Radar/Radio huts at Robe, SA

Nico Petiet owns a country property which he uses for recreation. On this property at Robe in South Australia there are two WW2 Radar Huts which are used as holiday shacks. Above the huts on the hill can be found the concrete foundations for the Radar tower and in front of that a levelled area with remnants of wire and camouflage material which was probably a lookout post. The huts have a dome roof of 0.3 metre concrete. In the floor is a pit where the motor generator was housed. The location of the huts and the tower foundation form a triangle behind a prominent sand hill on a point.

An elderly Army architect touring the Radar Hut sites around Australia many years ago. He called in to the property at Robe. He designed many of the new unmanned lighthouses around Australia and he drove an early model Holden. Nico showed him around the site and he provide Nico with some history of the buildings. Does anyone know who this gentlemen was?

Many of the locals have told Nico that they were Radio Huts for the 2nd World War

On the front of each Hut, to the left and above the door is a 15cm x 15cm hole surounded by 4 long studs. This was apparently where a mast was attached to hold the overhead cables that went to the Radar tower on the hill above. There was apparently a flying fox that carried messages and equipment from the lower hut to the lookout beyond the radar tower. Both huts are identical with a large door at one end and a 55cm x 70cm window at the other. Just to the right of centre in the floor is the motor-generator pit nearer the back. A 15cm x 15cm channel in the floor that went through the right hand wall could have been the air intake or exhaust or water cooling pipes. A single 10cm hole 2 metres up and central along the right hand wall could have been the intake of exhaust. Nico is looking for a copy of the plans for the huts.

The Robe council are trying to buy the property to allow them to extend their golf course. If this happens the Radar Huts will probably be demolished. Let's hope this does not happen.

	The “top shack” in 1960. It is the hut that is less vandalised. Notice the wooden louvers to stop the operator’s light escaping
	The “bottom shack” in 1960. The "bottom shack" has now been converted into a two-roomed shack.
	The lower Radar Hut. The two boys in this picture are the grandchildren of the couple in the first photo.
	“Can you spot the Radar Hut”! As a shack it is extremely comfortable, cosy and deceptive when inside out of the weather. In the hut section are 2 bunk beds, a single bed, a flip out sofa, a book shelf and a chest of draws. The built on section is the dining/kitchen room complete with gas fridge and stove. The site has no electricity. About 10 metres from this shack is a small shed with toilet and gas heated shower.
	The upper Radar Hut. The hill on the right has the tower foundations hidden in the scrub. On the very top of the hill on the right is a large flattened area where a few remnants of wood, fencing wire, barbed wire and camouflage material can be found.

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