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Bickley Battery - MG Emplacement
Located approximately 32 metres east of the Officers’ Mess and 57 metres south-west of the F1 gun, this machine gun emplacement has long since been demolished.
All that remains today is a low mound of concrete rubble. It is likely that the emplacement once consisted of a simple concrete platform, similar to the surviving machine gun emplacement at Bickley Point (below).
Bickley Point - MG Emplacement
MG - Machine Gun
Bickley Battery - Fire Trench
TBC
1943 Tunnel Entrance 1
I was initially unconvinced by claims that this location marked the entrance to a tunnel in 1943. The surrounding area contains around fifty trenches and dugouts, many of which, when partially collapsed or eroded, can easily resemble tunnel entrances at a glance.
Whenever tunnels are mentioned, a common assumption quickly follows, regardless of location: that the ground would have been too soft, too wet or too unstable to allow underground construction. Experience suggests otherwise. Tunnels have been successfully excavated in a wide range of geological conditions, including clay, silt, sand and ground composition alone is not a reliable indicator of what was or was not possible.
What makes this site particularly interesting is a straight alignment measuring approximately 136 metres on a bearing of around 105 degrees east, which terminates at a conspicuous pile of rocks. Based on field experience, this accumulation strongly resembles a deliberately infilled entrance. The quantity of rock and the size of the material do not match the surrounding landscape, suggesting it was introduced rather than naturally deposited.
1943 Tunnel Entrance 2
The rock itself is unquestionably local to Rottnest Island and can be identified as Tamala aeolianite sandstone, the limestone dune formation that underlies much of the island. This material was widely quarried on Rottnest long before military occupation, having been used extensively in the construction of pre-World War II buildings and infrastructure.
What is notable here is not the type of stone but its placement. The concentration of rock occurs precisely at the termination of a straight alignment extending from the suspected 1943 tunnel entrance. The piled nature of the material, combined with its quantity and arrangement, differs from the surrounding ground surface and suggests deliberate placement rather than natural deposition.
When considered alongside the linear alignment, the apparent infilling and several other features that raise questions on close inspection, the explanation becomes difficult to dismiss. The evidence may not be conclusive but taken together it points toward purposeful human intervention rather than coincidence.
Parade Ground
The Battery Office was located to the right of the parade ground, adjacent to the present-day walking trail. Today, there is little evidence of the building’s former presence. Aside from a short line of bricks or stones marking part of its footprint, no substantial rubble survives.
At the rear of the parade ground, a separate line of rocks remains visible. This may indicate the boundary or foundation line of another associated structure, although no standing elements remain.
Cricket Pitch
I don’t like cricket. I hate it. The flies on a hot summer day. The gusts of hot wind blowing in from whichever desert feels closest, island or not. Sand freckling your face, sunburnt lips crackling like the skin on a frying sausage and that lobster-red look that says you’re well past done.
Standing around the pitch, waiting for the ball to finally come your way. Too hot to run but standing still feels worse, like playing Pang with flies instead of bouncing balls, swatting endlessly and never quite winning.
Still, anything had to be better than the hard labour a Battery Commander might suddenly order. His bark, hopefully worse than his bite, echoing disciplinary threats meant to keep idle hands busy. And anything was certainly better than the constant threat and fear of invasion or the possibility of enemy attack hanging over everything.
Hmm. I don’t like cricket.
On second thought… I suddenly love it!
