Fort Bribie

Fort Bribie, constructed between 1940 and 1942, consisted of two 6-inch guns and their support infrastructure, and was designed to defend the North West Channel into Moreton Bay. The northern searchlight emplacement is about 24.5 km by 4WD from the car park at the north end of North Street, Woorim. The fort is also linked to the Ocean Beach camping ground by a walkway.

Beach erosion is gradually exposing more elements of the fort over time. The main surviving concrete elements include the northern searchlight, a two storey structure now standing on the beach. The northern (Number 2) gun emplacement is about 640m south of the northern searchlight, while an observation structure is located about 425m south of the northern searchlight. The observation structure consists of two walls supporting a platform above with a partial wall. About 30m to the south is the buried northern Mine Control Hut, and then the larger southern Mine Control Hut. Recently, concrete and steel remains of another structure were revealed by beach erosion about 60m south of the southern mine hut.

About 160m to the south of the mine huts is the northern gun emplacement, a two storey structure with a gun platform open to the east and five rooms below. The concrete and timber overhead cover for the gun has collapsed. There is over 100m distance between the gun emplacements. The southern (Number 1) gun emplacement retains its overhead cover. About 60m south of the Number 1 gun is the Signals Operations Room (SOR), which was once buried in a sand dune, but is now exposed on the beach.

In the area to the west and south of the SOR are a number of concrete slabs and concrete stumps for various camp buildings. Other concrete structures survive around the camp area, including several round wells, urinals, pump house, septic tank, and septic pipeline mountings. Little remains of the Command Post (CP) at the south end of the men’s section of the camp.

The most southern element is another searchlight, located close to the beach about 620m south of the Number 1 gun emplacement.