Belmont Bunker
Perth's Secret WWII RAAF Bunker
Still in operation in the 21st Century
Deep in suburban Perth, at Belmont, only 6km from the heart of the CBD and 600m from Great Eastern Highway lies a major WWII installation which has continued to fulfil a critical role in the protection of Western Australia through a number of major role changes for over 70 years, but would still remain very recognizable to any World War 2 veterans if any were still around who had once worked there.
Source: Western Australian Department of Fire and Emergency Services.
The History of the Bunker[1]
Despite having been at War since 1939, the fighting all seemed far away, but the early part of 1942 bought the war focus right back to our shores. Singapore had fallen to the Japanese, Darwin had been bombed, followed by Wyndham and Broome in northern WA. Was Perth to be next? The 3rd Australian Corps had been 'stood up' in WA with 3 full divisions and close on 100,000 personnel, Fremantle had become the major submarine base in the southern hemisphere and Fortress Fremantle was fully operational with well over a dozen large calibre guns covering all seaward approaches.
The co-ordination of the Kittyhawk and Spitfire squadrons based around Perth and the numerous antiaircraft batteries which constituted its Air Defences was not neglected either, with the formation of No.6 Fighter Sector Head Quarters in April 1942 in the Masonic Hall in the inner-city suburb of Mt Lawley. Concurrently planning commenced for a more permanent facility. By mid-1943, land has been acquired close to Perth Airport and construction commenced on a semi-underground Head Quarters bunker.
The bunker was completed in late 1944 at a cost of £36,000 (against an original estimate of £20,000) and was declared fully operational on 14 Mar 1945. This new facility, working in conjunction with Fremantle Fortress HQ, co-ordinated all fighter, radar and antiaircraft operations over Perth and its approaches. With War’s end six months later, the need for this level of co-ordination ceased. By mid-1946 the bunker was put on a care and maintenance basis.
In February 1965 the bunker was declared surplus to requirements and was transferred to the Civil Defence and Emergency Service of Western Australia, being officially opened as the Civil Defence State Operations Centre on 24 Nov 1965.
An extensive interior refurbishment was carried out in 1967-68 to better suit this new role, and the facility continued to operate in this manner for the next 40 years, until newer purpose-built facilities were constructed elsewhere. The bunker remained, however, a fully functioning backup facility until 2013 when it was again re-purposed as a Simulation Centre for the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, though continuing as a live backup for the emergency triple-zero (000) calls.
Details of the Building
The Bunker is 100ft (30m) long and 55ft (16m) wide, semi-underground (with a roof at ground level) with reinforced concrete walls 4ft (1.2m) thick, and a 6ft (1.8m) thick roof. As originally built, it also had further 3ft of soil over the roof.
It follows the RAF/RAAF standard two storey Operations Centre plan of a central operations room on the lower floor with overlooking galleries on all sides of the operations room on the upper floor, surrounded by ancillary communications rooms, offices and the like, with the remainder of the lower floor for plant, equipment, accommodation and storage (the 'cellar'). The Bunker was entirely self-contained with its own generator (still operational), kitchen, independent water supply and fully gas tight with an integral air conditioning.
It was one of fourteen operational Fighter Sector Headquarters established in Australia and Papua New Guinea during WWII. Of the four purpose-built Fighter Sector HQs in Australia (Perth, Bankstown, Townsville and Darwin) it is the only one which has remained in continuous use, though a similar bunker has been recently refurbished in Townsville for use by the local State Emergency Service.
The Perth Bunker is also the only one with a resident ghost, being supposedly haunted by the spirit of a WAAAF aircraftswoman who took her own life in the cellar following the breakdown of a relationship.
Rebuilds
1944 - The bunker was originally equipped as a Fighter Sector HQ controlling operations from the various Royal Australian Air Force and United States Army Air Force airfields, radar and anti-aircraft installations in the Perth Area.
1967 – Change to Civil Defence State Operations Centre. This involved removal of Squadron Operational Readiness boards and replacement by map boards, installation of a false floor in the operations room, installation of additional telephone and telex lines into the facility, upgrading of the radio facilities and aerials, enclosure of the viewing galleries, upgrading of the kitchen and connection to mains water and sewerage.
1990s – Installation of computer cabling and upgrading of communication feeds and equipment.
2013 – Change to Simulation Centre for the Department of Fire and Emergency Services. This involved installation of multi-use projection screens in the ops room, installation of a virtual reality suite for individual training, provision of dedicated Higher Command and Lower Command networks for simulation exercises (in order to replicate real time conditions when the facility will be communicating upwards to state and national levels and downwards to people on the ground), upgrade of computer fit out and installation of the live backup emergency triple-zero (000) facility.
2020 – Upgrading the generator switchgear and associated plant to meet current safety and regulatory requirements.
Current Capability
The Simulation Centre has the capability to provide tailored exercises up to and including multiple major incidents at a State level to test incident management teams, and inter-service incident management at the most senior levels for both training and discussion purposes. It also provides, via a virtual reality suite, fire and rescue training at an individual or team level. This facility is not limited to only the Department of Fire and Emergency Services but is available to other agencies, either collectively or on a stand-alone basis to test and refine their procedures.
Conclusion
The Bunker has maintained its usefulness in its many guises for over 70 years by virtue of being in the right place at the right time. While the basic structure has remained intact, the ancillary services required to run the facility in its evolving roles have changed considerably over time – with copper telephone lines being replaced by computer cabling and in turn that being replaced by fibre optics. Or wooden Squadron Readiness boards being supplanted by map boards, and those replaced by the smart screens of today. In each iteration, the capability of the facility has increased manyfold, as has the complexity of the fit-out and the increasing issues with the remaining legacy services, such as power, lighting and air conditioning.
Despite this, the facility has continued to operate because the underlying engineering was sound. It was built as an operational command facility and despite its many changes in role, it has always maintained this function. The heritage aspects of the facility are preserved precisely because they still do what they were intended to do, back in those far off days when war looked very likely to come to Perth.
References:
Engineering Heritage Australia Magazine, Vol.3, No.7, January 2021, pp. 17-19.
Author - Perry Beor
Copied to website 28 September 2022
- ↑ All information in this article comes courtesy of the Western Australian Department of Fire and Emergency Services
