Operations and Signals Bunker (former)

The Former Operations and Signals Bunker, is set into the hillside behind the Stuart Police Station. Constructed in 1942-3, as the headquarters of the Operations Section of No 3 Fighter Sector, it controlled fighter operations and anti-aircraft defences through North Queensland and New Guinea. From January 1945, it was occupied by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The former Operations and Signals Bunker played a pivotal role as the key communications centre for Allied Air Forces, operating out of Townsville during the final months of the Pacific War. The bunker comprises a main room two stories in height with a section containing six smaller rooms at the front. The bunker was completed in 1943, but was not operational until late 1944, because the associated accommodation facilities were not complete. After the war, these barracks were used to house migrants and later as student accommodation for the fledgling James Cook University in the 1960s. The former Operations and Signals Bunker is one of a number of WWII structures and complexes which survive in the Townsville area, demonstrating the substantial role the region, and particularly Townsville, played in the war in the Pacific.