POSSIBLE DEMOLITION TUNNEL ABOVE
WOY WOY RAIL TUNNEL, NSW
DURING WW2

Steve Spillard has told me about a small tunnel located above the Woy Woy Rail Tunnel above the east coast railway line in New South Wales.

Steve visited the tunnel in February 2008 and found an old post WW2 ammo box in a nearby cave. The box is stamped 1953 and it looked like the contents were last checked in 73. Steve found a newspaper from 1998 inside the box! The cave looks like a hobo had been living there and raiding the local tip 1km away based on the debris laying around inside the cave. Steve also found a Halfpenny made in 1942 inside the cave.

Photo:- Steve Spillard Feb 2008

Entrance to the possible demolition tunnel

Photo:- Steve Spillard Feb 2008

Ammunition Box found in the cave

Photo:- Steve Spillard Feb 2008

Ammunition Box

Photo:- Steve Spillard Feb 2008

Label on the Ammunition box which states "Universal Cavity Fuzing Components" - Was this a box of stolen fuses?

Photo:- Steve Spillard Feb 2008

The year 1953 stamped in the timber

The small tunnel is about 4 - 5 ft high and is directly above the main railway tunnel portal. The smaller tunnel extends into the rock for about 30 ft and turns right and goes for only another 3 feet. The small tunnel is 6 ft wide at best. To access this small tunnel you have to traverse down a rugged slope about 300 m from the nearest vehicle track.

Photo:- Steve Spillard Feb 2008

Looking into the tunnel

Photo:- Steve Spillard Feb 2008

Debris at the end of the tunnel

On leaving the tunnel Steve noticed a core hole in the ceiling in what looks like a basalt seam. Apparently there was an old basalt mine nearby in the 1930's. Could this possibly be a test mine to gauge the size of the basalt seam. The main rail tunnel was built in the 1890's. Steve said that both locations were extremely hard to hike to with no nearby road access

Photo:- Steve Spillard Feb 2008

Core hole in the roof of the tunnel

Steve Spillard has a suspicion that this small tunnel was possibly packed full of high explosives during WW2 in case the nearby Peninsula area was invaded the Japanese and they captured the east coast rail link. Blowing the tunnel on the Woy Woy side would have stopped the Japanese dead in their tracks and leave no access to the northern suburbs of Sydney. Also by just collapsing the tunnel mouth itself the tunnel could easily be recovered at a later stage.

Photo:- Steve Spillard Feb 2008

The words "N.T. 1916" painted on cave wall

Photo:- Steve Spillard Feb 2008

The words "Flower Sellers Camp" painted on the cave walls

Photo:- Steve Spillard Feb 2008

Looking out from the small tunnel over the railway tunnel portal

Does anyone know what the real use for this small tunnel was?

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Steve Spillard for his assistance with this web page.

Can anyone help me with more information?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 24 February 2008

This page last updated 25 January 2020