Bibra Lake AWAS Camp

{{short description|Australian Women's Army Service camp}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:Members of the Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) at Bibra Lake Searchlight Station.jpg|thumb|Members of the Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) at Bibra Lake Searchlight Station camp.]] The Bibra Lake [[Australian Women's Army Service]] (AWAS) camp was a collection of pre-fab army huts built in the vicinity of [[Bibra Lake, Western Australia|Bibra Lake]] in [[city of Cockburn|Cockburn]]. The camp was probably constructed in 1943, and the women posted there were part of the 66 [[Anti-aircraft defences of Australia during World War II|Anti-aircraft]] (AA) [[searchlight]] (SL) battery. The camp was located near Hope Road, which runs between Bibra and North Lakes. Though dismantled immediately after the war, some remains can still be seen in the area.

== History == As the war progressed and Japan began to threaten the Pacific region, the men of Australia's [[Australian Defence Force|armed forces]] were required for overseas duty. Until 1941 enlisted men had been responsible for Australia's home defence, from signals to anti-aircraft batteries, but as the war came to [[New Guinea campaign|New Guinea]] they were needed at the front. Australian women were encouraged to enlist in the [[Australian Women's Army Service|AWAS]] to free up men for fighting service. Over 20,000 women were enlisted in the AWAS over the course of the war, trained to take over all the roles their male counterparts had been performing.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) - Organisation - The Australian Women's Register|url = http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/IMP0149b.htm|website = www.womenaustralia.info|access-date = 2015-08-27}}</ref>

In 1942, Australian troops returning home from the Middle East were formed into the 116 Light Anti-Aircraft regiment (LAA). The headquarters of this regiment were initially located at [[Naval Base, Western Australia|Naval Base]], then at Bibra Lake.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title = We answered the call : AWAS of Western Australia and their mates|last = Tucker|first = Eileen (Reilly)|publisher = E. Tucker|year = 1991|isbn = 0646030396|location = Cloverdale, W.A.}}</ref>

The AWAS camp was attached to 66 Searchlight Battery, known as Searchlight Station 10, which also had stations at Swanbourne, Como, Mosman Park and Kings Park. Other stations in the area were located at North [[Jandakot, Western Australia|Jandakot]] and Naval Base.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|title = Advertising|url = http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59338865|newspaper = Sunday Times|date = 1945-09-16|access-date = 2015-08-27|pages = 12}}</ref>

Many women were posted to positions far away from their home cities, often to remote areas. Others were local, completing their training and being assigned to posts in their home towns. The Bibra Lake battery housed a mixture of Tasmanian and Western Australian women.<ref name=":0" />

== Camp at Bibra Lake == [[Prefabricated building|Pre-fab]] huts were built at Bibra Lake for the AWAS quarters. The women's duties were varied, ranging from cutting firewood and cooking for the camp to cleaning guns and searchlights. Many of them were from other states and had only lived in towns, and were unused to living in a semi-rural location. They were troubled by dugites, and reported never seeing Bibra Lake itself which was probably because the whole area was bushland with only a dirt-track service road.<ref name=":0" />

The camp consisted of a combined kitchen, mess and recreation room with a lean-to at the back, concrete-floored latrines and ablutions blocks, an engine shed, and an underground command post, all surrounded by barbed wire.<ref name=":1" />

Women at the camp were given milk by local dairy farmers, and in return gave them kitchen scraps to feed their poultry. The searchlights were clearly visible at night, when they were often used to spot small planes flying over the area.

Searchlight women were trained in spotting, sound locating, command duties and computing, and as more men were sent overseas, increasingly in firearms and defence.<ref>{{Cite news|title = FRONT LINE GIRLS Work of the A.W.AS. MANNING THE SEARCHLIGHTS|url = http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75135291|newspaper = Northern Times|date = 1943-05-14|access-date = 2015-08-27|pages = 1}}</ref>

== Bushfires == The base was threatened by a [[Bushfires in Australia|bushfire]] in the summer, and the women were ordered to evacuate. They packed their bags and stacked them beside the road before returning to fight the fire alongside male soldiers, clearing fire breaks and putting out small fires with wet sacks and branches. They treated a local Chinese [[market garden]]er for burns and exhaustion and gave him some new clothes, as his had been burnt to rags when his garden was destroyed.<ref name=":0" />

== Photographs == The daughter of Private Margaret May Robertson (Royal Aust Corps Signal) discovered photographs from her mother's time at Bibra Lake.<ref>{{Cite web|title = All About Bibra Lake|url = http://www.allaboutbibralake.com.au/AWAS-SIte.php|website = www.allaboutbibralake.com.au|access-date = 2015-09-03|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060248/http://www.allaboutbibralake.com.au/AWAS-SIte.php|archive-date = 2016-03-04|url-status = dead}}</ref> <gallery> File:AWAS woman on a tree at Bibra Lake, c1944.jpg|Exploring Bibra Lake File:AWAS tents at Bibra Lake, c1944.jpg|Tents at Bibra Lake File:AWAS picnic at Bibra Lake, c1944.jpg|AWAS picnic at Bibra Lake File:Bibra Lake AWAS camp huts.jpg|Quartermaster's hut, Bibra Lake </gallery>

== Dismantling == In October 1945, auctions were held in Perth for the dismantled searchlight stations, including Searchlight Station 10 at Bibra Lake. Detailed accounts of the materials used in their construction were included in the auction listings, as building materials were in short supply after the war.<ref name=":1" />

== Current issues == The remains of the camp are currently under threat from the proposed [[Roe Highway#Stage 8 .2F Fremantle Eastern Bypass|Roe 8 Highway Extension]] through the Cockburn district. The City of Cockburn has engaged a heritage specialist to undertake a survey of the site and will act on the recommendations when they are presented.<ref>{{Cite web|title=PROPOSED NEW HERITAGE PLACE - FORMER AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S ARMY SERVICE CAMP, BIBRA LAKE |url=http://www.cockburn.wa.gov.au/templates/template48/summary.asp?TemplateID=48&EventID=3836 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923205531/http://www.cockburn.wa.gov.au/templates/template48/summary.asp?TemplateID=48&EventID=3836 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2015-09-23 |website=www.cockburn.wa.gov.au |access-date=2015-08-27 }}</ref>

== References == <references />

== Further reading == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20150923205712/http://www.communitynews.com.au/news/War-camp-for-heritage-list/7669604 War camp for heritage list] - Fremantle Gazette, May 5, 2015 * [http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-05/push-to-save-womens-army-camp-ruins-from-roe-highway-extension/6672942 Council moves to save Bibra Lake women's army camp ruins from Roe Highway extension] - ABC News, 5 August 2015 * [http://www.artillerywa.org.au/raahs/history.htm Leighton Battery Heritage Site] - The Royal Australian Artillery Historical Society of Western Australia * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060248/http://www.allaboutbibralake.com.au/AWAS-SIte.php Bibra Lake AWAS Site] - Bibra Lake Residents Association

[[Category:Military installations in Western Australia]] [[Category:World War II sites in Australia]] [[Category:Australian women in World War II]] [[Category:Western Australia during World War II]] [[Category:Military installations established in 1942]] [[Category:Military installations closed in 1945]]