Controlled Explosion On Stockton Beach as Old Military Ordnance Destroyed MidCoast LGA (overall news) by News Of The Area - Modern Media - September 16, 2022 Stockton Dunes are the largest moving sand mass in the Southern Hemisphere. Photo printed with permission by Sandy Roche. IF the earth moved for you on Saturday it is highly likely that you were feeling the shock of ordnance being exploded in the Stockton Sand Dunes. Some locals, including Sandy Roche, were fortunate enough to be camera ready when the bomb was exploded by the RAAF. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au This is not the first time that live ammunition has been found on the dunes and exploded. The shifting sands of Stockton move north at a rate of around 4m annually, and recently have uncovered dangerous and interesting pieces of our history. Birubi Beach has historically been used by both the Royal Australian Air Force and the Australian Army. In 1941 the area was proclaimed an air gunnery and bombing range and was used up until the early 1970s. For around 30 years targets were fired upon from land and air, resulting in what has been identified as considerable contamination of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and explosive ordnance waste (EOW). Wrecked tanks were found in June 2020 at Anna Bay, along with ordinance that has been disposed of in a controlled manner. When the vehicles were uncovered in June 2020, Milsearch was engaged to remediate a 6,150m2 of undulating sand dunes within the area, which is now used for four-wheel driving and camel tours. This is not the first time ordnance has been found. Recently a man removed ordnance which later exploded in Anna Bay, and a dog retrieved a mortar and presented it to its owners in 2017. The beach potentially has much more hidden ordnance, some of which will undoubtedly continue to be exposed by severe weather events. Tank traps are evident on Stockton Beach as well as having been repurposed at the northern end of the dunes as a barricade for a carpark. Port Stephens has a rich military history associated with WWII. For those interested in seeing some of the remnants all that it takes is a walk to Tomaree Headland where you can see the “torpedo tubes” and gun emplacements. There is also Camp Gan Gan (located around 4km from Nelson Bay), Fort Tomaree, HMAS Assault on St Nazaire’s Road, also known as the Joint Overseas Operational Training School (JOOTS), which later became Nelson Bay Migrant Hostel in the post-war period. By Marian SAMPSON Old tanks were once used for bombing training runs by the military on the Stockton Sand Dunes. Photo: Marian Sampson.
