Birdum

Coordinates: 15 ° 38 ′ 38 ″  S , 133 ° 13 ′ 9 ″  E

Birdum​

Australia

Birdum is an abandoned settlement in the Northern Territory , Australia . The site was the southern terminus of the Northern Australian Railway for around two decades and the location of various military units during World War II .

prehistory

Northern Australian Railways, 1936 general map

In 1858, in the Australian state of South Australia , to which the area of ​​what would later become the Northern Territory belonged, the first proposal appeared to develop the entire area by a north-south railway, starting from Port Augusta in the south as well Palmerston (today: Darwin) in the north. In 1878 the construction of the Great Northern Railway began from the south , and in 1883 the construction of the (later so-called) North Australian Railway . Both lines were built as a narrow-gauge railway in Cape Gauge . The construction of the lines - with long interruptions - continued in numerous stages for more than 50 years. As a result of the global economic crisis and a lack of financial resources, the construction of the lines was stopped in 1929. While the construction of the southern route came to a standstill in one village, Alice Springs , the northern route ended in no man's land between Mataranka and Daly Waters , in Birdum .

End of the North Australian Railway

Railway station, 1940s, view from the water tank to the north

Biplane on the Birdum landing site, 1932

Town center with hotel

At the end point, which was considered provisional at the time - the continuation was already enshrined in law and also already measured - a small settlement was built within a very short time. It got its name after a river running east of the village, the Birdum Creek . The first train reached Birdum on September 5, 1929. The first timetable provided for a train running every two weeks, which was then condensed to one train per week from February 1930. It should stay at this clock frequency for the time being.

On April 20, 1930, a broken postline was opened from Darwin to Brisbane , which was to take the train to Birdum, from there to Daly Waters by land in the dry season , but by air in the rainy season (from December to March). For this purpose, an unpaved take-off and landing area was created on the edge of the village . Operation was initially to be taken over by the Australian Aerial Service , which already had a concession for onward transport from Daly Waters towards Camooweal . Negotiations with AAS about the financing failed before the start of operations, and so the Civil Aviation Branch of the Australian Ministry of Defense opened line operations in December 1930 with its own staff and its own machine, a DH60 . From December 1931, Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services (Qantas) took over the line with an aircraft of the same type and continued it as an island operation in the following years. In addition to mail, air freight and, to a limited extent, passengers were also transported.

Birdum became a transfer and reloading station for passenger, freight and mail traffic to and from Northern Australia, and the infrastructure required to operate the railway was created, including a locomotive shed, a water tank and a triangular track for turning the locomotives. Railway workers settled here, and the first wedding in the town took place on September 19, 1929. In 1930 there was a hotel, a guest house, several shops, a gas station, a workshop and a number of houses. Birdum was considered a busy little town in the late 1930s.

In the summer of 1940, the Australian Army on the construction of a crowded northern Australian Defense Road (North Australian Defense Road) to close the gaps in the trans-Australian road network. In the same year, under the auspices of the Ministry of Defense, the road leading from Birdum to the south, which was repeatedly impassable, especially during the rainy season, to Tennant Creek (there was already a good road connection towards Alice Springs), was initially expanded into a gravel road that could be used all year round and paved in 1942/43 - the Stuart Highway was built. A continuation from Tennant Creek east to Mount Isa with connection to the road network of Queensland took place in 1942.

Military importance during the Second World War

Refugees from Pine Creek awaiting transportation south, March 1942

DOMF at roll call, January 1941

Kitchen of the field hospital of the 135th SanReg, August 1942

Camp 11th SU, December 1944

The place gained a significant boom with the beginning of the Pacific War in World War II. Even before Australia declared war on Japan in December 1941, massive troop relocations took place on the Australian north coast. Due to fear that Japanese troops might attempt an invasion there, the city of Darwin was largely evacuated between December 16, 1941 and February 15, 1942. Instead, 32,000 Allied soldiers and their equipment were stationed there. Most of these movements took place via Birdum, as did the transport of wounded and refugees after the Japanese air raid on Darwin in late February 1942. The fear that shipments could be sunk by sea also contributed to the increase in rail and road traffic . The train frequency multiplied by up to 147 trains a week at peak times. The Australian Army took control of operations on the railway line and began expanding it to cope with the exorbitantly increased load.

A military camp was built east of the town on the edge of the river bed. The first user was the Darwin Overland Maintenance Force (DOMF). Founded in September 1940 out of the Australian Imperial Force and with headquarters in Alice Springs, it was their task to take over the transport of people and material between the two endpoints of the rail lines. In the period that followed, several other military units from Australia and the USA were to use the Birdum site. According to a postal code list of the American Field Post Office (APO) for June 1942 in Birdum to American troops and others. a. the headquarters and the staff department of the 148th  Field Artillery Regiment , the 394th  Quartermaster Battalion (from May to November 1942) and the 135th US Medical Regiment , both also with their headquarters. The latter built the "Medical Regiment Evacuation Hospital" in September 1942 for staff and patients who were previously housed in Coomalie Creek near Batchelor . This station also provided support services for an Australian field hospital built in the immediate vicinity , the 45th Australian Camp Hospital.

During this time the Birdum Hotel was converted into an officer's home. The management of the American military engagement in the North Australian Air War was under the canopy of the hotel.

The Australian Air Force also used Birdum as a location. A department of the 14th Airframe Repair Depot (ARD), whose task it was to repair and maintain aircraft, was stationed in Birdum in November 1942. After the completion of the new Gorrie military airfield located about 20 kilometers north of Birdum, the 14th ARD moved there between February and May 1943.

The American hospital was relocated to Adelaide River in the summer of 1944 , and radio operators from the 11th Signals Unit of the Australian Air Force took its place in July of the same year to operate the 9th Wireless Telegraph Station there. Since her job was closely linked to the 14th ARD and it was also organizationally affiliated with it, she followed it to Gorrie in March 1945. It was the last unit to leave the camp.

Decline

Aerial view of Birdum. The turning triangle of the railway is easy to see.

The Birdum Hotel was relocated to Larrimah in 1952

It soon became apparent that Birdum's location was unfortunate. The settlement's undoing was its position west of Birdum Creek. Both the Stuart Highway and the telegraph line ran along the east bank of the river. Its crossing by means of a ford posed a problem, especially during the rainy season , that could be tolerated as a temporary solution, but was no longer acceptable with the drastically increased volume of traffic and the increased demands on reliability. This offered itself eight kilometers north of Birdum: Here the railway line touched the road and telegraph line again, before changing two kilometers south by means of a bridge to the west side of the river. At this much more convenient location, a military loading route was initially created . The new transfer point was named Larrimah , which means the Yangman meeting point in the now extinct language of the indigenous people . Larrimah was also cheaper for the new Gorrie military airfield, where 6500 people, including 440 civilian employees, were stationed in its heyday in 1943. In the period that followed, the functions as a goods transhipment point and local business center gradually shifted from Birdum to Larrimah, as did the residential quarters and the operational facilities of the railway. Larrimah became, not officially, but in fact the new terminus of the North Australian Railway.

The settlement history of Birdum came to an end in 1952 when the Birdum Hotel was the last to be relocated to Larrimah. Birdum was only used for the water requirements of the steam locomotives. After this the mid-1950s by Sulzer - diesel locomotives has been replaced, this accounted for. The last train to Birdum ran in 1956. In the period that followed, nature recaptured the route and facilities, but the section was not officially closed until operations on the entire route were closed in 1976. The Central Australian Railroad , which was completed in 2003 and connects Alice Springs with Darwin, runs around 45 kilometers west of Birdum.

Current condition

In the following years, the remains of the settlement fell into disrepair, unless their components had already been used in Larrimah. Only the steel water tank, the building's floor panels and the overgrown tracks have been preserved. The first efforts to restore parts of the complex to stimulate tourism were made by the Larrimah Progress Association in 1987 . Darwin prisoners were used to clear the rail line between Larrimah and Birdum. A diesel locomotive that had been given as a gift turned out to be too heavy for the tracks and was later handed over to Pine Creek . Instead, trips with a motorized railroad trolley were offered. The Friends of the North Australia Railway , founded in 2001, has been holding an annual meeting in Birdum since 2004, during which efforts are made to expose the remains of the settlement and the railway facilities and to preserve them for posterity. The Birdum Historical Society , based in Larrimah, also endeavors to preserve the historical heritage of Birdum .

In 2001, the inclusion of Birdum in the list of listed buildings and facilities in the Northern Territory was examined for the first time, but unsuccessfully. Another admission procedure is in preparation, Birdum is rated as unique for the Northern Territory in its interplay of the rail, road and air transport modes. The inclusion of all remaining remnants of the railway line from Darwin to Birdum in the monument protection list has been examined since 2006.

literature

• Peter Dermoudy: Larrimah and Birdum: a survey of historic sites, prepared for the National Trust of Australia . 1988.
• Peter Forrest: Birdum: an historic and archaeological review . Darwin 1999.

Web links

Commons : Birdum  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Birdum in the Australian Heritage Database on the Australian Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts website.
• Around the World in a Morris Minor . Travel report by Kerry Whitfield from 2004 with photos of the condition at that time.
• Overview of the military units stationed in Birdum during the Second World War at ozatwar.com

Individual evidence

Unless otherwise noted, article in English, accessed mid-May 2010.

1. ^ For the history of the Adelaide to Darwin railroad at southaustralianhistory.com
2. ↑ Plan drawing of the route between Mataranka and Daly Waters on the website of the Northern Territory Land Information System, jpg file, 1.6 MB.
3. ↑ Commonwealth Railways; Opening of Line to Birdum Northern Territory Times, August 30, 1929.
4. ^ Alteration to Running of Mixed Train Account Aerial Mail Service Northern Territory Times, January 31, 1930.
5. ↑ The Once-a-week Train, Darwin to Birdum . Sydney Morning Herald , April 30, 1938.
6. ^ Air Mail Timetable . Northern Territory Times, February 4, 1930.
7. ↑ Statistical Yearbook of Australia, year 1930. Available online here , PDF file, 4.9 MB.
8. ^ Travel to Darwin . Northern Territory Times, September 3, 1929.
9. ↑ Aerial Route Map; Services to be operated by Australian Aerial Services in 1930 . Northern Territory Times, February 21, 1930.
10. ^ Larkin Aircraft Supply Co. (LASCo) and Australian Aerial Services Ltd.
11. ↑ De Havilland DH60M Moth VH-ULP
12. ^ John Gunn: The Defeat of Distance. Qantas 1919-1939. 1985, ISBN 0-7022-1707-7 . Available online at Google Books here
13. ↑ Harold Gisburn: To Air Mail Pioneer: The Story of Qantas Empire Airways
14. ↑ Statistical Yearbook of Australia, year 1932. Available online here , PDF file, 4.9 MB.
15. ↑ A Hostess of the Never-Never. Sydney Morning Herald, May 25, 1937.
16. ↑ Air-Britain Information Exchange: Overview of all DH60s built. Available online here ( Memento of the original from July 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , PDF file, 924kb. 
17. ↑ Our Gilbertian Air Service Ends . Northern Territory Times, March 20, 1930.
18. ^ First Wedding in Birdum . Northern Territory Times, October 11, 1929.
19. ^ New Hotel for Birdum. Northern Territory Times, April 25, 1930.
20. ↑ Newsletter of the Federation of Australian Historical Societies , December 2005, available online here , PDF file, 540kb.
21. ↑ Newsletter of the Federation of Australian Historical Societies , March 2006, available online here , PDF file, 151kb.
22. ↑ From bulldust to Beef Roads and Beyond. Queensland Department of Main Roads, 199 ?. Available online here ( Memento of the original dated September 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , PDF file, 1.1 MB. 
23. ^ Strategic Road To Darwin Stands up to the Wet . Sydney Morning Herald, June 24, 1941
24. ↑ The Road did spans a continent. The Canberra Times , July 22, 1942
25. ^ Victoria helped build the North-South Road. The Argus, Melbourne, August 14, 1943
26. ↑ The Japanese bombing of Darwin and northern Australia ( Memento April 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
27. ^ Army moves to Darwin . Sydney Morning Herald, 18th 1941.
28. ↑ Darwin's Raid Ordeal . The Argus, Melbourne, February 23, 1942
29. ^ The Overland Telegraph Port Darwin to Port Augusta.
30. ↑ Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Defense and Defense Related Awards (CIDA), March 1994. Available online on the Australian Department of Defense website here , PDF file, 0.6 MB.
31. ↑ Remembrance Days : September 6 ( memento of July 19, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) on the website of the Australian Army History Unit.
32. ^ Romance of the Road that leads to Darwin. Sydney Morning Herald, August 9, 1941
33. ^ Along the Great North Road . The Argus, Melbourne, September 23, 1941.
34. ^ Ulysses Lee: The Employment of Negro Troops , p. 606. Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington 1966.
35. ↑ World War II No 1 Medical Receiving Station at exlporeoz.com
36. ↑ Note on this  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the Australian War Memorial website .  
37. ↑ Information board at the location of the Australian hospital, available online P01923.016 Birdum, NT. 1942-08. The kitchen at the US Army 135th Medical Regiment Evacuation Hospital. .
38. ↑ Peter Forrest
39. ↑ ^{a b} World War II Airstrip Gorrie at exploroz.com
40. ↑ Article on the 9th Wireless Telegraph Station at ozatwar.com
41. ↑ Entry on Larrimah at planbooktravel.com.au
42. ↑ ^{a b} Andrew McMillan: We're all eccentrics here ( Memento of the original from June 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Julianne Schultz (ed.): Up North - Myths, Threats & Enchantment. Griffith Review 9, 2005. ISBN 978-0-7333-1671-5  
43. ↑ The Statistical Yearbook of Australia, year 1975–1976, shows on p. 381 an unchanged length of the national railways in the Northern Territory since at least 1941. On p. 382 the route is given again as from Darwin to Birdum . Available online here , PDF file, 2.9 MB.
44. ↑ The quad mentioned by McMillian does not mean a quad , but this vehicle
45. ↑ Announcement from the Australian Association of Tourist Railways from 2006 ( Memento of the original from October 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
46. ↑ Northern Territory Heritage Advisory Council 2000–2001 Annual Report, available online here ( Memento of the original dated October 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , PDF file, 0.7 MB 
47. ↑ Territory Iron Limited, Frances Creek Project, Assessment Report 57, November 2006. Available online here ( Memento of the original from October 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , PDF file, 0.3 MB.