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Wednesday, April 4, 2012

RAAF Airforce Receiving Station at Werribee (update)

To all,
 
In an earlier post, I talked about the RAAF Radio Receiving Station which was located at Werribee, 35 km west of Melbourne, in WW2.
 
I have discovered some more images from the Australian War Memorial, which may be of interest.
 
The Station was located west of the town, next to the Werribee River, just off the Old Geelong Rd. The site was later used for the present-day Water Treatment Plant of Melbourne Water. There is an old RAAF building still standing, which may have been part of the Station, which closed down in 1947.
 
This was the main Australian Central Receiving Station for the RAAF. There were 52 AR7 receivers in racks, and 31 Rhombic antennas.
 
Regards from Melbourne
 
Bob
 
Werribee RAAF Receiving  Station - antenna switching panel - 1944
 
Adjusting receiving antenna feeder lines
 
The receiving room, showing the  52 AR7 receivers

5 comments:

  1. The Remote Receiving Station Werribee did not close in 1947. I was the OIC of the Station 1968-70 and it continued in service into the late-1970s. I saw what remained of it, Main Building and some antennas, in 1984, when it had only a RAAF caretaker. It's role was transferred to the Sydney area as part of the rationalisation of Service communications.

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    1. Ivor - thanks for your note and advice on the closure date for Werribee. The date I gave was sourced to the Melton Environmental Study (no longer available on-line) and the Australian War Memorial.

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  2. I used to live next to it at hobbs road, it was closed when I lived there in the 1980s but still had things in it, I remember going through it with friends and family that lived there also.
    There was no caretaker when I was there. Best part of my childhood was growing up out there, nothing really around but the 10 houses on Hobbs Road and the water tank at the end of the road. :)

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  3. The W.R.R.S also had 10 Marriage Quarters along side the base. Barry Norling (my Father) was the Caretaker when the base ceased to function. Now the building is used for a grain store and only 1 house remains. The land on the base did at one stage have a 9 hole gold course as well as a fair size flock of sheep as I think the farmer next door (sir name Wilson) had some time of agreement he could have the sheep there.

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  4. Howdy. I grew up at Werribee Receiving Station and even have a photo of me, with my dad (who was a RadTech) in the front yard of the houses there. I am 40 this year, so the photo is circa 1976/1977. So, the station didn't shut down in the '40s. We left in 1981 after my dad was posted to RAAF Base Darwin. Must have been bulldozed not long after that. Dad was also a care taker for the golf course some times - I remember beetling about with him while he replaced flags and made new holes. Mum hated it there, but I remember it fondly - probably because when you're a kid, you just don't really care where you are.

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