| Photographs: | |
|---|---|
| List: | Register of the National Estate |
| Class: | Historic |
| Legal Status: | Registered (24/09/2002) |
| Place ID: | 100639 |
| Place File No: | 8/01/000/0490 |
| Statement of Significance: |
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The Royal
Australian Naval Transmitting Station at Belconnen,
comprising the three main aerial masts, elements of the Rhombic and Omni Vector
aerial arrays, transmitting hall, guardpost and guard house, the cricket pitch and the village site, including the tree plantings, shelter belt radiata plantations, subdivision and tennis courts and road system, is important for its association with the development of Australian Naval Communications in Australia from 1938 in the lead up to the Second World War 1939-45. Completed in 1939 the Transmitting Station was the most powerful naval wireless station in the British Empire and the largest naval or commercial station in the southern hemisphere. The extant fabric of the transmitting station and the relict village site are important in illustrating the significant role the base played in naval communication both during and after World War Two. The area developed for the village is important in demonstrating the functioning of the station in its relatively remote setting. (Criterion A.4) The Transmitting Station is important as a rare example of the technical development of Australian Naval Communication during the inter-War years. This is illustrated by the design and technical achievement expressed in the three 600 foot aerial masts, assembled on site and aligned east-west to maximise transmissions to the Pacific and Indian Oceans and the intact 44,000hz, purpose built, low frequency transmitter complex, which, in conjunction with Rugby in England, made it possible to communicate with British Merchant or Fleet shipping anywhere in the world (Criterion B.2 and Criterion F.1). The Transmitter Building, 600ft aerial masts, Guard House and guardpost and the access road and associated village site, including the subdivision and landscape elements, are important in demonstrating the design, layout and functioning of high powered, low frequency, transmitting stations developed by the Commonwealth for long distance radio communication prior to and during World War Two (Criterion D.2). The place is highly valued for its social and symbolic associations by members of the local community including former Naval personnel in particular the WRAN, for whom the establishment of the transmitting and receiving stations in Canberra resulted in the training of women as telegraphists under Mrs Florence McKenzie, founder of the WRAN service, and in the development of Canberra. (Criterion G.1) (Historic Themes: 7.7 Defending Australia). |
| Official Values: Not Available |
| Description: |
|
The Royal Australian Naval Transmitting Station at Belconnen
is the transmission facility of the Naval Communications Station (NAVCOMSTA)
Canberra. The Communications
Station also includes a receive facility at the Naval Receiving Station,
Bonshaw and a control facility at HMAS Harman. There is an 11 mile dispersion distance between the receiving
and transmitting sites, HMAS Harman and Belconnen respectively, necessary to
ensure that the powerful transmitting site did not drown out the sensitive
receiving site at Harman. The
Royal Australian Naval Transmitting Station at Belconnen consists of the
transmitter hall, aerial farm, guardhouse, sailors messing accommodation and
remnant landscape of the former married quarters settlement, linked by the
access and internal road system. For
convenience the description is in two parts. 1. Transmitter Hall and Aerial Farm The transmitter hall and aerial farm are located on 136.8ha of land in Belconnen, North Canberra. The three 600ft towers and the subordinate transmitter hall are dominant elements in a landscape defined by the technical requirements of low frequency transmission. Although replaced by high frequency transmission expressed in the multiplicity of smaller aerials the landscape and aerial farm, remains subordinate to the 600ft low frequency transmission towers. The area defined by the operation of the Transmitting Station, including the aerial array, transmitting halls and guard post, at Belconnen are located within an area of Danthonia grassland in good condition listed separately in the Register of the National Estate (see RR 018878). Significant features include the following: - Aerial Farm There is a very large earth mat buried beneath the ground consisting of a series of copper wires radiating out from the central mast site of the low frequency transmitter. The aerial farm consists of six different types of aerials including Omni-Vector, Rhombic, bi-conical monopole, vertical log periodic, rotatable log periodic, log spiral and vertical folded dipoles. There are approximately fifty aerials on the site. The three, 600ft, low frequency transmitter aerial masts and those Rhombic aerials associated with the original Rhombic aerial array are individually significant within the aerial farm. The seven Omni-Vector aerials are the rarest types found on the site with no other examples identified in Australia. Associated with the three low frequency transmitter aerial masts are a range of structures which include the foundations of camouflage buildings and at least one intact Observation or Guard Post from the 1939-45 war years. Scattered eucalypts are reminders of the former pastoral landscapes, which underlie the site. - Transmitter Building and Transmitting Equipment. The Transmitter Building has been erected in a number of linked phases. The main building was erected from 1938-39 and in the early 1940s and includes the No 1 transmitter hall and helix room and the 44khz low frequency transmitter and No 2 transmitter hall and a range of attached structures including switch and amenities rooms, TX plant room, classroom, aerial workshop and stores. Extensions in the 1950s and 1960s include the regulating office, maintenance rooms and aerial exchange room on the western front of the transmitter hall. The associated emergency diesel generator building erected in 1973 is not included. The Transmitter Building is characterised by its brick, gabled domestic form with Marseilles tiled roofs and simple fenestration expressing the industrial nature of the buildings. Construction in red brick is typical of Commonwealth construction in the inter-war and World War Two years. With the exception of details the external brickwork is painted white. The two transmitter halls feature similar construction but have corrugated asbestos cement roofing and lower roof profiles than the associated more domestic structures housing ancillary functions. The 1950s two storey administration and aerial exchange extension on the western side of Transmitter Hall No 1 features an externally expressed frame with minimal pitch gabled roof. The 1950s extension is the main entrance to the building. The transmitting equipment is housed within buildings designed for functions specific to the operations of a high powered transmitting station. Features include blast proofing of the low frequency transmitter, the use of wooden fittings in place of iron within the Helix Room and electrical screening in the walls of the station. The low frequency transmitter and its components is one of the only remaining pieces of equipment remaining from the 1940s. The low frequency transmitter was designed and installed for the RAN by Standard Telephones and Cables Pty Ltd to operate in the frequency range 40khz to 150khz with a 200kw input in the final stage. The transmitter was updated in 1959-61 to allow for frequency shift operation. The original operation used Morse code and this modification allowed the transmitter to send information in telegraphic format. The original water cooling system was replaced by an air cooling system and the power input was increased to 250kw. In the period 1988-90 the mercury arc rectifiers were replaced with semi-conductor rectifiers. The (radio) valves were replaced with more readily available types. The transmitter was also completely boxed in due to concerns regarding radiation. The three original high frequency transmitters have been replaced with more modern equipment. Three different models of high frequency transmitters remain from the late 1950-60s, the 1970s and the 1990s. The station is the only low frequency radio site in the southern hemisphere. The station is also the most powerful Naval communications centre in the southern hemisphere with the oldest surviving communications technology in Australia. At the time of construction, the station was the most advanced communications station in Australia. The custom built 250kw low frequency transmitter was made specifically for Naval use and is unique in this respect. Those elements of the facility associated with the transmitting function, namely the transmitter buildings, 600 foot aerial masts, Rhombic and Omni Vector aerials, the guardpost, camouflage building foundations and the western part of the access road are located within an area of DANTHONIA grassland which represents the largest such area in good condition in the ACT. The grassland area acts as the habitat for an endangered species, the day flying moth, SYNEMON PLANA. This area is separately listed in the RNE at 8/01/000/0423. 2. Village settlement, entrance road, Guard House and landscaping. The transmitting facility was entered from the east, from the direction of HMAS Harman. In December 2000, the access road to the site is from Baldwin Drive. The houses in the small village, which developed west of the access road at the entrance to the site have been removed with the exception of the 1960s ratings quarters and mess adjacent to the guardhouse. Associated with the Guardhouse is a small ceremonial area defined by a group of cypress trees. Evidence of the village remains in the form of landscaping, roads and introduced planting, which define and screen the former village subdivision and access road which accurately follows the line of the original stock route. HMAS Harman, associated with the receiving component of the facilty, has undergone considerable modification compared to the Belconnen settlement. The village subdivision implemented in 1939 incorporates planning characteristic of the formality affected during the Inter-War years. Features include social zoning reflected in a semi-circular central feature, opposite the site of the Officer in Command, from which a short road below the ridge provides access to the 1960s single storey Ratings Quarters. This siting clearly reflects the influence of the technical requirements which dictated that the married quarters be sited below a hill to reduce absorption. The entrance to the site is identified by white painted brick walls and piers located close to the edges of the access road adjacent to the former village area. Plantings include three major elements; a shelter belt, or plantation, of PINUS RADIATA to the west and north of the village area below the crest of the adjacent ridge along the line of the pre 1938 stock route and the entrance road; a shelter belt of pin oaks, (QUERCUS PALUSTRIS), east of the village site aligned with the white painted entrance walls and piers; and a double row of EUCALYPTUS BICOSTATA on the north side of the access road. The line of the former laneway is reflected in the western windbreak of pine trees. The areas between the shelter belts retain landscaping elements associated with the village. Species include various types of cupressus, eucalypts and native and introduced shrubs planted characteristic of the post war period. The ratings quarters comprise single storey domestic scale buildings with low pitched roofs characteristic of cellular accommodation of the period. The Guard House defines the boundary between the village site and the operational areas of the transmitting station. The former Guard House of 1939-41 is strategically sited at the entrance to the transmitter, aerial array and technical areas and illustrates in its location the strict security arrangements associated with the facility. The building typically features brick construction with tiled gabled roof and simple fenestration of the inter-war years. A single brick chimney articulates one gable. The entrance side features a flat roofed porch on brick piers. The brickwork is painted white externally. The concrete cricket pitch remains in place adjacent to Ginninderra Creek within the area of the aerial farm. |
| History: |
|
With the development of wireless radio communications at the
beginning of the twentieth century, it became possible for naval ships to
exchange operational, logistic and administrative information with shore authorities.
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN)
initially established shore based radio facilities at the Flinders Naval Depot
near Melbourne, later transferring to sites in Canberra and Darwin. An extended communications facility was
considered necessary in the 1930s, prior to the perceived onset of World War
Two, in order to cover certain areas in low frequency ( long wavelength)
transmissions, missed at the time by the Royal Naval Communications station at
Rugby in the United Kingdom. In
1925 the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board had recommended the construction
of strategic wireless stations at Canberra and Darwin. These stations marked the advent of
modern RAN communications. The
stations were expected to make possible communication with British Merchant
Navy or fleet shipping in any part of the world. In 1935 the Commonwealth Government decided to erect radio
receiving and transmitting stations in Canberra. Canberra was located 75 miles inland and so was considered
safe from sea attack and thought to be less vulnerable to invasion by the
Japanese than other British Empire wireless stations in the Pacific region. In 1937 the Commonwealth Government
decided to commence the erection of receiving and transmitting stations in
Canberra; these were to be located on the territory border near Queanbeyan and
at Belconnen respectively. The
separation was necessary to reduce interference between the receiving and
transmitting facilities. Plans
were approved in September 1938, following early site planning in April 1938. November 1938 saw the commencement of
work at Belconnen by Standard Telephones Ltd, with the aid of the Department of
the Interior, on the transmitting station. Technical construction of the HMAS Harman receiving facility
near Queanbeyan was begun in early 1939, with the transmitter room at Belconnen
required by 15 January 1939. Due
to the lack of facilities on the selected sites accommodation was to be
provided for naval personnel. The
layout of the base was influenced by technical requirements, with the married
quarters sited behind a hill to reduce absoption (of radiation), and by
existing features including a stock route and fenced lane. A fenced lane defined the boundary
between the operational areas of the transmitter and the site designated for
staff quarters, behind a low ridge. Site planning drawings of April 1938 indicate that the
present access road, in part a stock route, linked the new base to Canberra. Provision was made for both a cricket
pitch and football field near Ginninderra Creek. Approval was given in February 1939 for the erection of 2 Chief Petty Officers Quarters on blocks 3 and 4, with 7 married quarters for Ratings to be erected on blocks 12-14 and 18-20, in an area dedicated to accommodation at the entrance to the site. The entrance road was run from the then Queanbeyan-Yass Road across an existing stock route before entering the site. The layout of the housing blocks at Harman and Belconnen characteristically included formal, semicircular subdivisions and planning expressing the social structure of the prevailing naval culture including the provision of tennis courts. Water was supplied to the Station and to the newly erected National Broadcasting Station, at Gunghalin, from a new concrete reservoir completed by September 1938. The Belconnen site was originally far enough away from the capital city to avoid interference with commercial stations. The facility was also sufficiently far to instil feelings of isolation in staff and families living at the transmitting station. The first batch of thirty naval officers and ratings arrived in March 1939 to operate and guard the stations. This group was to form the advance guard of the 200 men who were to occupy the two naval villages being established on either side of Canberra: '...the base was the most powerful short wave naval wireless station in the British Empire and the largest naval or commercial station in the southern hemisphere' (The Canberra Times 12 April 1939). The first transmission was made on 22 December 1939. These first transmissions appear to have been made using a series of Rhombic aerial arrays, located outside the area of the long wave aerial array completed in 1941. The Rhombic aerials were directional and named after the bases to which they transmitted. The Belconnen Transmitting Station, known throughout the Australian Fleet as Bels, principally contained the very powerful 200 kilowatts transmitter operating at the quite low frequency (long wave) of 44,000hz. This was designed to be able to break through the static noise usually encountered over long distances and to be received by submerged submarines. This necessitated the erection of three 600ft high aerial masts set a quarter of a mile apart to support the massive radiating aerial sited east-west to maximise transmissions into the Pacific and Indian Oceans. In conjunction with Rugby in England the facility at Canberra would make it possible to communicate with British Merchant or Fleet shipping anywhere in the world. This role could be fulfilled even, and fortuitously, in the event that stations at Singapore or Hong Kong became inoperable. In January 1941 the three 600ft masts were completed, followed in February and April by tennis courts, recreation hall and garages for those living on site. A cricket pitch and football field were located on the banks of Ginninderra Creek. During the war years the base at Belconnen was camouflaged to look like an operational farm. Small farm buildings were dotted about the landscape, which also included three camouflaged Observation Stations and a small arms range. In the post war years the grasslands were grazed under lease by local pastoralists including members of the local Southwell family. As high frequency (short wave) radio gained in reliability and efficiency more equipment was acquired occupying many hectares of open country. The HMAS Harman Receiving Station was only commissioned in 1943 and had a range of aerial types to ensure continuing reception. High frequency aerials were often rhombic in shape and directionally aligned to maximise power output towards the UK, Ceylon, New Guinea and Pearl Harbour in Hawaii. From 1942 to the end of World War Two, the receiving station was manned by communications personnel from the RAN Shore Wireless Service, RANR, RANVR, WRANS and even the US Navy. During the war years the WRAN, after 1942, was the largest group at HMAS Harman. The establishment of the receiving and transmitting facility in Canberra is important in the history of the WRAN which began to train women as telegraphists in April 1941 under the influence of Mrs Florence McKenzie the founder of the Women's RAN service. With the increase in wartime activities an Auxiliary Receiving Station was established at Fyshwick and named Molonglo. In the early 1950s a new receiving station was erected at Bonshaw next to HMAS Harman. This new station played an important role in receiving the results of the 1956 Olympics and passing them to Belconnen for transmission to the world. Changes at Belconnen included in 1951 additions to the transmission hall and the erection of a new Aerial Switch Room. The village at the entrance to the Belconnen complex was progressively landscaped under the influence of married staff and the Officer in Charge, with the ridgeline defined by groups of pine trees and some formal plantings along the approach driveway. The transmitting and receiving stations remained operational being manned 24 hours a day. From 1959-61 the low frequency transmitter at Belconnen was overhauled, the water cooled valves changed to air cooled types and power output increased to 250kw. In 1960 Ratings Quarters and Messes were constructed at Belconnen and a standby generator building erected in 1973. Also during the 1960s the Rhombic aerials, located in the aerial farm, were overhauled, the timberpoles being replaced with metal structures. In some cases the new support structures utilised the original bases maintaining the original aerial configuration and orientation. A range of Omni Vector aerials were also erected in the 1960s. By 1980 only six of the twenty-six cottages in the naval village at Belconnen were still occupied, the area falling into neglect. In 1982 TS (Training Ship) Canberra was installed in Cottage 17 at Belconnen with the modernisation and extension of six of the cottages. The housing area has now been cleared of structures with the exception of the single men's mess and quarters opposite the guardhouse, although the tennis courts remain. In 1986 five high frequency transmitters were installed at the Belconnen transmitting facility, surplus from OTC. From 1988-90 retention of operational potential was carried out on all transmitters and general equipment. The low frequency transmitter was boxed in (screened) to reduce radiation risks. In 1995 the low frequency (LF) transmitter, Bels44, was ceremonially decommissioned. The Belconnen station is still operational, providing the RAN with the high frequency radio transmission facilities required to send information to HMAS Fleet at sea. The functions of the Belconnen facility are expected to be transferred to Albury by 2001. The transmitting facility was being considered in 1999, by the Institution of Engineers Australia Heritage Panel, for an Historic Engineering Marker. |
| Condition and Integrity: |
|
Integrity: The NTS Belconnen is still operational and the buildings and aerials are maintained to working standard. The 250k watt low frequency transmitter is intact and in situ although the aerial conductors have been removed from the 600 foot towers. The houses have been removed from the village site. (March 1998) Condition: All elements are generally maintained in good order. Elements that are starting to deteriorate include the ceilings in the Transmitter exchange room and the protective insulating ceiling in the Helix Room. Some cracking has started to occur in the concrete flooring near the low frequency transmitter and paint is peeling off the door to the Buffer Amplifier of the transmitter. The site has been contaminated in some areas through the dumping of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl) which is a toxic liquid used as liquid insulation for some of the transmitting equipment. The RAN has been conducting surveys of the land since the late 1980s and is carrying out a comprehensive site clean up program. (March 1998) |
| Location: |
| About 15ha, off Baldwin Drive, Lawson, comprising the Transmitter Building and its access road; the three 600ft aerial masts 44A, 44B and 44C; the seven Omni Vector aerials; Rhombic aerials numbers 18, 30, 32 to 35, and 37 to 40; the cricket pitch; the guardhouse located 50 metres to the north of the Ratings Quarters; the guardpost located 200 metres to the north of the Transmitter Building; the 1938 subdivision village site and its access road from Baldwin Drive; plantings that include a belt of pines to the west and north of the village area and extending to the west of the Ratings Quarters; a shelter belt of pin oaks east of the village site; and a double row of eucalypts on the north side of the access road. The Ratings Quarters are not included. |
| Bibliography: |
|
Arundel, Captain R.
RAN, Command and control Communications in the RAN in "The Telecommunications Journal of Australia".
Vol.33, No 1, 1983, pp3-7. Arthur, A.J. "North West Cape U.S. Naval Communications Station and the support township of Exmouth", Commonwealth Government Printer, Canberra, 1979. Gibbney, J. "Canberra 1913-1953", Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1988. Lyne, J.A. "Canberra: A planned city", Sorrett Publishing Pty Ltd., 1987. Muscio, Winston. "Australian Radio the Technical Story 1923-83, Kangeroo Press Pty Ltd, NSW, 1984. Nelson, A. Lieutenant RAN, "A History of HMAS Harman and it's people 1943-1983", DC-C Publications, Canberra, 1993. Paine, C, (ed), "Standards in the Museum Care of Larger and Working Objects: social and industrial history collectins", Museums and Galleries Commission, London, 1994. Women's Royal Australian Naval Service' in "The Navy", Vol.33, Feb/Apr, 1971,pp 23-37. UNPUBLISHED SOURCES: Cdr. HJP Boxhall `Historical Notes on Naval Communications' Elias,P., Standard Telephones and Cables Pty Ltd `The Belconnen L F Transmitter,' at IRE Radio Electric Engineering Convention, March 20-24, Sydney, 1961 Dunford,M, Sharp S, `The Long Term Monitoring of Lowland Native Grassland Sites in the ACT' Wildlife Research Unit, ACT Parks and Conservation Service, 1992 National Archives (ACT) Series A292S Item C20674, RAN Wireless Transmitting Station Belconnen District, April 1938. PALM Plan room, Detail Planning Series 1961 sheets H4-B,D. |
Report Produced: Wed Feb 10 00:51:28 2010