WWII RAN Fuel Installation

Hidden away in the lush vegetation of Edge Hill is the Tank Arts Centre, housed in a collection of WWII Royal Australian Navy fuel tanks. The tanks were constructed in 1943 in response to the increased military presence during the Pacific War. The installation comprised five large fuel storage tanks, earth and concrete bunds around the tanks, auxiliary buildings and an underground pipeline to Cairns wharves. Early planning positioned the fuel installation behind wharf No.8 at the dockyards on Trinity Inlet, but as both the Australian and United States navies intended to expand warehouse storage facilities in this area, an alternative site was sought. Two Australian Navy staff visited Cairns in late 1942 and approved a site at Edge Hill that could be camouflaged from the air and would be difficult for an aerial enemy force to attack. It was also sufficiently distant from the wharf precinct to be of little danger to the port if there was enemy action. Most of these structures have been incorporated into the Flecker Botanical Gardens, a recreational precinct at the southern foothills of the Mt Whitfield range. Tanks 3-5 have been adaptively re-used as the Tanks Arts Centre, a performance and gallery space.