Wartime Army Radio Communication Stations near Warrandyte
It is not commonly known, but during World War 2 the Australian Army
operated a large HF wireless telegraphy communications station from
locations in the outer east of Melbourne.
The facility was split geographically - the receiving station was sited in a farming region, on the fringe of the town of Warrandyte, in a bushland area of about 30 hectares, which in later years would become part of the suburb of Park Orchards, about 20 km from central Melbourne.
The
unstaffed transmitting station was located near the country town of
Coldstream, some 10 km east of Warrandyte, and included several rhombic
antennas, an antenna switching panel, and five HF high-speed W/T
transmitters. The antennas were designed for optimum radiation to places
such as Alice Springs, New Zealand, Darwin, Hobart, and Chungking
(China).
The receiving station consisted of an administrative
block, a workshop, spare parts store, teletype equipment, and a receiver
room which included several communications receivers. It was commonly
known as "Hill 60" as it was located at the top of a hill just south of
Warrandyte. The workshop manufactured transmitter equipment and other
gear for use in the Army's HF radio network across Victoria, including
the big facility at Diggers Rest, west of Melbourne. The station was
co-sited on the land used for Army training activities.
All
transmissions received and transmitted from the receiving centre were
forwarded to the Army's communications headquarters known as "Grosvenor"
in St Kilda Rd, Melbourne.
The principal receiving antenna was a Rhombic, with the main mast about 30 m high.
A
switching panel allowed any of the receivers to be connected to any of
the antennas, operating on Army fixed communication channels.
There
were links to the transmitter site, using four lower powered
transmitters of 750 Watts operating in the 30 MHz range, keyed remotely
from the receiving station. These were part of the original "refugee
cargo", diverted to Australia.
The station was part of the Land
HQ Heavy Wireless Group, and occupied a building from 1940 which had
been constructed in the mid 1920s, known as the Park Orchards Chalet.
This building still stands, surrounded by houses which were built in the
1960s, and has been used until now for school functions, a restaurant
and a conference centre.
The Wireless group was disbanded after
WW2, and equipment was dismantled and removed. The site remained
undeveloped until the late 1970s when the local community was successful
in gaining Government approval for the land to be set aside as a
bushland sanctuary, now known as the "100 Acres Reserve".
The
precise location of the transmitting site is not known, and is believed
to be the site of the present-day Coldstream Airport.
A series of
photos taken in May 1943, held at the Australian War Memorial, in
Canberra, show various features of the receiving and transmitting
stations, and these may now be viewed on=line AWM website:
Receiving station
http://www.awm.gov.au/search/collections/?q=ringwood+radio&conflict=all
Transmitting station
http://www.awm.gov.au/search/collections/?q=coldstream+radio&conflict=all
Images of the Receiving and Transmitting Stations
(Source: Australian War Memorial website)
1943 - Indicator Board at Receiving Station
1943 - Operating the AWA communication receivers
1943 - Climbing Rhombic antenna mast at receiving station
