hi Geoff, as odd as this sounds I have lunch most days of the week at the cemetery (due to work, not weirdness) and often check out the war section due to family being there. There is a big raaf section due to some sort of crash so let me know what you want pics of and I'd be glad to help out. And ABMM I have a million questions about this topic so please feel free to repeat them !!!

 

Hi Sleek,

Thanks for the offer.

The large crash was a mid air collision between two RAAF Bristol Beauforts on 21/4/1944 which killed both four man crews.

If you let me know your email I will attach an excel spreadsheet.


Cheers

Geoff

 

What would you like to know?

 

Hey spidge, my email is darren.legend@gmail.com
ABMM, any info would be cool as all I know is what I heard as a kid and what was in the newspaper as well as what has been posted in this thread. I sent a P.M to BunkerBernie as he sounds very interesting but havn't heard back yet.

 

Bunker! what Bunker

Gday Sleek
it does not pay to ask the right questions from the wrong people Darren. Do not stick your neck out for anyone but yourself or you too will be a target from the few with vested intrests in the Bunkers.
Check your Emails Darren as I have sent you more than I wish to post in here.
Best of luck mate but watch ya back is all I'll say
Bernie

 

Looks like the Key Publishing aviation forum boys have latched onto the Bundaberg Bunker story. Good read.

WW2 Bunker with THREE Disassembled Aircraft! - Key Publishing Ltd Aviation Forums

 

Sonds like they are trying to con people to me.

 

Here is something to upset the sceptics? bite ya name into this story fellas,
Hidden for 60 years: the Nazi beach bunker found by BritonKim Willsher in Paris The Guardian, Tuesday January 24, 2006 Article historyA secret underground military complex abandoned by the Nazis as allied forces stormed Normandy after D-day has been found by an English amateur historian.
Gary Sterne came across the series of bunkers that had lain untouched for more than 60 years after buying a second world war map from an old American soldier. Armed with his map he visited the area near the Normandy beaches of Utah and Omaha, where he found the entrance to the military complex hidden under bramble bushes. He was astonished to discover a labyrinth of bunkers, control rooms and equipment abandoned by the Germans.

Mr Sterne, a collector of military memorabilia, said he had been intrigued by the idea of a hidden complex after buying a 1940s German army map from a former US serviceman. He said he had no real idea what he was looking for when he visited the area detailed in the map around Grandcamp Maisy in Normandy.

"I didn't know where I was going but I started to walk across the field when suddenly I found myself walking on concrete," he told Ouest France newspaper.

"I followed the concrete right up to the edge of some trees and it was there I suddenly found the entrance to the underground block, then a tunnel, an office, a supplies warehouse, general quarters, a radio room, other blocks and, most importantly, a room with supports for 155mm guns," he added. "It even had an underground hospital. The Germans had left behind many personal possessions."

The complex is believed to be the most important of German defences constructed during the second world war.

Historians are now examining the site, which has been bought by Mr Sterne, who intends to turn it into a tourist attraction.

Spose this story is a fake designed to con people too??

 

Hidden Newnes Forest storage has added to military puzzle - Local News - News - General - Lithgow Mercury

Chemical experiments in the Eighties - Local News - News - General - Lithgow Mercury

Railway historians join chemical warfare issue - Local News - News - General - Lithgow Mercury

 

The above is a picture perfect example of the power of local media. As a former CWA depot (RAAF's 1 CER), Marrangaroo has had a long and chequered history.

Kudos to the Department of Defence for finally doing the right thing. Based on a series of articles on Chem Weapons at Marrangaroo by Lithgow Mercury editor Len Ashworth, Defence has instituted a long-overdue remediation program for the Marrangaroo site. At time of writing, they have uncovered bulk storage canisters for phosgene which were thankfully empty.

The program is set to ramp up in October of this year and continue for around six months. If there are any forum members from Sydney metro area or the Blue Mountains, there will be an opportunity for members of the public to enter the base and take a look at the remediation project first hand. Time and date to be advised. This unprecedented public access is a great sign that under the new government, Defence has started to take its responsibilities for site remediation seriously.

From a WWII heritage perspective, Marrangaroo is a very exciting place, with underground munitions stores, Belman hangars and WWII vintage stores buildings abounding - all in original, but maintained condition.

 

A disappointing result but perhaps clarifies a few things?

Excavation debunks Bundaberg bunkers mystery: council - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

Short version
- unwilling to dig to sufficient depth
- good opportunity to wipe hands of the issue

To be continued...

 

True! version
-excavation conducted last week confirmed there are no bunkers
-at a site nominated by the Australian Bunker and Military Museum
-radar tests by the Australian Defence Force did not find any bunkers
-no more ratepayer-funded investigations

.

 

I certainly understand your point, but having seen the bulk of the evidence myself, do not agree.

If it is any indication, both the Bundaberg Regional Council and Defence saw the evidence we will be presenting on the website over the next week and it finally prompted them to action. Fanciful, exaggerated or fantastical informant reports are simply the tip of the iceberg. We get dozens of these every month about sites all over the country. 80% of them can be discounted right away.

It doesn't really matter if we are right or wrong about Bundaberg. As long as doubt exists, we need to follow up on it. Duty of care and all that. There is much doubt regarding Defence's survey of the area amongst other things.

 

The Bundaberg Regional Council says an excavation conducted last week confirmed there are no bunkers.

In a statement, Mayor Lorraine Pyefinch says workers dug five metres underground at a site nominated by the Australian Bunker and Military Museum.