10 April, 2012 5:46PM ACST

Adelaide's explosive World War Two history

The creation of the Northern Expressway, a highway that links Adelaide to Gawler, has let thousands of travellers each day witness remnants of Adelaide's World War Two history.

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The old tram lines that once linked SA largest wartime construction are now over grown and hiddenRemnants of the old tram lines in 2001The path along which trams would once deliver explosives to the magazineLooking over the earth wall barrier to the Northern ExpresswayOh poop. Pigeon by-products collapse the ceiling of Magazine 29The pigeons are the only ones making deliveries on the tram platforms nowInside the 50 ton building that vandals and pidgeons have made a homeThe mysterious World War Two building surrounded by potato crops and open fieldsA local vandal leaves his mark on the heritage wallMagazine 33, a smaller 50 ton capacitySome of the Smithfield Magazine area's new neighboursA blueprint of the 100 ton magazine designA 1949 aerial photograph of the magazine showing the outlay of the storage buildingsThe design of the 5.1m earthwall that fronts the 100 ton magazine building

Burrowed down in an earth nest, Magazine 29 is one of a few buildings that remain from the Smithfield Magazine Area.

A building that was part of one of South Australia's largest construction efforts of the 20th century.

The old hut sits quietly amongst the potato crops and sheep herds of its new owners, the Mitolo Group, and for nearby residents, the only risk of explosion now comes from the over head flocks of pigeons that now claim it as a home.

The Walls of War

It is June of 1940 and the outer suburbs of Adelaide are about to play a major part in the storage and production of explosives for Allied Forces in World War Two.

The Federal Government of Australia approves the acquisition of 2023 hectares through the farming districts of Salisbury and Munno Para.

A project was about to begin that would involve laying 80 kilometres of pipeline, 66 kilometres of road, 58 kilometres of purpose built 60cm gauge rail and close to 1500 buildings.

The project became so large that, at its peak, it would involve up to 6,400 workers and draw to a close other building sites throughout the state, due to its pure thirst for manpower and materials.

Around 20 families would be moved from their farms as the construction began.

A munitions construction plant, made up of 1405 buildings, would be built in the Salisbury area, with a series of 95 storage buildings, known as a magazine, built around Munno Para.

So vast was the project that on announcement a Material Supply Directorate was declared, giving absolute priority to the supply of bricks to the construction site and fixing the price to avoid profiteering.

83 principle contractors and 163 sub-contractors are employed to co-ordinate the works and construction begins in November of 1940.

According to the Conservation Management Plan for the Smithfield Magazine Area produced by Donovan and Associates for the Department of Defence in 2001, original plans were to construct a guard house, nine officer barracks and houses, three standard explosive magazine 100 ton storage buildings and 54 smaller 50 ton storage buildings.

The building tally would grow another two times after construction, with up to 82 of the 50 ton storage facilities built and a few extra 100 ton premises to cope with the overflow of the original plans.

A standard rail was constructed from the Salisbury Munitions Factory to the 'human-proof' fence line of the Smithfield Area Magazine, with the explosives transferred from steam powered trains to specialised electric trains within the grounds.

Rail lines and building layouts were established in a tree-formation, based on a British design that would ensure buildings were a minimum of 200 metres apart, ensuring any accidental explosions or bombing from enemy planes would not trigger a chain reaction through the magazine.

The buildings were also designed to make them difficult to be spotted by airborne attackers.

The original plans were completed in August of 1942, with the plant said to be the largest all-brick magazine in the southern hemisphere.

An additional 18 wood and asbestos buildings were later added to the magazine to cope with storage overflows.

Over its time of service during the war, the complex housed tetryl (Trinitrophenylmethylnitramine), ammonium nitrate, cordite, TNT(trinitrotoluene) and nitrocellulose, with specialised sections for acid and pyrotechnics.

The magazine was still used to store explosive after World War Two.

In 1962 moves were made to close the magazine, with the bulk of the explosives destroyed 30 June 1962, and the area of the overall magazine reduced.

Most of the commissioned land was sold and returned to farming usage with 223 hectares transferred to the Weapons Research Establishment, containing the three 100 ton storage buildings, 30 of the 50 ton storage buildings and three inspection buildings.

Many of the original buildings left on the parcels of land that were sold remained intact and were used as storage sheds, with the occasional shed still standing today.

A Defence Force explosive ordinance carried out in 1991 revealed up to 20,000 kilograms of explosives were still being stored on the site.

By mid-1998 the complex was deemed to be not viable, with most of the remaining buildings demolished and the rail system removed.

Magazine 29: one of the last standing

It is nestled between large contour banks to the east, south and west, and a 5.1 metres tall, 70 metre long earth and concrete wall along its north eastern front.

Magazine 29 is now a solitary figure, once surrounded by the infrastructure of the World War Two construction, now in the midst of an open field between the Northern Expressway and Andrews Road.

The tunnels are still visible through the contour banks, which the electric trams used to pass through.

The platform which was once used to unload and transport munitions is still clearly visible at the rear of the building.

Long gone are the steel rails that carried the trams, with the occasional bolt stem still poking through the grass from the overgrown concrete slabs.

The external brick wall that faces the Northern Expressway's Adelaide-bound traffic has become the canvas for a local graffitier and the once wrapping heshen sacks long since dissolved.

Structurally, the brick building seems have faired the decades since construction well, though internally parts of the ceiling have fallen through under the weight of pigeon droppings from the numbers of birds that have claimed the roof cavity as their home.

A few tags from spraypainters also litter the roadside tram tunnel entrance to the compound.

Magazine 29 was constructed to protect local resident from its contents, in the case of an accidental explosion or enemy attack.

Constructed on concrete flooring, covered in anti-static materials, brick and concrete walls were placed.

Outward opening doors and windows with heavy shutters were spaced around the walls.

Atop sitt a wooden-framed roof and inner-roof, so that in the event of an explosion, the force of the blast would be sent straight up.

Surrounding earth barriers were built to ensure any escaping shock waves or blast forces would also be forced upwards, to hopefully dissipate any remnants of an explosion and protect neighbouring buildings.

It's closest neighbour, to the northeast, is Magazine 33, a smaller five ton storage facility.

The two buildings on the Mitolo site have been placed on the State Heritage Register and used as storage facilities since ownership was transferred.

Both are believed to have asbestos panelling used in the ceiling and walls.

Several other buildings of the era remain in the area, transferred to general storage and shed usage.

The Magazine 29 and Magazine 33 buildings can seen between the Curtis Road and Heaslip Road exits on the Northern Expressway in Munno Para.

Special thanks to Peter Donovan of Donovan and Associates and Jackie Dickmann from Mitolo Group for their permission to access historical records on the Smithfield Magazine Area.