Stony Head is an

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...

artillery range and training centre in the local government area (LGA) of George Town in the Launceston LGA region of

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

. The range locality is about north-east of the town of George Town. The 2016 census recorded a population of nil for the state suburb of Stony Head.

History

Stony Head is a confirmed locality. The

has used the site as an artillery range since 1966. The Australia Government formally acquired the area in 1997. The host unit for the range was 16th Field Battery, Royal Australian Artillery, an

Australian Army Reserve The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the military reserve force, reserve units of the Australian Army. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, the reserve military force has been known by many names, including the Citize ...

unit based in Tasmania until 2013. Maintenance and facility construction is undertaken by the

Royal Australian Engineers The Royal Australian Engineers (RAE) is the military engineering corps of the Australian Army. The RAE is ranked fourth in seniority of the corps of the Australian Army, behind the Corps of Staff Cadets, Staff Cadets, Royal Australian Armoured C ...

. It has also been used by the

2nd Force Support Battalion The 2nd Force Support Battalion (2 FSB) was an Australian Army logistics battalion. Established in 1998, 2 FSB was a reserve unit headquartered in Hobart, with depot in various locations across Tasmania and Victoria. It was merged into the 8th ...

reserves and local

Australian Army Cadets The Australian Army Cadets (AAC) is the youth military program and organisation of the Australian Army, tasked with supporting participants to contribute to society, fostering interest in defence force careers, and developing support for the for ...

units. In 1969 a dirt airstrip was constructed capable of landing

Royal Australian Air Force The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...

Caribou transport planes that was later extended to accommodate the C-130 Hercules to provide supply missions to the range. It has been used occasionally by local flying clubs via arrangement with the military.

Geography

The waters of

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The ...

form the north-western and northern boundaries. Public access to the coastal beach areas is possible but inland has a significant risk from

unexploded ordnance Unexploded ordnance (UXO, sometimes abbreviated as UO) and unexploded bombs (UXBs) are explosive weapons (bombs, shell (projectile), shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines, cluster munition, and other Ammunition, munitions) that did not e ...

. The public is discouraged from moving further inland and there is a fence built around the most dangerous part of the range with guard patrols during exercises. The range includes the location , one of the points included in the

Degree Confluence Project The Degree Confluence Project is a World Wide Web-based all-volunteer project that aims to have people visit each of the integer degree intersections of latitude and longitude on Earth, posting photographs and a narrative of each visit online. Th ...

, which aims to visit and photograph all the points with coordinates of ''Y''°0′0″, ''X''°0′0″. The project was refused permission to visit this point, because of the danger of unexploded ordnance.

Road infrastructure

Route C807 (Beechford Road) passes the locality to the west. From there access is provided by an unnamed road.

References

{{Reflist Australian Army bases Towns in Tasmania Localities of George Town Council