Thread: WW2 Near Lithgow

G'day Perry...


the ozatwar site is very extensive if a bit tedious to navigate and some of the records can be a bit sus....

there were extensive armament storage facitilities in this locality (e.g. Marangaroo, Clarence (zig zag railway) ) and in the lower Blue Mountains to the east as well



also see http://www.mustardgas.org/timeline.htm

and a munitions factory i believe

Just a few quick points on the mustard gas. The link says we only got the stuff after WW2 started and that it was all burnt off. My grandfather who passed away in 98 told us the drums he had to transport where far older, dating from WWI. Also that a large portion of the stocks from piston and the blue mt.s where put in a ship that had its holds filled with concrete, was towed out past the shelf and attempted to be flooded, which failed so the navy had to shell the ship to make it sink.
He was kept in the air force 6months past the end of the war (after coming back from borneo)to transport those chemicals and was lucky to only get a small drop on him that made him ill for a day. Unlike another driver who went to fasten a loose/rusted lid, covered his hand and died. He used to have police escorts when moving the drums and none of them wore the gas masks for several reasons ; heat, poor vision, fogging up, and scaring others they passed. I think he mentioned some where also stored around helensburgh as well as picton and the blue Mt's /Lithgow.
SS Bantam in Australian Waters during WW2

In the 50's and 60's when I was a youngster, there were lots of visible remains of WW2 installations in and around Brisbane. Weapons pits, gun emplacements, air raid shelters, ammunition bunkers, airstrips, huts large and small, WW2 camps and barracks some of which were used as Housing Commission flats for many years.

My mates and I used to go foraging for cartridge cases in what is now Toohey Forest Reserve and the bushland that is now the suburb of Inala. Sold them to scrappies for pocket money.

Yes Lithgow Small Arms made many of the firearms used by Australians, particularly the Lee Enfield .303.

As for the chemical weapons, there is a TV doco on them including the testing and development of them under tropical conditions, something that Veterans Affairs denied for many years and even refused TPI Pensions for the soldier-guineapigs the chemical weapons were tested on in Nth Qld.

The bulk supplies were stored in the Glenbrook Tunnel (part of the little zig-zag line at Lapstone) underneath RAAF Glenbrook. Mushrooms have been grown in the same tunnel since the War.

Interesting to note that the recorded destruction of chemical weapons occured as recently as 2009 in regard to some of the Marangaroo storage

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

Yes Lithgow Small Arms made many of the firearms used by Australians, particularly the Lee Enfield .303.

As for the chemical weapons, there is a TV doco on them including the testing and development of them under tropical conditions, something that Veterans Affairs denied for many years and even refused TPI Pensions for the soldier-guineapigs the chemical weapons were tested on in Nth Qld.

The bulk supplies were stored in the Glenbrook Tunnel (part of the little zig-zag line at Lapstone) underneath RAAF Glenbrook. Mushrooms have been grown in the same tunnel since the War.

I have a Lithgow Slazenger single shot .22 and I used to also have a .22 bolt action repeater.

Cheers, Mick.

Originally Posted by 87County

Interesting to note that the recorded destruction of chemical weapons occured as recently as 2009 in regard to some of the Marangaroo storage

The regular army provided guards at marangaroo untill recently I did two weeks there in the mid 80,s the the fire evac instructions made good reading