Holsworthy Barracks is an

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

military barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

, located in the

Heathcote National Park Heathcote National Park is a protected national park that is located in the southern region of Sydney, New South Wales in eastern Australia, and is situated on Dharawal country. The national park is situated approximately southwest of the ...

Holsworthy Holsworthy is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Torridge District, Torridge district of Devon, England, some west of Exeter. The River Deer, a tributary of the River Tamar, forms the western boundary of the paris ...

approximately from the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

, in

south-western Sydney South Western Sydney is a region of the metropolitan area in southwest Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the predominantly working class area of Greater Western Sydney. The region lies in the Cumberland Plain. Local government ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. The barracks is part of the Holsworthy military reserve, which is training area and artillery range for the Australian Army, established in the 1880s and been in active use since

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Following

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it became a major base for the permanent component of the Australian Army in New South Wales. Holsworthy Military Airport is also located in the reserve. Activities carried out on the base include the use of firing ranges, chemical weapons testing, fire training, vehicle maintenance, and bulk chemical storage and distribution from numerous above ground and underground storage tanks. Following the movement of many units of the Regular Army to Darwin,

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

, in the late 1990s many

Army Reserve A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve ...

units were moved from other depots to Holsworthy Barracks, including the Headquarters of the 5th Brigade. The base is currently home to 142 Signal Squadron, 2nd Commando Regiment (2 Cdo Regt),

Special Operations Engineer Regiment The Special Operations Engineer Regiment (SOER) is a specialised unit of the Australian Army. The regiment forms part of the Special Operations Command. The unit was formed in 2002 as the Incident Response Regiment (IRR), they are deployed to r ...

and 6th Aviation Regiment. A number of training units and the Defence Force Correctional Establishment are also located at Holsworthy. The base is also home to the regional headquarters of both NSW

Australian Army Cadets The Australian Army Cadets (AAC) is the youth military program and organisation of the Australian Army, tasked with supporting participants to contribute to society, fostering interest in defence force careers, and developing support for the ...

Brigade and NSW 2nd

Brigade.

Terrorism plot

On 4 August 2009, five men from

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, were charged over the

Holsworthy Barracks terror plot The Holsworthy Barracks terror plot was an Islamist terrorist plot uncovered in August 2009 targeting Holsworthy Barracks—an Australian Army training area located in the outer south-western Sydney suburb of Holsworthy—with automatic weapons. ...

, a plan to storm the barracks with automatic weapons, and shoot anyone they encountered until they themselves were killed or captured. The men were connected with the Somali-based terrorist group al-Shabaab.

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

later announced that the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

had ordered a review of security at all military bases. On 6 August 2009, a ''

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'' reporter and photographer were charged with taking a photograph of a defence installation after being granted entry to the military base. In December 2011 three of the terror plotters were sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Terrorism plot

See also

References

Further reading