The ruins of Bibra Lake’s history

BY JACOB HIGGINS ON SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

The Bibra Lake Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) camp ruins, discovered the week before ANZAC Day and locally heritage listed last week, have been the source of much mystery regarding the history of the site and it’s occupants.

The ruins, a scattering of broken concrete connecting a small bathroom block, sewage structure and a speculated underground bunker, and encircled by potential concrete tracks, were brought to the locals’ attention after a Coolbellup resident commented on the potential impact the Roe 8 Highway extension might have on the site.

Christine Cooper, President of the Bibra Lake Resident’s Association.

Bibra Lake Resident’s Association President Christine Cooper stated this resident was the first of many to come forward with childhood stories regarding the site.

“He provided me with pages from the book, ‘We Answered the Call’ by Eileen Reilly Tucker and that gave us some information about it and he sort of remembered where the site was, he’d actually grown up in the area and could remember the searchlights in the sky as a kid,” she said.

“I’m starting to get stories from these sons and daughters as well, one contacted me the other day, and she was asking her mum about the site, she was a driver, and she used to drive linesmen around but she was based at Bibra Lake.”

This was confirmed by History Now Historian Eddie Marcus, who believed that the 66th Searchlight Battery established the site in Bibra Lake in 1943 and that the base contained up to 200 soldiers.

“There was possibly upwards of 100 or 200 people based there,” he said.

“She [Eileen Reilly Tucker] interviewed a number of women who clearly remembered the site at Bibra Lake being an AWAS site, and they had a number of experiences there.”

However, Mr Marcus stated there were a number of issues with this interpretation.

The remains of a bathroom block in the Bibra Lake ruins.

“Oral history always has to be backed up with something in the records because people misremember things,” he said.

“It is possible that the women who were interviewed for this book were misremembering exactly where the AWAS site was, or they had been to the headquarters that was briefly based there, and that’s where the confusion lies.”

Military Historian Graham McKenzie-Smith maintained the site was never a searchlight site or an AWAS camp at all.

“It wasn’t an AWAS site, it wasn’t a searchlight site, it was a temporary home for a newly formed mobile regimental headquarters,” he said.

“The site was occupied in January 1943 by the headquarters of the 116th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment.

“The Regiment would have had about 50 people, including about five AWAS’, I’ve heard all sorts of rumours about there being 300 brave AWAS’ on site, well, at 300 on site, with a 3 hole toilet, that doesn’t work.”

Ms Cooper held the site was predominantly manned by AWAS soldiers and more information would be uncovered following the discovery of an onsite diary.

“The book says that it was the Regimental Headquarters, we’ve got a photograph from that book of 99 women and 43 men, and at the bottom of the photograph it says it was at Bibra Lake and it was the 66th Anti-Aircraft battery,’ she said.

Photos of AWAS soldiers provided by local descendants.

“Archeologist Sue Carter was able to get the Australian War Memorial Archives to locate the diary of the site which goes from 1941 to 44, and it’s 761 pages.”

Archeologist Sue Carter confirmed the 66th Anti-Aircraft Battery maintained the site and that the diary is highly significant to the true history of the site.

“The history of the site was a 66 AA Battery as recorded by the WA War Museum,” she said.

“The War Diary from the site will throw light on its involvement of the defence of Australia in during World War II.”

Ms Cooper commented on the need to have the site properly surveyed due to the AWAS’ historical significance.

Identical photos provided independently by two descendant families without knowledge of the other.

“We’ve got to have it properly surveyed, now if you’ve got a site that is that big, and a diary with that many pages in it, one can guess it was a big site and an important one,” she said.

“It’s really quite significant because it only seems to be in recent times that people are starting to recognise the efforts these women put in to defend this country if it was absolutely needed.

“We certainly haven’t finished with what we’re going to find and I think the more stories that come in, it’s a lot of these personal stories that make it really interesting for people, and that’s part of the history as well.”