Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00620:body:0:p40
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00620
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 108805–111610

an eminent use or occupant of these spaces.
Timber columns and beams to levels 1 and 2 of A, B and C Blocks   The upper levels are timber post and beam, with timber floor boards.  The extensive use of timber reflected the temporary nature of the building.

2.10.3            The Dugout
A single-storey brick air raid shelter was constructed in the embankment to the east of West Block in 1941/42, almost aligned to the central east-west axis of B Block.  It was part of the World War II era defences introduced within the Parliamentary Zone.
At the beginning of 1943, the shelter was adapted to accommodate a Typex cypher machine, used for coding and decoding cables.  Documentation dated 30 December 1942 indicates that a small brick addition was constructed to the rear to accommodate ventilation and heating plant (Figure 23).  The Typex machine enabled Prime Minister John Curtin to communicate directly with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American President Franklin Roosevelt.  It was accommodated in a freestanding structure because of the highly sensitive nature of the cables.
The building was adapted as a sub-substation in 1945 and all equipment associated with its war-time use is assumed to have been removed.  Today the single-storey building includes two 500kVa transformers.[87]
A brick screen wall mimicking the composition of the original screen walls to B Block was constructed to the west of the Dugout in the early 1980s, and bike storage provided behind the screen.  The substation was also extended, to the south, at that time (Figure 31 and Figure 32).
The building has been re-roofed (metal sheeting) and over-painted.  In its present form, it conveys nothing of its war time origins or uses.
Figure 30 Ventilation and heating was installed at the 'Dugout' in 1943, for the adaptation of the air raid shelter to accommodate a Typex decoding machine
Source: National Archives of Australia (Department of the Interior, Works Branch, 30 December 1942, M7439C)

Figure 31 Dugout: view looking north, with the original west elevation at right, and the 1980s screen wall at left
Figure 32 West elevation of the Dugout: the 1980s screen wall is in the foreground

2.10.4            Landscaped setting
The following provides a summary of key landscape attributes at West Block, specifically those dating to the 1920s treatment for West Block and its setting.  A summary of plantings surviving from the 1920s landscape treatment is at Table 4.

Structural elements
The pathways around West Block, indicated on the 1928 landscape plan, have been subject to change over time, in terms of their extent and alignment.  However, a number of key structural elements of the landscape are extant, including:
      * The integral car park between Commonwealth Avenue and West Block