Macrossan Stores Depot Group
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| Macrossan Stores Depot Group | |
|---|---|
  Location of Macrossan Stores Depot Group in Queensland | |
| Location | Finders Highway, Macrossan (Dotswood), Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia |
| Coordinates | 20°00′30″S 146°29′18″E / 20.0083°S 146.4882°E |
| Official name | Macrossan Stores Depot Group |
| Type | Listed place (Historic) |
| Designated | 22 June 2004 |
| Reference no. | 105330 |
Macrossan Stores Depot Group is a heritage-listed military installation at Flinders Highway, Macrossan (Dotswood), Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It was added to the Australian Commonwealth Heritage List on 22 June 2004.[1]
Macrossan stores depot
The fear of a Japanese invasion of Australia after 1942 brought about a frantically redoubled building effort around Australia to accommodate the increased requirements of Allied troops, equipment and support networks. This was a period when conventional design and construction methods were abandoned in favour of those that were more resource and cost efficient. It was also a time of experimentation and innovation with timber, the most readily available construction material.[1]
From 1915 to 1941 steel was the dominant material of choice for large buildings in Australia. With the start of conflict in Europe in 1939 Australia began to expand its military infrastructure in preparation for its role in the war. Training camps were expanded and established, with new buildings generally taking the form of the "P" series huts, open, gabled-roof timber buildings used for barracks, which could be adapted for practically any small-scale use. Until 1941, however, steel was still used for larger buildings.[1]
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, with a Japanese invasion of Australia looming, a massive increase of Australian and other Allied troops (mostly American) and equipment occurred, prompting the need for further infrastructure. Building needs during this period were met by a merger of the Allied Works Council (AWC) and the Works and Services Branch of the Department of the Interior which, by 1943, employed over 4,500 staff. Each state also had its own works units, responsible for implementing the designs and orders of the AWC. These works initially used contract labour but, after 1943 relied on the labour of the Civil Construction Corps, which had enrolled over 50,000 men.[1]
The importance of steel to the war effort meant that traditional building practices had to be abandoned. As a consequence the AWC turned to timber to fulfil its needs. Given the urgency of the situation, there was insufficient time for hardwoods to be seasoned. Therefore, new construction techniques were required that could utilise green timber. The AWC subsequently experimented with design form and construction technology to come up with a series of new designs for hangars and large warehouses.[1]
Initially, a number of 130 feet (40 m) clear span timber framed hangars were constructed at Tocumwal, New South Wales, and other locations shortly after. The gable trusses were built with shear connectors and steel plate joints. Shortly after, Australia's first large-scale glue laminated building was constructed, with AWC assistance, in Alexandria, New South Wales. While the glue laminating process proved too involved and intensive for the AWC's needs, the timber frames with shear connectors were adapted for several other styles of large buildings, including the W3 type seen at Macrossan.[1]
The influence of the United States military was also very important in developing new timber designs. One undoubted influence was the use of nail-joint construction, which was ideally suited to the use of green hardwood. This was used for the design of later "igloo" store and hangar buildings, as well as prefabricated ordnance buildings and trussed beams. The shear trusses used at Tocumwal and other locations were subsequently abandoned in favour of the nail joint technology. For spans over 20 metres, nailed lattice and nailed truss arches were adopted.[1]
By 1944 the threat of invasion had subsided, and construction efforts were maintained primarily in the north of the country, to support Australian and US forces pressing on with the war in the Pacific. The AWC placed great emphasis on the prefabrication of buildings in southern states to be used by troops in the north, as well as in the Pacific Islands and south-east Asia.[1]
Macrossan Stores Depot (RAAF No 8 Stores Depot) was established in 1942, on land resumed from the Costello family's Fanning Downs Pastoral lease, originally selected by John Melton Black in 1861. It was initially established as an air base, in response to fears of Japanese invasion, and realisation that Japanese air capabilities placed Australia within range of air attack. Early in 1942 a number of airfields were established at strategic points near the Great Northern Railway, running west from Townsville. Two airstrips were cleared at Macrossan in April 1942, intended to take American fighter aircraft, although only the northern strip was fully developed.[1]
When the war effort began to turn in favour of the allied forces, airfield construction moved further north, and the air base facilities at Macrossan were never completed, although two fighter squadrons, the 84 and 86 RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force), were stationed there for short periods. Macrossan's emphasis subsequently shifted to that of a major stores depot, being proclaimed RAAF No 8 Stores Depot in April 1943. Some salvage and medical units also utilised the base on a small scale.[1]
The RAAF operated 10 stores depots during World War II: No 1 Sandridge (Victoria), No 2 Waterloo (New South Wales), No 3 Brisbane (Queensland), No 4 Merredin (Western Australia), No 6 Dubbo (New South Wales), No 7 Drayton (Queensland), No 8 Macrossan (Queensland), No 9 Daly Waters (Northern Territory) and No 10 Maylands (Western Australia). Most of these were ultimately only temporary and were disbanded within a decade of the end of the war, with the exception of Dubbo, Sandridge, Waterloo and Drayton.[1]
To facilitate the shift to a stores depot two very large general-purpose storage buildings were built side by side to the north of the airstrips for the RAAF. Construction of Building 50, today known as Warehouse 11, and its neighbour, Building 51, commenced in 1943. A two-kilometre rail spur was built at the same time to run through the buildings from the main railway line. A number of prefabricated, steel framed Bellman hangars and storehouses were also erected close by. In 1944 the base featured the Bellman hangars, four 200-by-100-foot (61 by 30 m) igloo warehouses, the two 300-by-230-foot (91 by 70 m) RAAF ordnance igloo stores (buildings 50 and 51) and three smaller store buildings. Ancillary buildings included a guardhouse, aircrew quarters, a kitchen and mess facilities to the south.[1]
A commitment to the site for post-war military use resulted in formal acquisition of the land by the Australian Government in 1949. The RAAF vacated the depot in 1956, having jointly occupied it with the Army from 1952 onwards. The Army, as sole occupant thereafter, held a large auction of surplus buildings and equipment in 1956. In February 1972, building 51 was destroyed by a deliberately-lit fire. The remaining W3 warehouse,[2] and three Bellman Hangars, survive from the World War II period. The spur line into Warehouse 11 was used for the last time in the early 1980s.[1]
Macrossan has acted as the Army's major northern bulk stores depot since 1956.[1]
