Woomera, South Australia and Woomera was chosen as a site for such a facility. The establishment of the Woomera Immigration Detention Centre in 1999, through the refurbishment of the original Woomera Village construction camp at 'Woomera West', eventually brought in new permanent staff (as the Nurrungar people were leaving) to settle and maintain the village population at around 1,200. The immigration detention centre, however, proved to be a highly controversial facility and it closed in early 2003 after only about 36 months of operation, at which point the land and buildings were handed back to the Defence Department. Following the closure of the
Delamere Air Weapons Range Delamere Air Weapons Range Delamere Air Weapons Range is a bombing range operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), located in the Northern Territory. The facility is located about 120 kilometres (75 mi) south of the town of Katherine and RAAF Base Tindal, Australia's largest airbase. The Delamere facility is managed round-the-clock by a detachment of eight members of the No. 322 Expeditionary Combat Support Squadron RAAF. Its large area——and of vertical airspace clearance allow virtually unrestricted freedom of tactical testing and training using any conventional weapons. In addition to its large mass inert weapon range, Delamere also has