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MAGNETIC ISLAND...continued |
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Magnetic Island was the obvious place for building a Signal Station and Coastal Battery. The Forts complex was operated from 1943 until the end of the Pacific War in 1945 by the Australian Coastal Artillery Units. |
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Right: World War II Signal Station, The Forts Below: Command Post on top of a giant granite rock |
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Today, a walking track climbs to the rocky granite tops where the Command Post, Signal Station and gun emplacements can still be seen (the guns have gone). Both the Command Post and the Signal Station stick up in the air like the proverbial – surely they would have been sitting ducks to Japanese aircraft? It is hard to imagine that 120 men and women lived and worked amongst this dry, rocky terrain, for several years. |
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Despite the heat we opted to walk the series of quiet roads and foot tracks that lead from The Forts up the east coast via several gorgeous bays, finally leading back to Horseshoe Bay. The highlight of the walk is definitely the diversion to Balding Bay. |
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Left: WWII gun emplacement & bunker |
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Clockwise from Above: Balding Bay; boulders, lichen & leaves, Balding Bay track; Horseshoe Bay foreshore |