Local Government
East Pilbara
Region
Pilbara
Salgash Corunna Downs Rd Marble Bar
Approx 50kms south of Marble Bar AIRBASE ONLY IN THIS RECORD - see also parent record P3695 Corunna Downs Station & Fmr War Time Airbase.
East Pilbara
Pilbara
Constructed from 1942
Type | Status | Date | Documents | More information |
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Type | Status | Date | Grading/Management | More information | |
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Category | Description | ||||
Municipal Inventory | Adopted | 27 Aug 1999 |
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This place has historic, scientific and social significance. Airforce Historian, Lindsay Peet. classed Corunna secret airbase as "strategically crucial to Australia's northern defence". Maintained under top secret security, Corunna was never located by Japanese reconnaissance. U.S. airmen and B-24 liberators based at Corunna hit Japanese targets in occupied Indonesia. A round trip to Surabaya was about 4,000 kms. These were the longest bombing raids flown anywhere before 1943. The base had a significant social influence on the township of Marble Bar.
There are two intersecting runways constructed of bitumen on compacted crushed stone base. The northsouth runway is 5.000 feet long and the east-west is 7,000 feet long. Both are 150 feet wide and linked by a 50 feet wide taxi-way. Off this taxi-way runs a loop road with about 20 aircraft bays. Set in spinifex scrub and near an iron-stone ridge, the base buildings were few - namely kitchen, hospital, administration and recreation huts. Only stone foundations remain.
All that remains of Base buildings are concrete-raft floors, sewerage pits etc.
Clearance sales in 1946 completely demolished removable materials.
Airbase runways/revetments are intact & in fair condition.
Fair
Ref ID No | Ref Name | Ref Source | Ref Date |
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F Purser; "The Story of Corunna Downs". | |||
"The Sunday Times". | Nov 1993 |
Library Id | Title | Medium | Year Of Publication |
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11951 | Black Swans over Java | Book | 2021 |
Individual Building or Group
Epoch | General | Specific |
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Present Use | VACANT\UNUSED | Vacant\Unused |
Other Use | OTHER | Other |
Original Use | MILITARY | Other |
Style |
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Other Style |
Type | General | Specific |
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Other | CONCRETE | Concrete Slab |
Other | STONE | Local Stone |
General | Specific |
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OUTSIDE INFLUENCES | World Wars & other wars |
This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.