Site Summary Report

Name of Site: Bundaberg

State: QLD

Suspect Sites:

Bundaberg Airport

Wartime Purpose:

Airfield -
RAAF Advanced Operational Base,
RAAF Service Flying School

Rumoured Contents:

 Ordnance, WWII small arms, Post-WWII small arms, single-engine Allied fighter aircraft
(P-40), single engine Japanese fighter aircraft (IJAF Oscar), casualty clearing station.

Summary of Site Information:

 Bundaberg Airport:

– Lady who worked out there during the war stated that there was allegedly an
escape hatch in the wooden floor of the saw toothed hangar that led down to the
underground workshop and stores.

– Ex-Serviceman stated that a C130 Hercules aircraft would land and allegedly
unload a quantity of SLR Rifles and Ammo which was placed in an underground

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 Site Research Summary – Bundaberg

storage facility alongside WWII era material. The movements of the Hercules
were later verified by a civilian witness.

– July 2001 Project staff appeared on local talk-back radio. An ex-RAAF Group
Captain and an ex-RAAF Warrant Officer both phoned in stating that there was
allegedly a very large cache of bombs and explosives in the underground storage
facility on Bundaberg Airport and also in a bomb dumping ground.

– Commonwealth Police Officer in 1981 stated that he entered the Bundaberg

Underground storage facility. Upon entering he allegedly saw Japanese Oscar
and an Australian fighter plane identified as a Kitty Hawk.

– Two gentleman allegedly gained access to the Bundaberg Underground Storage

Facility one night in 1997 via a ventilation pipe. Upon entering the tunnel system
he saw the two aircraft, what appeared to be a hospital ward and also a room full
of weapons, bombs and ammo.

– This site was also confirmed by XXXXX XXXXXX who was aware of this site
and many others during his activities with the RAAF during WW2. Mr XXXXX
is now deceased.

– Circa 1984, a dozer operator was clearing regrowth in a paddock close to the
airport. He allegedly hit an obstruction that looked like a chainman’s hat that was
approx three feet high and based on a cement pipe. There were actually three of
these structures in this paddock. He reported this incident to the Bundaberg City
Council, and he was ordered to leave the site. All traces of these structures are
now gone.

– Archival records state that during WWII secret works were undertaken at
Bundaberg Airfield which included the digging of tunnels under the main
runway for demolition purposes.

– Cotemporary aerial imagery confirms at least two tunnel entries in the vicinity.
Archival records also confirm the existence of bomb dumps in the vicinity of the
alleged bunker locations.

Summary of Site Evidence:

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 Site Research Summary – Bundaberg

 Statutory Declarations
 Informant Reports
 Wartime Aerial Imagery
 Wartime Mapping
 Historical records

Further Investigation required prior to opening/excavation:

 Earth Sciences
 Further Archive Research

Viability of Site: Good

See Australian Bunker Project Bundaberg Site Research Report document for further detailed
information.