https://www.google.com/maps/@-33.2464597,151.1574844,3041m/data=!3m1!1e3
Unless you had a reason to hide in fairly rough terrain I can't see much point to it. There is an "airfield trail" leading to it, so I'm not imagining things...
Friday, June 11, 2010
Another Kulnura airstrip - well it used to be, anyway. Looks overgrown now
It was a private airstrip, as mentioned in the comments (see tezar1962 in particular). The details of a lease of land and its purpose were published in the Government Gazette in 1973.
The remaining questions would include, who are the Swintons, and what aircraft did they operate from these strips? Some pics would be nice. Thanks to everyone who took an interest in the original question. Appreciate the effort.
FWIW, previous speculation suggested these options:
Is this a military airstrip from WWII? Or a Forestry Commission effort that's now been decommissioned? Or (last guess) some left-over infrastructure from the construction of Mangrove Creek Dam? Whatever the origin or original purpose, it's clearly a 2-runways crossing setup fairly deep inside McPherson State Forest.
https://www.google.com/maps/@-33.2464597,151.1574844,3041m/data=!3m1!1e3
Unless you had a reason to hide in fairly rough terrain I can't see much point to it. There is an "airfield trail" leading to it, so I'm not imagining things...
https://www.google.com/maps/@-33.2464597,151.1574844,3041m/data=!3m1!1e3
Unless you had a reason to hide in fairly rough terrain I can't see much point to it. There is an "airfield trail" leading to it, so I'm not imagining things...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
I interviewed a so called caretaker who lived in a caravan on sight who said he was employed to maintain the airstrip by keeping debris, overgrowth of vegetation and animals on the runways. This was some time in the early eighties. he said the airfield was an emergency back up for either Sydney or Richmond airfields. The dirt runways were graded and were free of overgrowth and easily distinguished as two runways in a cross pattern. there was no infrastructure to operate as a working airfield except for the caravan. I am not sure if this so called caretaker was delusional or merely squatting on the land and making up stories to justify his existence. From these recent images the runways are clearly overgrown but the images of the cross pattern runways can still be identified. I would love to find out the history of this site
Author Kevin Martin
In the 80's (84 - 86 ish) as a teenager I discovered these runways while exploring the area on trail bikes. At that stage the runways had been ploughed and small gum trees (1m high) were growing. There was no sign of a caretaker. There were plenty of old ammunition cartridges on the ground, some were plastic blanks so we assumed the area may have been used for military training. Also be great to find out more details of its history.
I hiked there today and had a look. The former runways are covered in tall trees, so from the ground they're pretty much indistinguishable from the surrounding bushland. A faint outline of the runways is still visible on Google Maps, probably because the trees are slightly shorter than those that surround them. However, this is not apparent from the ground. I didn't see the remains of any buildings or other artifacts.
Many thanks, Anonymous Explorer! Great that someone made it out there and had a look. Sounds like it won't be many years before it has merged completely into the surrounding from whence it came.
And thanks also to Unknown for the earlier recollections.
I don't believe it was military in origin. I checked a book called "RAAF and USAAF airfields in Australia and the SWPA during World War Two Part 1". As the title suggests it's a comprehensive listing of everything from air bases to emergency landing grounds and dispersal sites.
Important bases like Richmond would have a number of satellite landing options for bad weather or other emergencies and I was thinking Kulnurra would be one of those. Sadly, I could find nothing under Kulnurra or Mangrove, with various spellings. The closest listed in the book was the airfield next to Lake Tuggerah.
Looks like it might have been one of the civilian options. There's probably a civilian version of this book out there somewhere...
private airstrip of alexander george swinton
source trove
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/220218286?searchTerm=%22alexander%20george%20swinton%22
Thanks, tezar1962. That's pretty clear. It was indeed a private airstrip, the land leased by the Swintons in the 1970s and 80s for $20 a year. A mystery no more.
Post a Comment