Fortitude Valley Air Raid Shelters is a heritage-listed group of four air raid shelters at East Street and Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. They were built in 1942 by Brisbane City Council. They were added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 25 September 2020.
History Four air raid shelters stand near the corner of East Street and Wickham Street, in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, which is part of the traditional land of the Turrbal and Jagera peoples.Public Map, Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, https://culturalheritage.datsip.qld.gov.au/achris/public/public-registry/home (accessed 25 June 2020). Each shelter consists of a concrete floor, four central concrete columns, and a flat double-cantilever concrete roof. Constructed by the Brisbane City Council during early 1942, in the midst of World War II (WWII), these structures are among 20 surviving examples of public surface air raid shelters designed for post-war use as either park shelters or bus stops, after the removal of their brick or concrete walls. There are 27 public surface air raid shelters of all types, built by local governments, remaining in Queensland. The shelters in Fortitude Valley, the largest surviving group of public air raid shelters in Queensland, are important in demonstrating the impact of Japan's entry into the war on Queensland's civilian population. They were once arranged around the perimeter of a children's playground established in 1922.
When World War II began In September 1939, the Queensland Premier's Department, as the agency responsible for co-ordinating civil defence works in the state, began implementing home security policies. Air Raid Protection Committees, usually consisting of the local mayor, inspector of police and government medical officer, formed in centres along the Queensland coast.
As the threat of war with Japan increased, construction of public air raid shelters was planned in main centres considered vulnerable to air attack (e.g. the Babinda Air Raid Shelter in Far North Queensland). These home security policies were outlined in the Commonwealth War Book, which was prepared before the outbreak of war and outlined measures to be taken by authorities in wartime.'Why we have a "War Book"' Sunday Mail, 23 July 1939, p.6
Australia was under little threat of air attack until late 1941. On 8 December 1941, the United States of America entered the war, following the previous day's bombing of the American fleet at Pearl Harbor by Japanese carrier-borne aircraft. Simultaneously, Japanese forces launched assaults on Thailand, the Philippines and the British colony of Malaya. The sudden fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942 and the rapid Japanese advance through the islands of the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) raised fears of air attacks on Australia. The first Japanese air raid on Darwin occurred on 19 February 1942; and Broome, in Western Australia, was attacked on 3 March 1942. Japanese air raids on other targets in Australia seemed likely, and an invasion of Australia was also feared. Japan briefly considered invading Australia (an idea promoted by the Imperial Japanese Navy, but rejected by the Imperial Japanese Army due to a lack of resources) before shelving that option in March 1942, in favour of isolating Australia from the United States by capturing Port Moresby, and later Fiji, New Caledonia and the Samoan Islands.G Brown and D Anderson, "Invasion 1942? Australia and the Japanese threat", Background Paper Number 6 1992, Department of the Parliamentary Library, 29 April 1992
As a result of the growing fear of Japanese air raids, the Queensland Premier acted with powers conferred by Regulation 35a, an amendment to the National Security (General) Regulations of the National Security Act 1939–1940, which authorised each state premier to direct "blackouts" and to "make such provision as he deems necessary to protect the persons and property of the civil population".Regulation 35a, notified in the Commonwealth Government Gazette on 11 December 1941 (as Statutory Rules 1941 No. 287) The Queensland Government issued the Protection of Persons and Property Order No. 1, gazetted 23 December 1941, which ordered the Brisbane City Council (BCC), and other local authorities near the coast, to build air raid shelters. The BCC was ordered to construct 200 public surface shelters in the city area. Order No. 1 also required the owners of any building in the coastal areas, where over 30 people would normally be present at any one time (such as hotels), to build shelters within, or adjacent to, the building. Queensland Railways (QR) also instituted a shelter-building program at its railway stations.Queensland Government Gazette, 23 December 1941, in Queensland State Archives item 269093, (series 6874, Public Works Department correspondence), "Correspondence - local authorities - air raid shelters, civil defence, steel helmets", 1942-6. All Queensland coastal state schools were closed in late January 1942 and, although most reopened on 2 March 1942, student attendance was optional until the war ended. A policy of voluntary evacuation of women and children from Queensland coastal areas was also implemented on 27 January 1942.
Order No. 1 was applied state-wide, and another 24 local authorities in Queensland's coastal areas were ordered to produce surface or trench shelters for the public, to be built according to the Air Raid Shelter Code laid down in the Second Schedule of Order No. 1. Initially, 19 of these local authorities were expected to construct a total of 133 surface shelters able to withstand the blast of a 500-pound bomb bursting 50 feet away. A surface shelter was a self-contained external structure with the floor surface at or above ground level. Five local authorities were ordered to dig trenches. Standard designs for brick and concrete surface shelters, and for trench shelters, were sent to local authorities by the Architectural Branch of the Queensland Department of Public Works (DPW).Queensland Government Gazette, 23 December 1941, and a report to the Under Secretary of Public Works, 23 January 1942 (standard plans had been sent out), in QSA item 269093. These surface shelters were only meant to protect people, caught by surprise out in the open, from blast and debris, but not a direct hit.D Sullivan, 'Brisbane's air raid shelters: the palimpsest as war memorial', Thesis submitted as part of a Bachelor of Architecture, University of Queensland, 1992, p.27)
The number of shelters to be built, and the number of local authorities required to build them, was increased in January 1942. By 26 January, 26 local authorities outside Brisbane were expected to build 143 surface air raid shelters, with Tully and Redcliffe constructing trenches and Ipswich building a combination of surface shelters and trenches.'List of local authorities in the area of which public air raid shelters are being provided, & particulars of progress of work', 26 January 1942, in QSA item 269093. Ultimately, those local authorities outside Brisbane which had work funded by the DPW, built 133 shelters - 126 surface shelters, and seven underground. The underground shelters were at Bundaberg and Mount Morgan. In five cases (Atherton, Cairns, Gladstone, Mackay, and Toowoomba) the DPW built shelters without local authority assistance. Some local authorities, like Brisbane, undertook and funded their own shelter building program. The Brisbane City Council spent £88,933. The DPW's construction program outside Brisbane cost £56,596 with£30,929 worth of the work was undertaken by the DPW, and the rest by local authorities with funds provided by the DPW.'Statement No. 1, showing expenditure by the Public Works Department in connection with the provision of public shelters' (undated), and 'Expenditure on Public air raid shelters in local authority areas (undated), in QSA item 269093'Council liability on shelters', Courier Mail, 13 February 1943, p.3).
Brisbane was a prime target with a large civilian population. After the first US forces arrived in Brisbane in the Pensacola Convoy on 22 December 1941, the city became a major supply base and staging point for the war in the South West Pacific, and the largest US naval base in continental Australia. Brisbane was the location of various units' headquarters, plus supply and ordnance depots, military transit camps and hospitals, research facilities, naval bases (including a US submarine base), munitions factories, military airfields, and aircraft assembly and maintenance facilities.Building the Navy's Bases in World War II History of the Bureau of Yards and Docks and the Civil Engineer Corps 1940-1946, Volume II, Part III, Chapter 26 "Bases in the Southwest Pacific", p. 279, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/b/building-the-navys-bases.html (accessed 22 May 2019). In January 1942 Brisbane became Base Section 3 of the United States Army Forces in Australia (USAFIA), headquartered in Somerville House, South Brisbane. After General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, South West Pacific Area (SWPA), arrived in Brisbane in July 1942, the city also hosted his General Headquarters in the AMP building at the corner of Queen and Edward Streets (now known as MacArthur Chambers). General Sir Thomas Blamey, Commander Allied Land Forces, had his Advanced Land Headquarters at the University of Queensland, St Lucia. Queensland played a major role in the build-up of troops and supplies for the joint US-Australian counter-offensive in New Guinea, which occurred after the Japanese advance was checked at Milne Bay and on the Kokoda track (August–September 1942).KC Dod, The Corps of Engineers: the war against Japan, Washington, Office of the Chief of Military History, U.S. Army, 1966, pp.109-12H Pearce, WWII-NQ: a cultural heritage overview of significant places in the defence of north Queensland during World War II, Brisbane, Environmental Protection Agency, January 2009, pp. 11-19, 51-2'South West Pacific campaign', https://www.ww2places.qld.gov.au/south-west-pacific-campaign (accessed 11 April 2019)QHR 602084, 'Y Station, 16 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery''Headquarters, US Army Base Section No. 3 - Brisbane Somerville House, APO 923', https://www.ozatwar.com/ozatwar/basesection3.htm (accessed 11 April 2019).
The BCC took responsibility for certain Air Raid Precautions (ARP) activities in Brisbane, including establishing a control headquarters for Essential and Emergency Services, known as BESOR, which communicated with the police ARP control centre in the basement of the Roma Street Police Station, on the corner of Roma Street and Ann Street. The latter controlled the ARP wardens. The BCC managed rescue and demolition; installed and maintained the electrically-operated air raid sirens (operated by the police); equipped first aid sheds; and constructed public air raid shelters while supervising the building of private air raid shelters. Above-ground salt water pipes were also laid along city streets to aid in firefighting.BCC Annual Report, 1941-42, pp.11-13'Air Raid Precautions control room', https://www.ozatwar.com/bunkers/bunkerturbotstreet.htm (accessed 1 July 2020).