Secret WWII base rebuilt
DURING the height of World War II, 3500 United States Army Air Force personnel called a top-secret base near Charleville their home, and now an interactive exhibition centre is telling their story and the role the region played during the conflict.
The air base was part of General Douglas MacArthur’s “Brisbane Line”, a defence strategy that would have involved large areas of northern Australia surrendered in the event of a Japanese invasion.
The military outpost was home to thousands of soldiers as well as B-17 bombers and P-40 fighter planes, but its true purpose was to test top-secret military hardware used by US bombers.
Griffith Institute for Tourism Associate Professor Brent Moyle was tasked with bringing this history to life by Murweh Shire Council, and the new interactive and education WWII Secret Base exhibition is a culmination of his years of work.
“The Murweh Shire Council developed a tour to showcase the military heritage. However, many of the relics were crumbling away and at risk of being lost forever to other potential competing development priorities,” he said.
Relics including an aircraft hangar, revetments, a building to house the top-secret Norden bombsight, living quarters for soldiers and nurses, kitchens and ablution blocks were built in secret during WWII.
“How many other towns have a secret US air base active during WWII?” Dr Moyle said.
A three-year research and development project used 3D scanning to help tell the story of the base through augmented and virtual reality.
“We try to take visitors back to that point in time when the base was active, so we enlist them into the US military and simulate the journey on the ship from New York to Sydney, around the coast of Brazil and the train ride from Sydney to Charleville,” Dr Moyle said.
For more details or to book visit the Experience Charleville website.