By Cara Waters
The birthplace of the Royal Australian Air Force is under threat, with plans to demolish historic buildings in Point Cook that were essential to Australia’s efforts during the Second World War.
The Defence Department has slated for demolition what are possibly Australia’s only remaining World War II British-built hangars, along with an armament store built between the wars.
The RAAF base at Point Cook was the birthplace of the RAAF.Credit: National Trust
The department wants to knock down 19 buildings from the Royal Australian Air Force Point Cook Base, the original home of Australia’s air force in 1921.
The National Trust said the hangars and store are irreplaceable buildings of international historic importance.
The base was built near Melbourne in 1914 and is still used by squadrons, although the airfield has been decommissioned by the RAAF.
Acting National Trust Victoria chief executive Philip Martins said the base had played a vital role in Australia’s aviation history for more than 110 years.
Philip Martins, acting chief executive of National Trust Victoria. Credit: Jason South
“They are just irreplaceable buildings with national importance and once they come down, they can’t be rebuilt,” he said. “We feel that there’s a lot of this happening around not only Victoria, but Australia as well, in terms of these historic buildings just not being given the protection that they need.”
Australian Council of National Trusts chair Lachlan Molesworth said many of the buildings had fallen into disrepair, despite the site being included on the National Heritage list in 2007.
“The deterioration of the buildings on Commonwealth land and the resulting request to demolish them to ‘reduce ongoing maintenance costs’ demonstrates a case of demolition by neglect,” Molesworth said.
Under national and Commonwealth heritage listings, 15 of the 19 buildings proposed for demolition are considered to have some heritage significance.
“The demolition of these buildings would signal an unacceptable double standard to the Australian community: that the Commonwealth government allows the deterioration and resulting demolition of its own nationally significant heritage assets,” Molesworth said.
He said the base was like a time capsule and the buildings themselves were unique.
“What you’re seeing is some of the earliest examples of military steel hangars both in Australia [and] also in the world,” he said. “You’ll see from an Australian perspective, the RAAF standard huts, which are incredibly unique, absolutely perfectly preserved from when they were constructed, and they tell this incredibly important story about our involvement and role in World War II.”
Molesworth said the structures were humble buildings and not sophisticated.
Biplanes taking off at the Point Cook RAAF base in 1929.Credit: Argus Collection, The Age Archives
“They are not buildings which are special because of the thousand tonnes of marble carved-stonework – they are simple buildings, which are significant because of how they were used and the role they played,” he said.
Molesworth said the plan to demolish the buildings was purely to save money.
“The decision to remove these buildings is not part of a plan which is related to defence or improving defence capabilities,” he said.
“It is purely a decision based on the cost of maintenance. That is, these buildings are essentially going to be bowled over in order to have a bare patch of land.”
Dr Michael McKernan, former deputy director of the Australian War Memorial, said the Point Cook base was the foundation of the RAAF.
“It trained the first pilots we ever had and sent them to war,” he said. “From a historical perspective, it is certainly the most important RAAF base in Australia.”
A Defence spokesman said the buildings were beyond repair and posed a significant safety risk to personnel.
“The structures proposed for demolition include Bellman Hangars, RAAF standard huts, store facilities and toilet blocks,” he said. “Defence has undertaken considerable assessments to ensure the heritage values of the buildings to be removed are captured.”
The buildings were already saved from demolition 20 years ago when the government scrapped plans to sell off the land at the Point Cook base and instead established a non-profit trust to manage the land for 49 years and keep it in public ownership.
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