Acacia Ridge Air Raid Shelter is a heritage-listed former

air raid shelter Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but many ...

at 174 Mortimer Road,

Acacia Ridge Acacia Ridge is a southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Acacia Ridge had a population of 7,429 people. Geography Acacia Ridge is south of the central business district. It is within the local government are ...

, City of Brisbane,

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. It was built from to by

Allied Works Council The Allied Works Council was an organisation set up to oversee and organise military construction works in Australia during World War II. Established in February 1942, the Allied Works Council was responsible for carrying out any works required ...

. It was added to the

Queensland Heritage Register The Queensland Heritage Register is a heritage register, a statutory list of places in Queensland, Australia that are protected by Queensland legislation, the Queensland Heritage Act 1992. It is maintained by the Queensland Heritage Council. As a ...

on 6 April 2005. Today, you can find it near Mortimer Road Park, where it lies.

History

The air raid shelter is built into the north face of the old Archerfield Quarry, or Carr's Quarry, in the southwest corner of the Mortimer Road Reserve, which is bounded by Mortimer Road and Beatty Road, Acacia Ridge. Archerfield remained largely undeveloped well into the twentieth century, being used for cattle grazing, fruit trees, cotton and maize cropping. A branch railway line reached the quarry, used to extract bluestone to be used for roads and ballast for the Kyogle railway line, in 1913, but the pit was flooded at the end of that year. Although it was closed after this event, the mine may have been used during the 1920s or 1930s. In 1922, there were about a dozen houses nearby, mostly along Beatty Road and the quarry branch line. In 1929, the Commonwealth Government resumed land at Archerfield for the construction of an airfield, and Archerfield Aerodrome later became an important base for the Australian, British, American and Dutch air forces during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. On 7 December 1941, the United States of America entered World War II following the bombing of the American fleet at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii by Japanese carrier-borne aircraft. England and its Commonwealth had been at war with Germany since September 1939, but now the war was truly global. Darwin was first bombed on 19 February 1942 and 14,000 Australians were taken prisoner following the

fall of Singapore The Fall of Singapore, also known as the Battle of Singapore,; ta, சிங்கப்பூரின் வீழ்ச்சி; ja, シンガポールの戦い took place in the South–East Asian theatre of the Pacific War. The Empire of ...

. Plans to defend Australia from an anticipated Japanese invasion and to use Queensland as a support base for the conduct of the Pacific war were implemented quickly. Australian and American personnel poured into Queensland and urgently required a wide range of new buildings and facilities. While the American Forces were based at Archerfield, the area to the west of the intersection of Mortimer Road and Beatty Road was occupied by Camp Buckley, and large igloo hangars were built to the north of the quarry. A taxiway linking the igloos to the main aerodrome to the west passed close by the northern side of the quarry, and the air raid shelter was constructed to provide protection for military personnel stationed nearby. World War II aerial photographs show that the water level in the quarry used to be below the rock shelf on which the shelter was built. They also indicate that the building was freestanding at that time, in the middle of a cleared platform. Earth has since collapsed or been moved onto the shelf around the bunker, giving it the appearance of having been built into the quarry wall. The quarry side of the bunker was protected by an outer curtain wall, which contained entrances to two tunnels leading into the main bunker. There was about a metre between the curtain wall and the edge of the rock shelf. The Allied Works Council Minutes of 8 January 1943 record that a bomb proof building for United States Air Corps Operations had been built near the American camp, and this may refer to the shelter in the quarry. At the end of the war military debris was dumped into the quarry. In 1963, the area was purchased by the Brisbane City Council for recreation purposes, and in 1992 amateur military historians partially drained the quarry, retrieving a number of military artefacts, including World War II machine guns, ammunition, and aircraft parts. This operation also enabled an interior inspection of the shelter, which discovered that the two entrance tunnels are long, with doorways turning into the main bunker. The remains of four-inch thick wooden sliding doors were found, along with three one-foot diameter holes in the ceiling of the bunker. The present water level in the quarry prevents internal inspection.

Description

The Acacia Ridge air raid shelter is a rectangular concrete bunker built on a rock shelf cut into the north face of the former quarry. The currently exposed part of the bunker consists of two concrete walls, with a space between the two, running along part of the quarry face and returning into the quarry wall. The outer curtain wall is lower, is buttressed with concrete props, and has rectangular openings at each end. The inner bunker wall is shorter, taller, and has no visible openings. Only the top of the curtain wall is visible above the water in the quarry, and vegetation obscures the main bunker.

Heritage listing

Acacia Ridge Air Raid Shelter was listed on the

on 6 April 2005 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history. The Acacia Ridge air raid shelter is important as part of the Air Raid Precaution activities undertaken for the defence of Brisbane during World War II. Designed to afford protection for military personnel from the Archerfield aerodrome in the event of a Japanese air attack, the air raid shelter, located on a rock ledge in the north face of the Archerfield Quarry, is important in demonstrating the impact of World War II on Queensland. The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage. Although many air raid shelters were constructed during World War II in Queensland, comparatively few survive. As a shelter that was built for military personnel, and which still includes its outer curtain wall, the Acacia Ridge shelter is uncommon. The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places. The shelter's solid construction, and its siting near a military installation, demonstrate the principal characteristics of a World War II military air raid shelter.

References

Attribution

External links

* {{commons category inline, Acacia Ridge Air Raid Shelter Queensland Heritage Register Heritage of Brisbane Articles incorporating text from the Queensland Heritage Register Air raid shelters in Queensland Queensland in World War II