FINDING BRISBANE'S LOST WW2 AIRFIELD, HIDDEN IN SUBURBIA!
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- I travel to Gailes, west of Brisbane to find a forgotten WW2 Emergency Airfield. It was thought ti have been swallowed up by suburban housing but the middle section of the airstrip is still there.
Big shout out to UA-camr @TheDiggingDetective for all his help.
Sources: www.ozatwar.com, www.naa.gov.au
Photo Credit: Chris Jamesson (Darra Ordnance Dump)
Really cool - Brisbane has so many hidden/lost WWII sites.
You had me at WW2 airfield.
I have a long history, on and off with Brissie. I was born here (blah blah blah). In the mid-70s, when our family returned from Perth, we bought a house on Bell's Pocket Road at Strathpine. This was about 1975/76, just as the North Pine dam was getting filled, the dump was where the Strathpine Aussie Rules field is now, and most of Petrie was pine forest to service the paper mill.
Being a nerdy kid, I discovered that Spitfire Avenue at Strathpine was a WW@ airfield, and at the bottom end of Bell's Pocket Road (my street) was another airfield. Also, there was an airfield where the industrial estate now is on South Pine Road (Brendale).
In 1943, a Spitfire took off from the Spitfire Ave airfield and another from the other airfield down on Lawnton Pocket Rd. The intention was to do some training runs. They collided midair over Petrie/Beeville Rd way and crashed. There's a memorial just off Young's Crossing Road at one of the crash sites. There is wiring embedded into a rock and a depression in the ground that is still there to this day. I've often thought of taking time to make a video about the incident, and the military and agricultural history of the area but never did. The best I could do was make a short blog post about it. It's worth looking into if you venture to the North side anytime.
Oh, and I also lived up around The Caves, North of Rockhampton. That area was a training ground for commandos at the time.
Oh, and Clear Mountain was a former arms range. I think there are still signs up there warning people not to venture into the bush...but hey, that didn't deter us when we were kids. We wanted to find unexploded bombs.
Thanks Brad, I've done a massive amount of exploring around the old Camp Strathpine area. The video is in progress but I imagine it;'s going to take a while because Harry & I keep finding new info and sites. The one thing I will say is that there is still a massive amount of relics still buried around the area. - Some of it is disappearing under new house developments.
Thanks for commenting! Very interesting
I was about to make a comment about Spitfire Avenue in Strathpine. Beat me to it. How about some more recent history about the old Rum Factory that once stood behind Strathpine Shopping Centre, the Paper Mill at Petrie (new University site), the old sawmill at Strathpine/Lawnton (Bunnings Site), and the history of Brendale from a family farm to the industrial area it is today.
@HistoryGe3k In the 70s, the Chesney caravan factory was in the shed now occupied by Supercheap Auto. My first job was in an annex factory which was also on the site where the big shopping centre is. I remember the old dam, and hundreds upon hundreds of broken bottles under a half collapsed shed that was part of the distillery. You could still see the railway tracks that ran from the distillery to the main rail line back then.
@@BradGryphonn - Supercheap Auto is located in Lawnton a few doors down from Pine Rivers Show Grounds. The big shopping centre is almost opposite the Strathpine Rail Station. The old Rum Factory was behind the Strathpine Shopping Centre (was Westfield Strathpine) and there are still a few Palm Trees where it once stood. Where was the dam located as the land runs downhill towards the creek? Where were the railway tracks - are they under the roads that go around the shopping centre? Do you remember when the distillery was closed down as the railway tracks from the distillery would have had to cross the main road through Strathpine going from Bald Hills to Lawnton.
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Also - do you remember the Strathpine / Lawnton sawmill. It was still operational in the late 1980s. I think it was behind Bunnings in Lawnton.
I lived in Forest Lake around 20 years ago and got fascinated by some of the Queensland Airfields WW2 listed in Roger Marks’ book. I used the aerial photo from the book, scaled and overlaid with some current mapping to arrive at the idea that Gailes airstrip fairly closely 5:38 aligns with Southampton Rd and Julie Rd in Carole Park, possibly between the two street alignments.
Thanks for the video mate. Really enjoyed watching and subscribed as I love QLD history and people who want to uncover or celebrate it.
No idea how this came up in my scrolling but damn I’m glad it did. Will dive into your channel now.
Yeah me too. How good
Same
I grew up in Inala and used to explore the old army depot at Carole Pk. that you describe. Great stuff !
Thanks for watching. There is heaps over that way.
Brilliant video and information thanks mate!
I'm surprised the developers have left all that scrub unmolested - perhaps they still have concerns re unexploded ordnance. Way back in the 80s my unit went out to Wacol (at least we thought it was Wacol) to do gas training - the surviving structures weren't much good for anything else. There is an incredible amount of history from WWII in and around Brisbane - MacArthur made it clear that he wasn't going to be holed up in Melbourne with the rest of the brass.
According to Queensland Globe, the area is designated a Managed Resource Protection so likely saved it from the bulldozer
I guess he was familiar with Melbourne given that’s where he washed up after abandoning his men in the Philippines.
see before the outbreak of social media, i wrote a book about the history of brisbane and spent so much time in libraries and talking to old people. I was a coach driving tour guide and wrote all about this,plus things like the womens prison out at eagle farm, but lifes changed now people watch rather than read, well done in finding this out though.
Awesome. What was the name of your book? I was just at the State Library today. I’d love to have a look!
Another interesting vid. Cheers mate
Thanks for watching!
Good bringing the “D” with you. He adds a extra bit to the story. As I’ve said before. Love ya work guys. Who would’ve known this. 😱😱👍👌
Thanks for watching. Having The Digging Detective unearth his find does confirm what i find above the ground.
Love the hitchhiker on your neck.
HAHAHAHA, I just realised that. I probably brought it home.😄
A lot of this ordnance was used on Iwo Jima and Okinawa
I didn't know about this airfield, I know about the ones on the northside around Strathpine and out Lowood way, and have heard the stories of ammo dumps, camps, ranges, etc, all around the Albany Creek to Petrie area. Gee there must have been some gear stored around here.
Thanks Steve. You’re right, there is literally tonnes of WW2 relics hidden around the old Camp Strathpine.
Don’t forget Cashmere was once the US forces base area in Brissy
Nice work Cam, very informative!
Very interesting. Great effort with your research and preserving history for future generations.
Just found this one, really enjoyed it! Thanks mate
Interesting video AND comments, thanks for sharing.
That was very interesting, thank you.
Driving through the bush from Gailes to Greenbank, you will come across the old Cobb & Co road. I have driven that road many times in the 1970s, though if it is still accessible, I do not know. It runs parallel to the army fence for a long distance. It is about 15-20 minute' drive instead of taking the long road to Greenbank of about 50 minutes from memory. It's not a very good road, though, as I tore my diff out one time on that road. Very nice area around there.
145 magnetic now would be different to the 1943 map due to Magnetic declination changing year by year.
Give the guy credit than you Lounge Comment guy went out of his way to make the video.
The change in magnetic drift is a known factor so I suspect the 145 Mag quoted is the current one. But it was a good question.
Go and have a look along the Stuart highway South of Darwin.
Lots of old WW2 airfileds and Stuff.
Thanks for the tip. I hope to get up there in the future.
There was one in Strathpine ...
Wow, I've lived in Gailes for 15 years and I had no idea.
Found that interesting Cam. Would have liked seen some of the tarmac though, or was it just dirt. I live at North Ipswich, I had cousins at Gailes. I'll have to ask them about it
Hi Cam, just checking if you have your two ideas decided upon to send to Tony...
Hi Rob. Been at work. I’ll get on to it to ASAP
@@camcarteradventures thanks Cam. Just need a 5 second video of you smiling at camera. Or you can wave, whatever you want. If you could the video to me via Google drive that’d be great. To my email
there was an old airstrip up the end of Airforce road Helidon past the current government Explosives reserve. that was apparently used during the war. never found anything about it but is can be seen on older google maps
I have the book 'Queensland Airfields of WW2'. Great fascinating book. Airstrips everywhere!
Great Vid Cam, T-rocks
Id love to take some car photos on these remaining concrete areas, but cant figure out where it is and where it could be accessable
NICE! Love your work mate!
Could you tell us where the entrance is I love to explore
There was another emergency landing strip at Runcorn, now completely covered by housing.
Very interesting!
Great video. I’ll have to go and have a look.
I went for a 4WD on some old dodgy airfield up near Cape Tribulation. Not much of it left but some strip of non trees and long grass.
Did I miss something? Where exactly is it? Off what roads? I tried to find where you were on satélite images.
What about the airfield at strathpine. It was a ww2 field.
Love it, keep it up dude B4L
There's also one behind Lowood. If you look up daisy road satellite view you can still see the footprint of the airfield and structures dotted around the area
Apparently they used to race cars around that same area (including the airstrip ) back in the day.
@@DodgyBrothersEngineering Australia's First drag strip in fact. The airfield was next door to a mates property and beside his building is a WW2 loading dock, with a small building on it.
the dams in that area. would you agree they look almost like AAA Flak cannon dugouts then converted into private dams?
There was one at strathpine also.
Explains why me and my mates would find spent cartridges in this neck of the woods lol
Any info on the one out at Cecil Plains?
😮Interesting.
Yes, and there was on one the left hand side along the right hand side road opposite of Forest Hill turn off. On the road to Gatton. Which was used in the second world war. Used for the Bombers. Fact
I own the old bomb range......