WAS THERE A US ARMY TRAINING AREA
AT MON REPOS, QLD
DURING WWII?

In March 2009 I was advised that there was a military training base (most probably US Army although it could have been Australian) at Mon Repos near Bundaberg during WWII. At the southern end of the beach there was a large concrete slab for bringing up amphibious vehicles from the beach. Mon Repos Beach is just north of Bargara.

There are no longer any signs of any concrete slabs but there are locations that look like two possible makeshift machine gun posts made of rocks with an entrance on one side. These are located near the top of a hill looking down upon a large open area. A fair percentage of the area also seems unnatural.

Near the intersection of Mon Repos Road and Grange Road there are 7 or 8 large mounds. There are unconfirmed rumors that old WWII equipment is buried beneath them. Probably another one of those bar room myths.

XE-craft submarine (35 ton) of the 14th Submarine Flotilla carried out exercises off Mon Repos Beach during WWII. They simulated the cutting of the underwater cables used by the Japanese for sending and receiving High Command messages from Singapore and Hong Kong. They simulated this task off Mon Repos, by attempting to cut a disused submarine telegraph cable that ran between Mon Repos and New Caledonia. It was originally laid in 1893 and abandoned in either 1895 or 1898. The exercise was in readiness for an attack on the underwater telephone cables from Singapore and Hong Kong.

UPDATE:- New information suggests that this military training area may have been a post WWII area.

Can anyone advise whether there was a military camp at Mon Repos?

Or what those large stone enclosures were used for?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 8 March 2009

This page last updated 25 January 2020