The Strange History of The Volunteer Air Observer Corps Shed, Harcourt

 

An observation post of the Volunteer Air Observers. State Library ca. 1943

      This blog, Field Rambling in Central Victoria, emerged from me responding to the social media posts of a local community group, especially those that featured local historic photos. It wasn't long before I was drawn into creating my own posts, often requiring original historical research. One thing led to another and before I knew it I'd written a book, 'The Coliban Main Channel, A Walkers Guide'. 

     In this series of blogs I'm going to revisit some of the stories I researched originally for the social media group of which I'm a member. Many of them aren't grand stories; in many cases there remain a number of unanswered questions due to the difficulty of ferreting out relevant information.     

    So let's start with this one, how there once was a tiny hut, parked in a paddock in the township of Harcourt, built for the use of volunteer air observers, or enemy plane spotters, during WW2. I've been unable to find a photo of it in its original position and condition, the repurposed van body in the photo above (location unknown) is just one of the many huts used in Australia by plane spotters. However we do know what the Harcourt hut was like because the historian, George Milford, bought it and sold off parts of the hut when it had deteriorated to an unsalvageable extent.

    My interest had been piqued by reading the late Howard Carr's 'Bridging the Generations, the story of Harcourt' (2002), which I'd obtained from the Harcourt Heritage Centre, 7 High Street Harcourt. The Centre has a large selection of limited print run books on local history for sale. It's open Wednesday mornings and is well worth a visit, not least for the attached museum, full of fascinating relics of Harcourt's past.

    In Howards' book, another Harcourt local, Ken Jones, tells of how during WW2, an enemy plane observation post, a small weatherboard building, was erected on what was then vacant land on the east side of Barker Street, near the old State School in Market Street. 

    'A friend and I had a shift of four hours on a Sunday morning and we enjoyed the experience immensely... In all the time we patriotically manned our post we only ever spotted one plane. When we rang headquarters in Bendigo, they had no idea if it was an enemy or not.'

    The following information has been gleaned from Wikipedia (Volunteer Air Observers Corps (Australia)) and the Old Treasury Building website (The Volunteer Air Observers Corps). 

    Enemy plane spotters in Australia, otherwise known as the Volunteer Air Observers Corps (VAOC), were a civilian branch formed during WWII. The VAOC was formed in December 1941 to support the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) with its main roles of sighting and observing aircraft over Australia. The VAOC swiftly established thousands of Observation Posts (OP) across the country and provided information to the RAAF's regional air control posts.

    At its peak, over 24,000 Australians—including young children and farmers—manned observation posts nationwide to track and report unidentified or enemy aircraft. Each VAOC spotter had their own unique Code Name. Volunteers in Observation Posts reported aircraft movements to a Zone Control situated in a regional city or town. There were 39 Zone Controls centres across the Australia with differing numbers in each state depending on its size. In Victoria there were eight Control Zones based at Melbourne, Bairnsdale, Geelong, Warrnambool, Shepparton, Bendigo, Ballarat with another at Launceston in northern Tasmania.

    The spotters used all manner of temporary and more permanent structures. Here are photos of some of the buildings used.

Burnie, Tasmania. ca. 1943. A small hilltop post not much bigger than a telephone booth

Anglesea. Victoria 1943-02-07 Aerial view of a VAOC Post. (photo by RAAF)

    So, the first step was to find the original site of the hut in Harcourt. Apparently it was in this bare block some distance from this magnificent old Red Gum that stands in Barker Street; perhaps somewhere in the field of view below.

    It's hard to make out much in this low resolution aerial photo from 1945 but the hut could well be the spot inside the red circle.

    It seems reasonable to believe that the best location for the hut here would be out in the middle of the paddock, on the highest point of the hill, and to be clear of any object that could obscure observations. It's possible some very elderly person in Harcourt might remember where it was but in the meantime the above is my best guess.

    One reason for me reaching this conclusion is that the ill-defined shape can't be seen in a later 1949 aerial photo of the same area.

    Immediately after the war the shed was moved to a property in Mills Road, Harcourt, about 800 metres southeast. In this aerial photo, also from 1949, we can see that an area has been cleared for its arrival. Whether it was by then in situ is hard to tell but there does appear to be some structure in the middle of the cleared area,

    The hut was then occupied by a single man. In it was a bed and not much else. He must have led a spartan existence, but of course many Australians did it hard in those years. The hut survived right up to recent times. It's a shame, given its interesting history, that it was allowed to fall into ruin. Here it can be seen in a Google Earth view from 2017, when, although quite a bit worse for the wear, it was still standing.

    Two years later, in the 2019 Google Earth view, the hut appears to have collapsed, the walls finally giving way. The roof still survives albeit having now been moved to a neighbouring property where the owner is intending to rebuild the shed. Here's a Google Earth Street view of the shed roof as it was in September 2023. 

    It once had a marvellous metal chimney. George Milford states that he salvaged it and some granite pavers. He directed me to where the old chimney of the hut now adorns a building full of historic relics in Coolstore Rd, Barkers Creek.

    The chimney appears to be used only for decorative purposes these days but it's gratifying to know that some residents who appreciate history are managing to preserve mementos of an interesting chapter in Harcourt's history. 

A chart made available for VOAC volunteers. Note that the plane Australian spotters likely most feared seeing, the Japanese Zero, isn't included!

    Postscript:

    And so what happened to the VAOC building at Anglesea? You can still see part of it today. This is the Loveridge Lookout and it predated WW2.  The lookout was built in 1938 by Bertha Loveridge as a memorial to her late husband, James Loveridge. Bertha chose the Great Ocean Road vantage point because it was his favorite spot to view the ocean and watch the Bass Strait. 

                                    Loveridge Lookout during the war years

This aerial photo was taken in 1951. The Great Ocean Road is at the bottom.

    And how it looks today (Google Earth). 

     During World War Two, after reports of Japanese flights over Australia, the site became a lookout, operated up to 24 hours a day by 56 Volunteer Air Observers’ Corp (VAOC). If the volunteers saw planes they were reported via a phone to Geelong. Over 3000 aircraft movements were reported.

    The Loveridge Lookout is one of only two remaining VAOC observation posts in Victoria and is now protected under the Heritage Act 2017. I wonder how many beachgoers realize the history of this picnic shelter? And I wonder how many innocuous old sheds and odd structures hiding in plain view around Australia have had a similarly interesting past?

    I've been informed that there were at least two other plane spotters lookouts in Central Victoria. One was at the Newstead Racecourse, although no photo of it exists and little information appears to be available. Another was on top of Anzac Hill, Maldon. Visitors to the hill are directed to a plane spotters hut but it appears to be a modern structure, perhaps modelled on the original.

Site of VAOC plane spotters lookout, Anzac Hill, Maldon