Former RANAD (Royal Australian Navy Armaments Depot) Somerton - 12th March 2006


This depot was built during WWII, around 1941, in the relatively isolated (at the time) rural area of Somerton, Victoria. It grew in size over the years with additional land being acquired into the 1950s, then shrunk as the Greenvale Reservoir was built in the late 1960s, reusing some of the RANAD land. The base was closed around the year 2000 and was acquired by a land developer. Part of it will be consolidated into the reservoir's expanding borders, but most will be demolished and redeveloped as residential housing. As for Somerton, a sizeable chunk of the land adjacent to the base was used to form the new housing development of Roxburgh Park from the late 1980s onwards, and due to movement of borders (presumably to avoid Somerton being split into two islands) the base's official location changed to the adjacent suburb of Greenvale; the remainder of Somerton is now a 100% commercial/industrial suburb.

This is the first of many visits to this site. It was a stifling 36 degrees C (97F) that day, which made for a very hot photographer, but also a beautiful sky.




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Stray light bulb; self portrait.
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Stray light bulb; self portrait.

Image Copyright (C) by Rowan Crowe




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Broken windows in the admin area. Houses from Roxburgh Park visible.
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Broken windows in the admin area. Houses from Roxburgh Park visible.

Image Copyright (C) by Rowan Crowe




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"MUSTER POINT NO 1"

Image Copyright (C) by Rowan Crowe




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"DANGER / NO SMOKING OR NAKED FLAME WITHIN 20FT"

Image Copyright (C) by Rowan Crowe




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Interior of what looks to be a storage shed.
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Interior of what looks to be a storage shed.

Image Copyright (C) by Rowan Crowe




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Old Motorola radio.
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Old Motorola radio.

Image Copyright (C) by Rowan Crowe




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Old Motorola radio.
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Old Motorola radio.

Image Copyright (C) by Rowan Crowe




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GIVE WAY!
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GIVE WAY!

Image Copyright (C) by Rowan Crowe




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Smashed up IBM computer monitor.
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Smashed up IBM computer monitor.

Image Copyright (C) by Rowan Crowe




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Newspaper dated Tuesday, June 4, 1996.
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Newspaper dated Tuesday, June 4, 1996.

Image Copyright (C) by Rowan Crowe




*** See next 10 images, out of 114 total.