No.53 Radio Direction Finding (RDF) Station, Mt Surprise, was established in 1943 as one of 25 RDF stations controlled by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) No.42 RDF Wing Headquarters in Townsville. Intended to provide early warning of air attack on Townsville and allied units training on the Atherton Tableland, it operated uneventfully between August 1943 and January 1945.

The remains of RAAF 53 Radar Station are scattered over Mount Lookout/Radar Hill, located just north of the Gulf Developmental Road, about 4km northeast of the township of Mount Surprise.

The collapsed 'Doover' hut and control tower minus the transmitter/receiver (radar screen) is located on a small terrace beneath a rocky knoll at the northern end of Mount Lookout. Other remnants of the installation are located on the summit and several other terraces descending to the south: two collapsed concrete bunkers with associated machine-gun mountings in pits; remnants of a wire/barbed wire fence strung on bush poles; at least 8 small 'sentry posts' constructed from local rocks; Ironwood and Ironbark trees used as telephone poles; and a number of concrete slabs. The former encampment area at the southern base of Mount Lookout has been impacted upon by a gravel extraction operation.