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Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) 23 Inland Aviation Fuel Depot
BP Fuel Depot
Known as Shell Hill, RAAF 23 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot (IAFD), Cloncurry, derived its name from the Shell Oil Company, which managed the depot. The wartime underground storage tanks survive, although the reinforced concrete pump house and a nearby underground air raid shelter were recently demolished during expansion of facilities by the current operator of the depot, the British Petroleum Company.
Place information
Location
Place type
Supply facility
History
As the threat of war with Japan increased during 1941, Cloncurry suddenly became strategically important as an outback railway centre and a key aerodrome on the inland air route between Brisbane and Darwin. The existing civilian aerodrome was extended and developed to RAAF requirements as a refuelling base and a staging field for heavy bomber movements and fighter aircraft in transit.
The Queensland Main Roads Commission assisted in the development of a low hill close to the railway on the southern edge of Cloncurry, as a bulk fuel storage depot for the RAAF and four large steel storage tanks were built....
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