TUNNEL AT
BANDIANA
ABOUT 5 KMS SOUTH EAST OF WODONGA, VICTORIA
USED BY THE MILITARY DURING WW2
In the early 1970's, approximately 200 "brand new" WW2 Studebaker army trucks in crates, were stored in a WW2 tunnel near Bandiana in Victoria. Access to the tunnel was via an old Army Nissen hut located against the side of a hill. There was a story about a Police Sergeant in the CMF being a member of one of two crews of logistics personnel sent to pick up 14 trucks. They drove straight into the old Nissen Hut and straight into the hill and took out the 14 trucks.
Bandiana is about 5 kms south east of Wodonga.
Another source believes
that the Studebakers
and Harley Davidson motor cycles where lined up in trenches and
run over by a large
tank in an oval in the Army grounds at Bandiana. Once destroyed
the trenches where covered with soil and became the Bandiana
oval.
An ex army friend of his witnessed the event and even rode one
of the Harleys.
"Things Past", the
Newsletter of the
Mount Evelyn History Group Inc (Newsletter 19, August 2009).
|
"Mark [Rawson]
had a statutory
declaration from a police sergeant from Box Hill who was
a member of the
Citizen Military Forces (CMF). In 1970, the CMF needed
trucks and were offered
some by the Army. They were taken to a site in a
hillside between Wodonga and
Bandiana. It held about 200 crates of Studebaker trucks,
still with their
wartime blackedout headlights. The CMF took about 25 of
the vehicles. The site
was subsequently covered over. The Army may have been
afraid of a massive bill
from the United States Army, which would still own any
equipment left behind
after the war." |
REFERENCES
Lilydale & Yarra
Valley Leader,
Mon 22 April 2002
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I'd like to thank Graham Clayton for his assistance
with this web page.
Can anyone tell
me some more about this tunnel
and what became of the Studebakers?
"Australia @ War"
WWII Research Products
|
|
© Peter Dunn 2015 |
Please
e-mail me |
This page first produced 11 November 2002
This page last updated 18 January 2020
