Largs Army Camp near West Maitland, New South Wales

LARGS ARMY CAMP
NEAR WEST MAITLAND, NSW
IN AUSTRALIA DURING WWII

The Slazenger Construction Company started construction of the Largs Army Camp near West Maitland in New South Wales on 16 May 1940. Their contract required them to build the camp within 24 working days. They completed construction of the camp on Wednesday 19 June 1940. It consisted of 43 buildings including 20 huts to accommodate 1,200 men. An advanced party arrived at the camp on Monday 17 June 1940.

The site for the Largs Military camp was selected between the village of Largs and Dunmore House. Largs comprised a handful of houses which overlooked the rich Belwarra Flats. The 120 acres camp included portion of the holdings of five property owners.

The camp was divided into four sections for training engineers, signallers, artillerymen, and an artillery survey section. The men marched to their new camp from Greta on the morning of Thursday 20 June 1940.

A newspaper article in the Newcastle Morning Herald and Miner's Advocate of Tuesday 18 June 1940 reported that consideration was being given to extending the camp by another 70 huts.

REFERENCES

"Not Started Yet - Work on Largs Military Camp", Newcastle Morning Herald and Miner's Advocate, Thursday 11 April 1940

"Will be Finished Tomorrow - Military Camp at Largs" Newcastle Morning Herald and Miner's Advocate, Tuesday 18 June 1940

"A History of World War II Largs Military Training Camp", Crethary J (1995)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Cameron Alexander for his assistance with this web page.

Can anyone help me with more information?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products