Temporary Signals Office Townsville

A Temporary Signals office for the Allied Air Force was located in Francis Street West End in mid 1943. The suburb of West End in Townsville was the location of many hired dwellings by the Australian and US military. Commonwealth documents also reveal plans of several underground air raid shelters and command posts/operations rooms in this suburb. These architectural plans do not indicate how many were actually completed.

This facility was connected to the RAAF at Garbutt airfield, the No.2 US Air Command Operations and Signals centre at Ramsay Street Garbutt, a Remote Receiving station in Stagpole Street and the RAAF Intelligence and Signals Building in Green and Sidney Streets. These highly secretive installations have left little in the way of documentation in the archives to reveal how they operated. However they were not only responsible for Allied communications, but also the interpretation of intercepted Japanese transmissions.

The location of the temporary signals was ninety-six yards from the corner of Henry and Francis Street on the left towards Tufley Street. This drawing indicates it may have been located at the rear of a house in Francis Street.