National Broadcasting Service Radio Transmission Centre

The advent of World War II in September 1939 prompted the government to proceed with the project, as wireless communication with the civilian population was an important aid to the war effort. Design of the transmission station fell to Alf Howard and Vernon Kenna. Kenna was the divisional engineer for the Commonwealth’s Post Master General’s (PMG) Department’s broadcast construction section. Construction of a transmitter building and its adjoining wireless mast commenced in late 1941. The mast was 76 metres in height. Bald Hills was seen as a strategic location for a transmission station, because of its inland location plus the horizon, as seen from the ocean, would be considerably lower.

In February 1942, the Bald Hills wireless station became operational after a 10 kw water-cooled, short-wave transmitter was installed in the station building. To reduce the threat of a bombing raid, the smaller 4QR (also a medium wave station) transmitter (2 kw) in the Brisbane CBD was shut down and replaced by a homemade transmitter established behind Fischle’s jam factory in Roghan Road. This was a temporary stopgap measure undertaken until the move to Bald Hills was completed. The 4QR main transmitter was then removed and re-erected to the Bald Hills wireless station, where it was connected to a new mast. The station’s aerial array had been emplaced in the northwest corner of the former farm’s grounds. But fear of the station being a potential Japanese air raid target prompted many Bald Hill residents to express their concerns about the station’s location. In particular, the aerial mast was not camouflaged, standing in the middle of a cleared field and so it was easy to spot from the air. Experience learnt from the 1940 Battle of Britain had shown these transmitter aerials were prime enemy bombing targets. 

In May 1943, broadcasting on the shortwave band began when VLQ moved to Bald Hills. This wireless station was important as it broadcast ABC programs to outback regions. A no-fly zone was declared around the station to prevent Allied aircraft colliding with the aerial masts. 

After the war, the station returned to peacetime normality with its importance enhanced by radio being the premier form of home-entertainment in 1940s-50s Queensland as reflected in the peak number of domestic radio licence applications. In 1948, a 200 metre dual-frequency aerial mast erected and the 1941 building extended to accommodate two 10 kw air-cooled STC transmitters. One transmitter broadcasted 4QR while the other broadcast 4QG. The latter transmitter enabled the closure of the 4QG station that had been operating from Brisbane City since 1938. A new aerial array was placed again in the site’s northwest corner. The original 76 metre aerial mast was used as a standby mast. Another 10 kw transmitter was soon added to provide a second short-wave radio station VLM. In 1951, two 6-cylinder Ruston & Hornsby diesel engines were installed to provide emergency power in the case of the failure of the main power grid (due to a cyclone etc).

There was a major transmission failure involving 4QG in 1961. An old 2 kw transmitter was quickly installed and 4QR programming was re-routed through to a new 50 kw transmitter. This relegated the existing 10 kw transmitter to stand-by status. In 1964, a new brick control was built to replace the 1941 building. This was followed by the installation of another 10 kw short-wave transmitter that had the role as a stand-by unit for the short-wave services of VLQ and VLM.

In 1986, the original 1941 mast was dismantled due to concerns over metal corrosion. It was replaced with a lattice-design mast. During the dismantling process, the old mast hit the adjacent, small Coupling Building. In 1988, the Bald Hills transmission radio station ceased having around the clock staffing and it was placed under remote control under the direction of the ABC-TV transmission centre atop Mt. Coot-tha. VLQ transmitted its last broadcast on 16 December 1993. 

The Bald Hills radio mast became a Brisbane landmark, seen daily as it could be seen from the Bruce Highway. It was the notable as the second tallest transmission mast in Queensland.  In 1993, the Brisbane History Group recognized the radio station’s facilities as having heritage significance when it was included as Stop No.5 in its publication Bald Hills Heritage Tour.

1. Brisbane History Group, Bald Hills Heritage Tour, (Brisbane: Brisbane History Group, 1993)

2. "Cobb’s coaches gave Bald Hills its first lift”, The Telegraph, 12 June 1965

3. John Oxley Library, Picture Queensland website, photograph collection