We found this spot after finding Funky Gibbon and wondered what
these strange buildings were in the middle of a paddock. The answer
is below
A Department of Defense Site
These Igloos were constructed during the Second World War to be
used as air raid shelters large barracks and two for radio location
towers each 132 feet high.
Construction of the site was almost finished when peace was
declared so the towers and sheds were sold in 1946.
The towers were sold for ten pounds each.
This site was recently on the TV Program "Postcards" so here is
the details from that segment.
Radar Station 203 near Cowell: Ron examines some military
history on the Eyre Peninsula in the West Coast region of South
Australia
In a wheat paddock about eighteen kilometres from Cowell on Eyre
Peninsula stand some remarkable structures. The igloo like
landmarks are well known by locals today but their initial purpose
dates back to a time when it seemed Australia faced an imminent
invasion by the Japanese. The story of the cement structures is
shrouded in secrecy even today.
The Royal Australian Airforce built them in 1942 - the nation's
darkest hour - when the bombing of Darwin brought the war home to
all Australians. With the defence of important industrial cities
Port Pirie and Whyalla considered paramount, the RAAF set about the
construction of Number 203 Radar Station. Smaller huts were built
to house generators and within the shadow of the little shack
village at Port Gibbon stand the ruins of the men's quarters.
Sixty-six years on from the construction of the two main radar huts
the details about the operations of this top-secret facility remain
sketchy.
Lyndon Carmody: "They had the most advanced radar system of the
time suspended between the towers. There would have been a huge
series of antennae going across one hundred and thirty odd feet up
and then across."
Former cocky Lyndon Carmody - remembers returning home from
service as a mechanic on Catalina Flying Boats to find giant
structures dominating the wheat paddocks around Cowell.
Lyndon Carmody: "Like everything that was going on in the war,
99 percent of Australians hadn't a clue what was going on."
Another local farmer Gerald Beinke also got quite a shock when
he finally returned from service in Darwin. He says similar
stations near Ceduna and Port Augusta were meant to act
hand-in-glove with this facility to provide three reference points
on aircraft entering Eyre Peninsula air space.
Today the strange cement igloo like structures cause many a
tourist to pull over on the dirt roads at the back of Cowell just
as they did more than sixty years ago.
Despite all the secrecy and effort Radar Station 203 was never
used. The defeat of the Japanese at the Battle of Midway lead to
the scrapping of this radar project and over time farmers
dismantled the radar towers using the wood for shearing sheds and
the like. The concrete structures got a guernsey as well - hosting
dances and picnics for the locals.
Today they remain an intriguing landmark from a different time
when Australia was under attack. The remains of radar station 203
can be seen from the Port Gibbon Road about eighteen kilometres
from Cowell on Eyre Peninsula.
