On 29 December 1941, three weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, Australia prepared to defend itself. In Townsville, the 16th Battalion of the Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC) prepared a document entitled, Suggested Plan for Beach Defence of Townsville. This secret document listed where counter attacks would originate if the Japanese were to land on Rowes Bay and The Strand. It is the earliest document discovered regarding Townsville’s Pacific War defence plans.

Among descriptions of where trenches, tank traps and fuel stores were located, it mentions of an 'emplacement' in the locality of Rowes Bay, to be built of stone...