MILITARY EQUIPMENT DUMPED
IN AN AREA
NOW OCCUPIED BY C.P. BOTTOMLEY PARK,
NORMAN PARK, BRISBANE
DURING WW2
Geoff Luck told me on 7 April 2008 that he remembers Military equipment being buried under what is now C.P. Bottomley Park at Norman Park in Brisbane. The park is bounded by Milsom Street, Halifax Street, Adina Street and the suburban railway line. The park is home to East Rugby Club. Another small extension of the park is bounded by Crown Street, Bennetts Road, Myall Street and the railway line.
The area was a council rubbish dump before the war. There were apparently very few houses in the area. Towards the end of the war, when Geoff Luck was cycling to school (1944-45), he used to ride past the area every day and saw both Australian and US military dumping equipment. A lot of it was wrecked vehicles – jeeps and trucks, but equipment from the US Naval Hospital at Belmont also went there. Schoolboys used to scavenge for stuff and apparently some of them swore that they saw amputated limbs amongst other hospital refuse. Geoff told me that this could never be confirmed. The equipment was filled over to became a park and playground. Geoff said "I doubt if most people guess what’s under their feet."
By the way, for the benefit of those "Treasure Hunters" out there, it was rubbish when it was first buried over 60 years ago and it will now be just a lot of rusted crumpled and useless junk.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Geoffrey Luck for his assistance with this web page.
Can anyone help me with more information?
"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products
© Peter Dunn 2015 |
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This page first produced 7 April 2008
This page last updated 15 January 2020