Ex RAAF Barracks (Two) - Sandgate RAAF Training Base (former)

The advance party was instructed to proceed to Sandgate, arriving 9 December 1940. On arrival it was discovered no buildings had been constructed due to an intense wet season. This group was temporarily based at Amberley Part were sent to the base site with the orderly room, transport section and stores being in operation by July 1941. An opening ball was held at Sandgate Town Hall to mark the event. 

Out of the initial trainees, twenty were air crew. Of this number only 3 returned alive.  

In fact the official date given for the full occupation of the base is given as 18 April 1941. By April 1942 the breakdown of staff consisted as follows

Station Headquarters

RAAF 17 Officers, WAAF 4 Officers

RAAF Airman 162 + 1 male nurse

WAAF Airmen 22

No 3 Initial Training School

RAAF Officers 23

Nurses 1, Airmen 57, WAAF Airmen 4

No 3 Embarkation Depot

Officers 2, Airmen 5

It would appear that their service life began at Sandgate and then progressed to more advanced training bases such as such as Wagga Wagga.

A rifle range and an observation post was located on a nearby farm at Brighton 

While the RAAF base at Sandgate was operative, another base was operating in the Petrie Strathpine area (there were three in this area). At this area fighter squadrons were active, with the 80th Fighter Squadron of the USAAF flying P39 Airacobras. Also based in this locality were Vultee Vengences of No 12 Sqn, Boomerang fighters of No  83 Sqn and Spitfires of 548 and 549.  

The design the barrack most closely resemble are the “Sidney Williams” huts. However the Sandgate huts were produced prior to American involvement in the war. Therefore they are not strictly pre-fab in origin and being of British or Australian design, are considerably rarer. Although they are not placed in their original position circa 1941, they are still within the original perimeter of the base. 

This company previously constructed ‘Comet’ brand windmills and was founded in Rockhampton in 1879. It is possible prefabricated sections of the building may have been constructed there or at their Dulwich Hill factory in Sydney.

Prefabricated WWII Structures in Queensland did not identify the structures at Eventide, however it displays an identical structure in its preliminary inventory of surviving WWII buildings on the Atherton tablelands. Part of the Atherton Camp Barracks, it has been moved off site to Beantree Rd, Tolga and is in a dilapidated state.    

After 1946 the base became known as Eventide Aged Persons home after the transfer of elderly persons from Dunwich. The converted RAAF base has gradually had its structures demolished or removed with facilities significantly upgraded. These remaining two structures are all that remains of the former base.