Joint Defence Facility Nurrungar (JDFN) was an Earth station in Australia located on the edge of

Island Lagoon The Island Lagoon Tracking Station (Deep Space Station 41), an Earth station in Australia, was the first deep space station to be established outside of the United States, near Woomera, South Australia in November 1960. This area was chosen ...

, approximately 15 km south of

Woomera, South Australia Woomera, unofficially Woomera village, is the domestic area of RAAF Base Woomera. Woomera village has always been a Defence-owned and operated facility. The village is located on the traditional lands of the Kokatha people in the Far North r ...

, operated jointly by the

Australian Department of Defence The Department of Defence, also known simply as Defence, is a department of the Australian Government that is responsible for administering the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and its related entities, and is charged with the defence of Austra ...

and the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

from 1969 through to 1999. Its official area of emphasis was space-based surveillance, in particular the early detection of missile launches and nuclear detonations using U.S. Defense Support Program satellites in geostationary orbits. The name ''Nurrungar'' derives from an aboriginal term meaning "listen".

History

Cold War

During the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

the site was crucially important to America's defences, being a facility for providing "launch on warning" surveillance of enemy ICBM and other rocket launches.Coleman, Mat
Inside Nurrungar
Inside Nurrungar ABC PM Archive, 16 September 1999 Not surprisingly, it was also regarded as one of the Soviets' top ten targets in the event that such an attack would actually take place. Politically it was both a symbol of U.S.-Australian relations, and highly controversial in Australia. This was mainly due to fears that the site could prompt a nuclear attack on Australian soil, and antipathy towards the US alliance amongst the Australian political left. Political demonstrations were staged at the facility in 1989, 1991 and 1993. Despite allegations that Australians were restricted from areas crucial to the facility's intelligence gathering capabilities, Australian military personnel were fully integrated into the site's operations. The public in general was not even aware of its existence until November 1970, a full year after it had been in operation. Its precise location did not leak out until some time later.

Vietnam War

Leaked Department of Defence documents have revealed that satellites controlled by the

Pine Gap Pine Gap is a joint Australian–United States satellite communications and signals intelligence surveillance base and Australian Earth station approximately south-west of the town of Alice Springs. It is jointly operated by Australia and ...

and Nurrungar facilities were used to pinpoint targets for bombings in Cambodia.

Decommissioning

After September 1999 its operations were moved to the Joint Defense Facility Pine Gap, near

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

, and ownership of the premises was transferred to the

Woomera Test Range The RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC) is a major Australian military and civil aerospace facility and operation located in South Australia, approximately north-west of Adelaide. The WRC is operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), a S ...

(headquartered in Adelaide). The ADF now uses the site occasionally for army test and evaluation work under the approval of the Woomera Test Range. The Woomera Test Range has taken some new steps with the announcement of Project JP3024, "Remediation of the Woomera Test Range". While Nurrungar is not specifically included in that project, Army and Air Force have been jointly using the site off and on since 2009. The site is surrounded by a high-security perimeter fence and still includes one of the old (believed heritage-listed) large radome structures. The radome still has the old satellite dish inside but it is believed all the operating mechanisms have long since been stripped out and sold for scrap. "

Current state of the facility

Inside the fence of the large facility, there are many large rooms including kitchens and some secure, bullet-proof rooms. There is even still a tennis court on the grounds. The whole facility is completely empty and stripped of lights and power plugs. Along the inside of the fence there are rows of barbed wire, microwave beams and other security features.

References

External links

* Barela, Timothy P.
Manning the Donut Hole: On Duty in Australia's Outback
April 1997 * Stewart, Cameron et al

'

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

, 18 February 1999 * Coleman, Mat
Inside Nurrungar
Inside Nurrungar ABC PM Archive, 16 September 1999 {{Australia–United States relations #allornothing #LockedDown #JustSendIt Nurrungar Earth stations in South Australia Australia–United States military relations Military installations of the United States in Australia 1969 establishments in Australia 1999 disestablishments in Australia Far North (South Australia)