Cootamundra

7 The inland aviation fuel depots (IAFD) were designed to store petrol which could be converted to aircraft grade when mixed with Tetraethyl lead (TEL) to produce a high performance ‘leaded’ petrol. This allowed for the fuelling of both aircraft and land transport vehicles. Three hundred and 80 kilometres south-west of Sydney, Cootamundra was a long way inland and strategically located on the main Southern railway line linking Melbourne and Sydney. As an added bonus the NSW Government already owned a suitable site, a 10-acre (three-hectare) site which Cootamundra Council operated as a gravel extraction pit and quarry. Locating the storage facilities at the outskirts of town on the south side of a hill provided a degree of separation and reduced potential risks to life and limb from a catastrophic explosion and fire. Because the tanks would be storing flammable liquids, they were to be positioned at least 200 feet (60 metres) apart to prevent the worst- case scenario of a burning tank taking out a neighbouring storage unit. Locomotive 5719 entering Cootamundra, NSW, 11 March 1946. National Library of Australia Plan of gravel pit, Town of Cootamundry, 1941. National Archives of Australia Cootamundra, NSW map produced by Royal Australian Survey Corps, 1956. National Library of Australia