Woomera, Australia

Woomera Range Park South Australia
Missile Park - RAAF Woomera Heritage Centre
Woomera Range Park
Coordinates	31°12′0″S 136°49′0″E / 31.20000°S 136.81667°E / -31.20000; 136.81667Coordinates: 31°12′0″S 136°49′0″E / 31.20000°S 136.81667°E / -31.20000; 136.81667
Population	136 (Permanent) up to 500 (Transit) (2006 census)
Established	1947 (70 years ago)
Postcode(s)	5720
Elevation	169 m (554 ft)
Location	446 km (277 mi) N of Adelaide
LGA(s)	Australian Department of Defence (RAAF) Administration
State electorate(s)	Giles
Federal Division(s)	Grey
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall 34.4 °C 94 °F 19.4 °C 67 °F 183.9 mm 7.2 in
Footnotes	Location

The simple name, Woomera, refers to a town located in South Australia's Far North region, approximately 446 kilometres (277 mi) north of Adelaide, the capital of the State of South Australia. In common usage, "Woomera" also refers to the wider "Woomera Range Complex" (WRC), a huge Defence systems testing range covering an area of approximately 122,000 square kilometres (47,000 sq mi) (an area roughly the size of England).

Woomera township is part of an Australian Defence Force base (RAAF Base Woomera) which, along with the "Woomera Test Range" (WTR), forms the larger entity known as the "Woomera Range Complex" (WRC). The WRC is the latest name for this historic aerospace testing range and was promulgated by Chief of Air Force (CAF) in June 2014. RAAF Base Woomera came into existence on 12 January 2015, and No.20 (Woomera) Squadron, was officially reformed as the WRC base combat support squadron at a ceremony at Woomera on 1 April 2015. Woomera Range Headquarters is the primary organisation which operates the facility on behalf of Chief of Air Force.

Woomera Village (as it has always been known as) is a Defence owned and operated facility. RAAF Base Woomera, when it was established in January 2015, also included the RAAF Woomera Aerodrome, which is approximately 6 km north of Woomera Village. The aerodrome lies within the 'Red Zone' of the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA) and public access to this part of the base is not permitted. Woomera Village, however, is within a "Green Zone" of the WPA and thus public access to the facilities and services of Woomera, including the several museums located in this historic site, is permitted year round. Visitors may also stay in the Defence operated Eldo Hotel, and there is a privately operated public caravan park at the entrance to Woomera Village.

Woomera Village initially operated as a "closed town" between 1947 and 1982, when the facility supported the operations of the Woomera Rocket Range during the Anglo-Australia Project. Since 1982, the general public has been able to visit and stay at Woomera. However, only Australian Government personnel (mostly Defence) and contractors to the Commonwealth are able to live at Woomera on a permanent basis. The current permanent population of the town is 136 (2015). The Woomera Range was first established in 1947 as a Department of Defence rocket testing range.

Since its construction over 1947–53, Woomera Village has essentially operated under a specialised Commonwealth/Defence township management model rather than a local government (council) model. At the height of its operations (1947–99), over 7000 people lived in Woomera Village. To service the needs of the town during this period, the Woomera Board, staffed by members of the Defence community at Woomera elected to the Board by town residents, essentially acted in the role normally provided by a local government council. However, the creation of a Defence Estate management organisation in the 1990s shifted the focus of the Board's activities away from estate and infrastructure management toward principally that of a base welfare organisation supporting the small permanent community and the large number of transit Defence personnel who deploy to Woomera each year.