Cootamundra

18 EASING OF THE WAR THREAT After a two-and-a-half-year period of construction, the depot was completed on 21 January 1944, according to official records. Just seven months later Cootamundra’s inland fuel depot and 16 others were slated for closure. What caused this change of heart a year before the war ended on 2 September 1945? Circumstances had changed markedly since the decision was first made to store bulk aviation fuel away from the coast. When the decision to build the inland fuel depots was taken, it was by no means certain that the US would enter the war and the Australian Government was already deeply concerned at the capacity of the unfinished Singapore base to stop a Japanese advance. There was a mounting feeling Australia would have to look after itself even though its best fighting troops were serving the Allies in the Middle East. Having a fuel supply out of the range of dive bombers from aircraft carriers would be essential for our defence. Most significantly the Imperial Japanese Navy had attacked the United States of America at Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941. At that point the threat to Australia seemed very real and even more so after the Fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942. Fortunately for Australians, Cootamundra’s inland fuel depot was rendered obsolete part way through its construction following the naval battles the Coral Sea and Midway Island. The Imperial Japanese Navy had lost four of its aircraft carriers and many support vessels in the battles of the Coral Sea (4-8 May 1942) and Midway (4-7 June 1942). These Japanese losses meant the threat of attack had passed and fuel supplies were needed in the tropical north closer to operational theatres of New Guinea and the Solomons. Dauntless dive bombers over the burning Japanese cruiser Mikuma on 6 June 1942. Wikimedia Commons