Green Street bunker

The Green Street bunker at West End (Townsville), Queensland, Australia is also known as the Sidney Street bunker and Project 81. It was built by the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II.

The erection of the Green Street bunker (Project 81) at the end of Sidney Street in West End was approved on 12 March 1942.

The road up Castle Hill was closed to traffic on about 12 March 1942 to ensure the construction of military facilities such as this bunker were not obvious. The bunker was completed about 12 weeks later. The bunker was fully air-conditioned during its use in World War II.

There were 17 buildings at Project 81 as follows:-

It is believed that the bunker was used as No. 24 Squadron RAAF Headquarters and by the RAAF Operations and Signals group (Intelligence). The building (120 ft x 60 ft) was built like a fortress, with enormous thick walls and roof. It was apparently capable of sustaining a direct hit with minimal damage.

The rooms in the bunkers were used as follows:-

Two other rooms separated by a walkway were:-

600 cubic yards of concrete and 50 tons of reinforcing steel was used to construct the Green Street bunker.

Four timber buildings were located nearby and one was located on top of the bunker to give it the appearance of a domestic residence from an enemy aerial view. The bunker was well camouflaged and camouflage netting would have been attached from the roofline of the bunker.

The bunker also had its own very large electricity generating plant. A small separate building at the end of the bunker and adjacent to the Generator room, housed the air conditioning plant. It had a sunken floor and you would walk down a small flight of stairs into the room.

WAAAF Helen Ena Suttie worked in the W/T Station, Townsville and 12 Signals Unit in North Eastern Area Command Headquarters in Sturt Street Townsville. On a few occasions Helen was taken by tender on duty to a secret abode (possibly the Green Street bunker).

Helen said:-

"The room where I operated the cipher machine also contained a teleprinter which was connected to the main signal station in Townsville. An Air Operators room was adjacent with a hatch between. An aerial photo of this place shows a house with garden gate and fence, a bee hive, looking just like a normal house would look. We worked underground, air conditioned."

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Wikipedia