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‘Y’ Station, 16 Heavy Anti Aircraft Battery, Mount St John
The 3.7-Inch Heavy Anti Aircraft (HAA) gun station on the summit of Mount St John was constructed in early 1942 to protect the nearby Garbutt Aerodrome. Designated as No. 2 Station (later ‘Y’ Station) of the 16 HAA Battery, it fired at Japanese aircraft over Townsville on 1 May 1942 and 28 July 1942.
Mount St John is located about 2.3km due west of the Garbutt main north-south runway. ‘Y’ Station is located on private land north of the Bruce Highway (Ingham Road), west of the road to the Townsville City Council’s sewerage treatment plant.
There is evidence of a former service road winding up the southern side of Mount St John. Four hexagonal concrete gun platforms are located west and north of a semi-underground concrete command post, in an arc covering about 100 degrees. All the gun platforms still have the metal mounting rods for the guns in place. Two single-room concrete magazines are located west of the guns, and two more are located to the east. All were once covered in soil, but two of the magazines are now exposed.
A fifth gun platform, for a light AA gun, is located just east of the command post, and the camp site for the battery was located to the southeast of the summit.
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History
After the attack on Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941 and the air raid on Darwin in February 1942, it was feared that Townsville would also be attacked. By mid-1942 Horn Island Airfield in the Torres Strait had already been bombed several times, and Townsville was the largest Allied staging, supply and repair base in the South West Pacific Theatre.
The 16 HAA Battery was stationed in Townsville, with two separate units defending Garbutt aerodrome and its approaches. No.1 Station, at Rowe’s Bay adjacent to Pallarenda, was operational by 9 March 1942 with four guns in position. Construction of No.2 Station...
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