Contrary to some local
misconceptions the Wallangar[r]a [ed.n] Dugouts are not,
in fact, in Wallangarra, either behind the pub or behind the school to provide
shelter during potential WWII air raids.
Rather
it was the name given by the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company of
the Australian Imperial Force back in 1917 when it constructed the
tunnel system under Hill 63 in Ploegsteert Wood on the Western Front in
Belgium.
READ ALSO:
The Company
was led by Tenterfield-born engineer Oliver Woodward, which may give some clue
to the name’s origin. His life story can be found in a display cabinet at
the Tenterfield School of Arts.
According to
Captain Woodward, ‘the following particulars of the work accomplished will show
the section did not abuse its fortune in having a cushy job’.
“The contour
of Hill 63 lent itself to the erection of the Dugouts which had a minimum Head
cover of 25 feet. The location of the Dugouts was such that only Howitzer
shells could reach us although our position was within a quarter mile from the
Front Line Trenches.”
The
Wallangarra Dugouts took 197 men removing a total of 192,588 cubic feet of
earth to construct an 8x7 foot gallery stretching 2722 feet. It
provided sleep accommodation in bunks for 1200 men, and
took just 63 days to complete in atrocious conditions.
A section of the dugout was recreated last November
in Tenterfield Memorial Hall to mark the centenary of Armistice Day, attracting more than 1700 visitors.
© Donna Ward
Editor’s Note : Probably
due to a phonetic adaptation and a slight lack of geographical knowledge, the
european media perpetuated the name Wallangara with a single R.
