WW2 Near Lithgow

There were other extensive works constructed at the same time as the gun emplacements. The largest was an underground Casualty Clearing Station and Hospital.


At the height of production in 1942, the SAF employed 6000 workers. The hospital was large enough to treat 500 casualties and provide shelter to 2000. As the factory was never attacked, it fell into disuse in the latter half of the war and was used as storage for production. This is still in existence, but it has been gutted of all fittings, and access is restricted as it lies within the factory grounds and part of the rifle range.


As mentioned, the factory produced Rifles (Lee Enfields) and Machine Guns (Brens and Vickers). No revolvers or SMGs were made at Lithgow, although they came back there for repair and refurbishment. (For reference, .38 Enfield revolvers were made in Australia by Howard Auto Cultivators at Northmead in Sydney, while 9mm Owen SMGs were made by Lysaghts in Pt Kembla, and Austen SMGs were made by Metters, Carmichael, and Die Casters)


No Ammunition or Explosives were made at Lithgow, although some machining of components was undertaken for items to be filled or assembled at St Marys.

There were extensive explosive storage facilities around Lithgow in WW2. Marrangaroo Army Camp was an Ordnance Depot that stored artillery ammunition and explosives, a role it continued until just before 2000. As an Ordnance depot, it was also responsible for training and disposal of out of date or unsafe ammunition. This was usually done by detonation or burning. Remediation work to decontaminate parts of the land about 5 years ago excavated dump trenches filled with tonnes of expended 25pdr, 3in mortar and AT and AP mine waste. Apparently the contractors were passing bricks each time the excavator bucket dipped into the trench!


Besides disposal of munitions within the boundaries of the Army Range, disposal by burning also at 3 sites on Newnes Plateau. One of these sites was used for the disposal of RAAF stocks of Mustard and Chlorine gas bombs, due to it's remote location away from population centres. (Although a signatory to the Hague Convention that proscribed the use of chemical weapons, Australia held stocks to use in a last ditch defence in the case of a Japanese invasion. In all theatres in WW2 that Aust soldiers served, the only casualties to chemical weapons were in Victoria during training!)

In addition to storage of Army Ordnance, the RAAF also used the area around Lithgow.


5 disused railway tunnels were used to store bombs, cannon ammunition and the abovementioned chemical weapons. Glenbrook is in the lower mountains and some distance from Lithgow, but there were 2 tunnels to the east of Lithgow (now part of the Zig Zag Railway) and 2 tunnels to the west of Lithgow. Post war these were used for growing mushrooms.


There was also limited RAAF use made of 1 disused Coal Mine for weapon storage, but not for explosive ordnance, due the risk of the combustible environment.

My, they are interesting photos,the CCKW353 in Aussie use looks like post 1960, as it is equipt with blinkers looks like Arty Ordy Tacs :)

Very very Interesting. Thanks everyone for posting. I was aware of the oil shale industry in the area but not the WW2 connection.
Regards
Robbo.

I just spent 3 days in Lithgow looking at some of the abandoned industrial stuff. Didn't get to Newnes or Glen Davis or much military stuff.
I could spend a month there poking around.

I can remember the Navy munitions stores at Homebush in the 70's/80's,which was removed before Homebush was prepared for the 2000 Olympics, I think it was trucked to Lithgow and old and unstable items barged out to be dumped at sea.

If you are in the area, I highly recommend you visit these gun emplacements and especially the Lithgow Small arms Factory, it is extremely interesting tour and the staff there are very good to chat too, thoroughly worth the admission fee of $10, even cheaper for a family group.

I am not a fan of guns, but this place is facinating, so much history and the 303 rifle display is brilliant.

One bit of information we didn't know, during the war, they built a fake city and lit it up at night, to protect the Small Arms Factory, which was under blackout condition, the factory ran 24hrs a day, and continued right up until just after Vietnam, from memory and it is still making guns today.

Baz.

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Originally Posted by UncleHo

I can remember the Navy munitions stores at Homebush in the 70's/80's,which was removed before Homebush was prepared for the 2000 Olympics, I think it was trucked to Lithgow and old and unstable items barged out to be dumped at sea.

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RAN Newington was indeed closed for the redevelopment of the Homebush Bay area for the 2000 Olympics. Newington depot stored many types of explosives and ammunition for the RAN and was able to exist in the middle of Sydney due to a "buffer zone" or green belt surrounding the storage magazines. It was this buffer zone that was greedily eyed off, and was the reason Newington was closed. The buffer zone was redeveloped to become the athletes village, which after the Games was sold to the public as the suburb of Newington. The Newington Ammunition depot still remains as part of Bicentennial park and you can take a tour of the storage bunkers on the original 2ft gauge railway: Newington Armory | 100 heritage buildings | Sydney Olympic Park | Parks Sydney

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Redback

One bit of information we didn't know, during the war, they built a fake city and lit it up at night, to protect the Small Arms Factory, which was under blackout condition, the factory ran 24hrs a day, and continued right up until just after Vietnam, from memory and it is still making guns today.

Baz.

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This was named "Hoke's Village" and was built at Marrangaroo Army Camp, which was still storing ordnance at the time. Odd place to be attracting attention during an air raid, but it goes to show the importance of preserving the factory. The various buildings had awnings and signwriting typical of a rural town. The mess building was signwritten as Jones's Hotel, complete with "Resch's Beer" painted across the roof. The OC's house was "The Rectory", complete with an adjacent plywood dummy church.


How important was the factory to the war effort? Between May 1940 and Dec 41, more than 95% of the Factory's production was exported to Britain as the British army was attempting to rebuild after Dunkirk. Lithgow was the only factory in the world making Lee Enfields, Brens and Vickers that did not have production disrupted by air raids. Prior to WW2, the British Army had 27,000 Bren Guns and after Dunkirk, they only had 3,000 left. Lithgow was not given the drawings to produce the Bren until after Dunkirk, with the first gun being completed in Jan 41. Over 17,000 Brens were made at Lithgow, with the bulk going to Britain. Lithgow Brens had a reputation of better build quality then Enfield or Inglis (Canada) guns.