The rusted steel archway half buried in the ground that you see here is an air raid shelter constructed in 1942.
This was a devastating year for Australia as fears of a Japanese invasion grew and aerial attacks on both Darwin and Broome occurred within 3 weeks of each other at the end of summer.
These confirmed the power of the long range Zero fighter/bomber airplanes to reek havoc far away from their home base – either on land or aboard an aircraft carrier.
While Eulo was of limited strategic value to the war and an unlikely target for attack, it was in the direct flight path from Darwin to Melbourne. It also provided a communication link used to wire information between the major centres. With this in mind, an Anderson air raid shelter was installed here by local contractor Hilty Newsham.
These days, the shelter is a bit rusty and doesn’t sport the sandbags and grass that once hid it from aerial view. When first built, it could hold about fifty people standing up.