page_title: Bankstown Bunker
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Bankstown Bunker / History
caption_attribution_description: Hand drawn map of Bankstown
context_page_description: The Bankstown Bunker was a top secret Royal Australian Air Force base that was used during the Second World War. During the war it was Australia's main air defence base. It is no longer in use. The bunker is buried underneath a public park in the suburb of Condell Park in the City of Bankstown, which is in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is still possible to go into the bunker through a secret passageway.
context_section_description: The Bankstown bunker is a three-story building that was mostly underground. It was secretly used during the Second World War by the Australian air force. Builders started to build the bunker in 1942. Workers and volunteers began to work inside the bunker in January 1945. It was called the Sydney "Air Defence Headquarters" and replaced another secret air force base that was in a secret tunnel. This was the Number One Fighter Sector Headquarters underneath St. James train station in Sydney. After that, it was moved to a picture theatre in Bankstown called the Capital Hall. The main job for the people who worked in the bunker, was to track all planes in the eastern area of the South West Pacific. Some of the people who worked in the bunker were from the No.2 Volunteer Air Observer Corps (VOAC), The Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force and a few members of the Royal Australian Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces. Workers worked in the bunker 24 hours a day seven days a week in shifts called "Flights". The people who worked inside the bunker traveled to work in buses with tinted windows. Everyone that worked in the bunker had to receive special training.
  At the end of the war, the bunker was no longer used and people forgot about it. In 1971 it was rediscovered by a reporter who worked for a local newspaper in the area. In 1972 the bunker was set on fire. In 1976 houses were built over part of the building, whilst the main part is underneath a public park.
caption: The remote receiving station. Map date 17/02/1942.
exif: {"Image ExifOffset": "26"}