Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Port War Signal Station 1

Port War Signal Station

RAN Station 1, a Port War Signal Station (PWSS), was constructed at Caloundra Head sometime after March 1941. The PWSS consisted of a two storey reinforced concrete signal tower and a timber signal station accommodation building, and replaced an earlier PWSS near Fort Cowan Cowan on Moreton Island. Both PWSS buildings at Caloundra were demolished after the war, although the accommodation building served as the Whitecliff private hospital for some time, from 1948.

The site of the signal tower was on the front lawn of the Sea Eagle Apartments at 38 Victoria Terrace, Wickham Point, while the accommodation building was located further west, at what is now 41 Victoria Terrace.

Place information

Location

Sea Eagle Apartments, 38 Victoria Terrace

Caloundra, QLD 4551

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Place type

Fortifications

History

Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Station 1, a Port War Signal Station (PWSS) at Caloundra Head, formed part of the naval defences of Moreton Bay during World War II. Before the war these defences included coastal batteries at Fort Lytton (established 1880–1881, on the southern side of the Brisbane River’s mouth) and Fort Cowan Cowan (1937, on the west side of Moreton Island). During World War II Moreton Bay’s defences were improved: Fort Bribie, at the northeast tip of Bribie Island, was established by early 1940, and upgraded its two 6" gun emplacements in late 1941–early 1942. In late 1942 two...

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