Of Murray
Pines and a Hospital
Welcome to another Blacklegend cache
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As of 18/09/2011 I have revamped the page with some information on
the Tocumwal Airfield to include it in the "McIntyre Field"
series.
This is the second cache in what is now becoming a series around
the Tocumwal Airfield. There are two reasons for bringing you to
this location. I wanted to bring your attention to two very
different local attractions, the first being a tree, the Murray
Pine - Callitris Gracilis which is native to this area and other
areas along the river and the second being the WW2 #5 RAAF
Hospital.
Firstly, a little bit of history on the Tocumwal Airfield, or as it
used to be called in WW2, McIntyre Field.
The History...
The Tocumwal Airfield began operation in the second world war in
response to the Japanese moving south in the Pacific Ocean. There
was a real threat that they were going to invade Australia, and
Tocumwal was a major airfield which was going to be used in that
defense.
When occupied by the USAF (US Air Force) it was called McIntyre
Field. In 1942, the RAAF took over operation of the airfield and
called it "Tocumwal".
During its operation the airfiled was 25 square miles in size and
was home to many different types of planes. including 54 B-24
Liberator bombers, 11 Vultee Vengeance, 5 Kittyhawks and an
Airspeed Oxford.
After the war it was also used as a vast storage and repair depot
with aircraft such as Avro Anson, Airacobra, Beaufort, Boeing,
Boomerang, Dakota, Hudson, Lancaster, Lincoln, Meteor, Mosquito,
Mustang, Spitfire, Beaufighter, Vampire, Winjeel and
Wirraway.
After the RAAF left Tocumwal in 1960, over 700 aircraft were
scrapped through until 1963. Many aircraft were smelted on site
into aluminum ingots, pots and pans. The Holden Motor Company
brought much of the Aluminium
Similarly, almost all of the 608 buildings on the airbase and at
the hospital, were sold and removed. With post war building
supplies almost impossible to get, this was popular at the time,
but there was little foresight as to the historical value of this.
There are a few buildings left, and many foundations which are
subject of some caches in this series.
Abot 200 of the houses were moved to developing suburbs in
Canberra. The suburbs which received the houses were Anislie and
O'Connor. You can view the whole story at this link
The
Tocumwal Archive
There were originally six large hangars built on site, there are
three remaining today. One is used by the gliding club onsite to
store aircraft.
The longest of all four runways that were made, has been covered by
soil. If you drive about 400 meters west of the cache named "Gate 9
- Tocumwal Airfield" along the road the cache is on, you can see
some white markers in the field, inside the airport fence line.
This marks where that runway is. This location will be subject of
another cache soon.
Our house is on land that used to be part of the airbase. When I
have been working on our block, I have found old aircraft tools,
red bricks from buildings and old bullet casings.
There are other caches around the area which have information about
the airfield. These caches will be listed with the title
"McIntyre Field"
The are well worth visiting, as the locations are very historical.
Another image is shown below, it is an aerial shot of the airfield
facing south.
Visit this link Tocumwal Airfield During
WW2 or Visit this link
A Brief History of Tocumwal Aerodrome
For more information if you like. It's not a bad read, and has some
good information and pics.
The Subject of This Cache...
The Murray Pine Callitris Gracilis: subspecies. murrayensis
The Murray Pine had its populations severely depleted in the local
area due to a combination of commercial logging and clearing for
agricultural uses (cereal crops). In recent times, there has been
some regeneration of the tree, and there are a few select areas
around Tocumwal, Barooga and Cobram where the tree can be seen in
significant numbers.
As you stand at WP1, if you look to the right and out over the
paddock, you will see a spread of mature samples of the trees.
There are also some around the WW2 #5 RAAF Hospital site. The wood
from the Murray Pine is highly sort after as a naturally termite
resistant wood which has a high structural strength for building
applications and also has a very nice grain and texture for
furniture and decorative use.
The trees themselves can grow to about 20 meters, but usually are
between 10 and 20 meters. Mature trees can reach 600mm diameter
through the trunk, but usually are between 300 and 450mm.
The WW2 #5 RAAF Hospital...
The hospital was built in 1942 for the US Air Force. It was located
where it is, 8km south east of the Tocumwal Aerodome (at the time
an Air Force base) for safety and security reasons. The hospital
was build in a forrest of Murray Pines, which can still be seen on
land rented from a person named Mr Keech for the sum of 125 pounds
annually. It was finally purchased for 1000 pounds in November
1944.
Looking straight ahead over the paddock, you can see some of the
remains of the hospital. Straight ahead you can see an old water
tank, and in the 10 o’clock direction you can see some
concrete building foundations.
Administration was put in place for a total of 600 patients,
however buildings were only provided for a total of about 300
patients.
At the site, there is a memorial plaque and a display with further
information and a map of the hospital.
To Find The Cache
The clues you need for the cache are located on the brass plaque on
the granite obelisk on the left hand side of the area. You will
need the following information:
ABC = Number of beds in hospital
D = Number of wards in hospital
EF = Number of buildings on the site
GH = Number of Doctors stationed there
The Calculations are as follows:
S 35° 51.(Bx2)(G+H)(D)
E 145° 39.(H-G)(B+F+A)(D)
Once again, have fun and be careful with the kiddies near the road.
Also, anywhere in Australia, BE CAREFUL AND ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
SNAKES, ESPECIALLY WITH THE KIDS. Good luck and importantly, have
fun.
Onfr bs gerr. Vg'f pybfr.