On our second day on Rottnest Island we took the Oliver Hill Train and Tunnel Tour. A group of us climbed aboard “Captain Hussey” the trolley tram at “The Settlement” station, and the train then slowly chugged up the hill to the fort.
All aboard the Captain Hussey
In the lead-up to WW2 Capt. Hussey was seconded from the Army to oversee the construction of the railway on Rottnest (from Kingston Barracks to Oliver Hill), to transport heavy guns up to Oliver Hill.
Oliver Hill Battery is the most intact of all Australian 9.2” gun batteries, and one of only five battery sites worldwide that still retain guns in their WWII location, and is a prominent landmark in the natural landscape of Rottnest Island.
When Darwin and Broome were bombed in 1942 the Japanese navy were expected to arrive soon. The Fremantle Fortress stood as the next line of defence and the 9.2 inch guns at Oliver Hill earned Rottnest Island the title of “Gatekeeper”. The island reached it’s maximum military strength with 2,500 military personnel stationed in the island. The fortifications and tunnels were built (four stories deep) after removing a huge amount of sand, and when complete covered over in sand again.
In 2010 the structure was awarded Engineering Australia’s highest accolade, the Engineering Heritage National Landmark Award for significant technical achievement.
Our guide gave us a detailed story of how the huge gun worked, and although not a shot was fired in anger, it was thought to be a major deterrent for enemy forces attacking Fremantle and Perth.
The mighty 9.2in projectile
We walked down into the depths along the steep and narrow concrete tunnels to storage areas and the power room. Our guide played an audio of just how noisy it was down there when generators were running. They supplied power, compressed air for cleaning out the barrel after each firing and hydraulic fluid for moving the gun around. The big gun needed an 11 man crew to operate it, plus another crew on standby. It was certainly a very interesting tour. Back in the fresh air again we boarded the train for our return trip back.
Back at The Settlement we got another quokka fix, this time with a little family of quokkas. Baby was staying very close to Mum, as they fossicked around, looking for something to nibble on. Tourists are strictly discouraged from offering them food, as it is upsetting their health, or touching them.
Quokka family
Our time at Rottnest Island was at an end, the ferry was arriving to take us back for two more nights in Perth, before we board the Indian Pacific train for our epic journey to Sydney.
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