WW2 NAVIGATIONAL TOWER
ON "RADAR HILL"
AT CHERMSIDE WEST,
BRISBANE, QLD
| visits since 12 June 2001 |
Navigation Tower at "Radar Hill" on
6 January 1948. |
A 90 feet high timber navigational tower was built on "Radar Hill" at Chermside West in Brisbane during World War 2. It was located at the very end of Florentine Street at Chermside West (UBD Page 119, Map Reference J17). This area was known by the locals as "Radar Hill".
It was built in the shape of a double ended arrow. The platform forming one end of the "arrow" is shown in the photograph above. The photographer was standing on the platform forming the other "arrow" end. Each "arrow" platform was supported by 3 large poles, one in each corner of the "arrow" platform. The straight platform connecting the two "arrow" platforms was unsupported in the middle and would spring up and down when you walked over it. The structure was possibly built by the Civil Construction Corps or the Main Roads Department for the RAAF.
Jim Meehan located the tower in January 1948 when he and two of his mates were shooting in a quarry in Webster Road. Jim told me that during the war, there were red fluorescent tubes mounted on these platforms as navigational aids for pilots approaching the various airfields around Brisbane. The row of lights on this tower at Chermside West were possibly pointed southwards towards Archerfield airfield.
Jim Meehan told me that there was a concrete slab at the base of the tower back in 1948. It was probably the location for a generator to power the red fluorescent tubes at the top of the tower.
Looking down the ladder from the top of |
Can anyone tell me any more about this navigational tower?
Were there others located in Brisbane?
Click here to E-Mail me with
any information or photographs on the above
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I'd like to thank James Meehan of Wynnum for his assistance with this page. Jim is one of the guides at Fort Lytton in Brisbane.
Australia @ War |
|
Do
you need a holiday! |
Genealogy Software
plus 190 Mbytes of Genealogy Indexes & programs
DISCLAIMER
Although every care has been taken in presenting this information
some of it may be incorrect or incomplete, hence the creator of this website and/or any
researcher or writer mentioned in it disclaim any liability in relation to the
information, errors or omissions contained herein. Any person intending to use or rely on
this information should first confirm it for themselves from other sources. Nevertheless
any corrections or additional information will be most welcome.
This page first produced 12 June 2001
This page last updated 12 June 2001
