Radar Station 203 near Cowell: Ron examines some military history on the Eyre Peninsula in the West Coast region of South Australia

In a wheat paddock about eighteen kilometres from Cowell on Eyre Peninsula stand some remarkable structures. The igloo like landmarks are well known by locals today but their initial purpose dates back to a time when it seemed Australia faced an imminent invasion by the Japanese. The story of the cement structures is shrouded in secrecy even today.

The Royal Australian Airforce built them in 1942 - the nation's darkest hour - when the bombing of Darwin brought the war home to all Australians. With the defence of important industrial cities Port Pirie and Whyalla considered paramount, the RAAF set about the construction of Number 203 Radar Station. Smaller huts were built to house generators and within the shadow of the little shack village at Port Gibbon stand the ruins of the men's quarters. Sixty-six years on from the construction of the two main radar huts the details about the operations of this top-secret facility remain sketchy.

Lyndon Carmody: "They had the most advanced radar system of the time suspended between the towers. There would have been a huge series of antennae going across one hundred and thirty odd feet up and then across."

Former cocky Lyndon Carmody - remembers returning home from service as a mechanic on Catalina Flying Boats to find giant structures dominating the wheat paddocks around Cowell.

Lyndon Carmody: "Like everything that was going on in the war, 99 percent of Australians hadn't a clue what was going on."

Another local farmer Gerald Beinke also got quite a shock when he finally returned from service in Darwin. He says similar stations near Ceduna and Port Augusta were meant to act hand-in-glove with this facility to provide three reference points on aircraft entering Eyre Peninsula air space.

Today the strange cement igloo like structures cause many a tourist to pull over on the dirt roads at the back of Cowell just as they did more than sixty years ago.

Despite all the secrecy and effort Radar Station 203 was never used. The defeat of the Japanese at the Battle of Midway lead to the scrapping of this radar project and over time farmers dismantled the radar towers using the wood for shearing sheds and the like. The concrete structures got a guernsey as well - hosting dances and picnics for the locals.

Today they remain an intriguing landmark from a different time when Australia was under attack. The remains of radar station 203 can be seen from the Port Gibbon Road about eighteen kilometres from Cowell on Eyre Peninsula. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au

Radar Station
203 Port Gibbon Road
18 kilometres ex Cowell
Eyre Peninsula

Published 2nd November 2008