Bofors Anti-Aircraft Gun

Anzac Road, Moe VIC 3825

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Vic. War Heritage Inventory

Statement of Significance

• Additional Place Information

  • Physical Description 1

    Bofors Anti-Aircraft Gun - Physical Description 1

    This is a Bofors anti-aircraft gun mounted on a round concrete plinth and situated in the median strip in Anzac Street. The gun is beside a semi-mature 'Lone Pine' tree, circumference at chest height - 1.87 m. Canopy diameter - 1.15 m.

    Physical Conditions

    Bofors Anti-Aircraft Gun - Physical Conditions

    Good

    Intactness

    Bofors Anti-Aircraft Gun - Intactness

    Not known

    Historical Australian Themes

    Bofors Anti-Aircraft Gun - Historical Australian Themes

    9. COMMUNITY & CULTURAL LIFE 9.2 Memorials and remembering

    Veterans Description for Public

    Bofors Anti-Aircraft Gun - Veterans Description for Public

    The Bofors anti-aircraft gun is mounted on a plinth and situated within the median strip in Anzac Road, Moe. It is thought to be similar to those installed by the Commonwealth Government around Yallourn Power Station as part of defence measures during the Second World War. In the mid-1970s, the Defence Department offered surplus military hardware to RSL clubs as part of their war memorials, and the Moe Branch installed the Bofors gun as a part of a memorial which has since been relocated to 63-67 Albert Street.

    During the Second World War, the old Yallourn Power Station made a significant contribution to the war by ensuring a constant supply of power to heavy industry that kept the war machine turning. Between 1940 and 1942, Yallourn Power Station was responsible for generating more than two-thirds of Victoria's electricity, and logically it would have been a major target if the Japanese forces, rapidly moving south through Asia by the end of that period, had attacked.
    
    For this reason, the governments of the day set about shoring up Yallourn's defences. About £30,000 was spent on additional fire protection at principal SEC sites at Yallourn, while many precautions were taken to protect buildings and workers in case of an enemy air attack. These included the construction of earth walls, blacking out windows, protective casings for vital plant equipment, air raid shelters for key personnel and the construction of walls made from brick and concrete. These walls were designed to withstand the impact of a high explosive 500 pound (227 kilogram) bomb detonating at 16 metres.
    
    By the middle of 1941, the 11th Australian Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery unit began its protection of Yallourn Power Station and the project area. Four guns, three inch 30 cwt mobile units, were initially provided to guards against air raids while gun crews, headquarters personnel and machine gun units were allocated to the works area. The Old Brown Coal Mine and the south west end of the Yallourn ovals were selected as sites for 3.7 inch guns. Each round for one of these guns weighed 49 pounds (22 kilograms), and to operate the gun took 11 men.
    
    Bofors guns were later placed behind the briquette factory, near the open cut office, on the far side of the Latrobe River on the hill opposite the power station and between the screen house and the open cut. An extensive network of volunteers, were the eyes and ears of the formidable range of 'AckAck' guns around the works area. Aircraft were prohibited from air space within eight kilometres of the open cut. Fortunately, the guns were only fired once in anger; a night in December 1941 when a large Melbourne-bound plane strayed into the prohibited area. The plane was not, as suspected, a Japanese bomber.

    Heritage Study and Grading

    Heritage Study and Grading

    Latrobe - Latrobe Heritage Study (1991)

    Author: Christine Johnston, Latrobe Regional Commission
    Year: 1991
    Grading: Local

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