Woomera, South Australia

Woomera South Australia
Missile Park
Woomera
Coordinates	31°12′S 136°49′E
Population	450
Established	1947
Postcode(s)	5720
Elevation	169 m (554 ft)
LGA(s)	Australian Department of Defence Administration
State electorate(s)	Giles
Federal division(s)	Grey
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall 34.4 °C 94 °F 19.4 °C 67 °F 183.9 mm 7.2 in

Woomera is an Australian Defence Force facility supporting the RAAF Woomera Test Range, the western world's largest defence systems test and evaluation range, and an Australian strategic national asset. Woomera village is a critical part of the Australian Defence Forces 'Woomera Capability'. The town itself is located in the 'outback' desert area of South Australia, approximately 488 km/305 mls north of Adelaide along the Stuart Highway. It is 177 km north of Port Augusta, and 80 km south of the mining centre of Roxby Downs. The Trans-Australian Railway passes Woomera at the nearby Pimba rail siding.

The 'Woomera Capability' includes; the RAAF Woomera Test Range - the unit responsible for operational management of the range and the prohibited area of Woomera, the RAAF Woomera Airfield and its satellite Evetts Field, the Woomera Prohibited Area - the area controlled by Defence for its activities at Woomera, the Woomera Defence Village, the Nurrungar Prohibited Area, and Camp Rapier. BAE Systems Australia are the currently contracted service provider to Defence for operational and garrison support to the village and Defence's range activities at Woomera.

History

Establishment. Establishment of the Woomera Village in South Australia's far north-western outback began in mid 1947. The principle need was to create a comfortable operational and domestic support centre for the many thousands of people that would be moving to Woomera as part of the Anglo-Australian Project. This project would last for 30 years and would see Woomera become one of the most secret allied bases established during the Cold War. During its 'hayday' period (1949-69), the village population reached around 7000. However, by the end of the 1960s the Anglo-Australian Project was rapidly winding down following the UK Government's dwindling interest in further experimental work. Additionally, and in the absence of any long-term plans for Woomera by the Australian Government, the test-range elements of Woomera were destined for a long period of withering - despite some passionate forward thinking by a small number of nationalistic visionaries about what Australia should be doing for itself in air and space research and development.

For both Woomera and Australia, there was no vision from the politicians at the time to continue development in such technologies, and the continued use of the purpose built facility. The two (and a third never completed) historic old 'Eldo' rocket launch sites at Lake Hart, towering ten stories high over the northern side of this inland dry salt lake, are now mute testament to Australia's once renowned position in space research and development that once saw Woomera as second only to Cape Canaveral in the number of annual rocket and missile launches.

Choosing a Name. The name 'Woomera' was chosen by the Board of the Long Range Weapons Establishment in April 1947 The new town was to be established on Commonwealth land procured for the purpose, and it was felt appropriate that it be named after the Aboriginal spear throwing implement of the same name due to its synergy with Woomera's intended purpose as a launch site in much the same way a woomera launches the spear. During the 1960s, over 7000 people lived and worked out of the Woomera Village and at the Koolymilka campsite near the RangeHead (approximately 42 km west of Woomera Village and deep within the Woomera Prohibited Area).

Deep Space Station 41. During the early 1960s, Woomera became part of the Gemini space program capabilities. Specialised tracking and communications stations were set up at Red Lake (about 50 km north of Woomera) and at Mirikata (about 200 km west of Woomera). These stations also played a critical part in the first Moon landing mission. However, one of the most significant facilities installed by the USA was the nearby, and highly specialised, 'Deep Space Station 41' (DSS-41). This facility was constructed at the edge of Island Lagoon (about 25 km south of Woomera) and was directly supported from the Woomera Defence Village. DSS-41 played a critical role in the 'race for space' from the mid 1950s to the mid 1970s when the main tracking systems were dismantled and returned to the United States. While none of the DSS-41 facility exists, the roadworks and building sites for this historic facility can still be seen.

Nurrungar Project. In 1969, and as the Anglo-Australia Project was winding down, the United States Air Force began construction and installation of the Nurrungar Joint Tracking Facility. This facility was located approximately 18 km south of Woomera. Over the next 30 years, this project ensured the maintenance of the Woomera Village infrastructure, and indeed, was responsible for considerable improvements and modernisation of the village's general facilities. During the period of the Nurrungar Project's operations, around 1100 USAF and ADF personnel (and their families) were accommodated at Woomera Village and the village population was generally around 4000.

The New Era of Woomera. When the Nurrungar Project come to an end in 1999, the future of the village appeared to look bleak. However, The RAAF was set to take over the range following a long-term study of Defence needs through to 2035 which found, in simple terms, that the Woomera Test Range was the only test and evaluation range left in the western world capable of testing the next generation of ADF defence systems within its land borders - and it could be utilised all year round given its climate advantages. At this time also, the Federal Government also decided to establish a number of immigration detention centres around the country to deal with a growing issue of asylum seekers arriving via sea across the northern sea-air gap, and Woomera was chosen as a site for such a facility.

The establishment of the Woomera Immigration Detention Centre in 1999, through the refurbishment of the original Woomera Village construction camp at 'Woomera West', eventually brought in new permanent staff (as the Nurrungar people were leaving) to settle and maintain the village population at around 1200. The immigration detention centre, however, proved to be a highly controversial facility and it closed in early 2003 after only about 36 months of operation, at which point the land and buildings were handed back to the Defence Department.

Camp Rapier. Following the closure of the Immigration Detention Centre, and the return of the site to the ADF, Woomera West was redesigned, altered, and re-established as a secure Defence garrison support facility and renamed 'Camp Rapier'. It is now frequently used by the Australian Army and Air Force Airfield Defence Squadrons as a base camp for specialised training and testing activities.

Post 2003. During the USAF period, Woomera's population was about 4000. When this facility closed, the population dropped to about 400 but rose to about 1200 when the Detention center was active. Post 2003, the village population has stabilised with a core population of about 400. However, since the RAAF assumed operational command of Woomera in 1999, there has been a very marked increase in the number of 'temporary residents' associated with the conduct of test and evaluation activities on the Range itself. While not permanent residents, the Range's transit population is now significant and appears to be growing.

Woomera Village is, in 2009, still the largest ADF domestic base support facility in Australia, but (and perhaps oddly) the village itself is also open to public access (this occurred in 1982 once the Anglo-Australia Project had completely withdrawn from Woomera). These days there is a very high visitation rate by tourists to view the famous 'National Missile Park' in the centre of the town (which features aircraft, rockets, bombs and missiles covering the full period of the Range's operations up to the present day), the "Woomera Heritage Centre" (which features a introductory AV presentation and a very professional interpretive gallery that tells the story of this famous national historic site), and finally the community museum maintained by the town's volunteer community board (this is located within the missile park precinct display).

Generally, all the residents at Woomera are Defence workers or contractors, or working in some capacity for defence. There are no privately owned homes in the town although some are leased to agencies such as the Bureau of Meteorology. The facilities in the town are first class and include a gym, hotel) 'ELDO' Hotel Woomera , swimming pool, hospital, picture theatre, school, the two museums and the famous missile park. There is a large IGA Supermarket, a radio station, post office, bank, bowling alley and an active football sports club, Returned Services League and lawn bowls club.

World Historical Aerospace Site. In 2007, the Woomera Test Range was acknowledged by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) as a site of world aerospace historical significance. Woomera is now a legendary equal part of the historic evolution and development of air and space technology as such places as Kitty Hawk - the site of the worlds' first recorded heavier-than-air flight took place, and the Sea of Tranquility - the site of human's first landing on the moon.

Woomera Village Today

Today, the population of Woomera is steady at about 450 permanent Defence residents. However, this number can triple overnight with the constant passage of personnel moving in and out of the village as part of range trials activities. These days also, there is no need to maintain the sort of numbers of people at Woomera that were there 40 years ago. Modern communications technology means that scientists can virtually work from their offices anywhere in the world to access the test data gathered at Woomera - a far cry from the 6000 or so that once needed to be there.

The management of the village infrastructure is the responsibility of Defence Support Group (DSG), but the Woomera Community Board is a long-standing and integral part of the town's management structure. The Woomera Board is composed of elected members from the town's permanent residents. The aim of the Woomera Board is to build the sense of community given that it has no established 'council' or 'mayor'. The community voice of the Woomera community is expressed through the weekly 'Gibber Gabber' newsletter (see issues of the Gibber Gabber here: http://www.woomera.com.au/community/gibber_gabber.htm).

Woomera is unique in that it is a town owned and operated by the Australian Department of Defence. But equally unique, it is also one that is open to the public to visit at any time. Non-defence visitors to Woomera are able to stay at the famous 'ELDO Hotel' - a former officer's mess facility when it was a closed base, or the nearby 'Travellers Rest Caravan Park' offers a different style of accommodation (see this site for more details: http://www.woomera.com.au/tourism.htm)

Tourism

Woomera's attractions include visiting one of the world's most historic aerospace sites, access to the Woomera National Aerospace and Missile Park (located in the center of the town), it features missiles and rockets developed and tested at Woomera over the last 60 years as well as a number of historic aircraft used in trials at Woomera. There is a comprehensive visitors information centre and heritage interpretation centre as well as a museum which was formerly a recreation centre for U.S. Air Force personnel working at Nurrungar and their families. Other attractions include a Movie Theatre, bowling alley, Swimming centre, shops and stores, pubs and clubs. Woomera is also a haven for observing and understanding Australia's desert flora and fauna. The Woomera Marine Centre (located next to the Community Centre) is a must see and an ironic attraction for the middle of a desert environment.

Evolution of the Woomera Test Range

Background to Establishment. Why does the Woomera Village exist? It exists because of the need for a support base for the Woomera Test Range, and the need for the range grew out of the rapid progress in rocket based weaponry developed during the second world war and which subsequently translated into that period of 'west vs east' stand-off of "mutually assured destruction" that was known as 'The Cold War'.

The Need for the Range. The use of the V1 and V2 rockets by Germany in World War II against the United Kingdom resulted in the UK's desire to undertake its own rocket research and development after the war. However, the density of population in the UK made it difficult to establish a test facility in the UK so they approached the Australian government for a site in Australia. The site of the town and the prohibited area were surveyed by Len Beadell. The major criteria for selecting a site were, that it provided a very long testing corridor, and avoided populated areas.

Declaring the Prohibited Area. The township of Woomera is part of the wider Woomera test and evaluation capability that the ADF operates at Woomera. The Range was first established in 1947 under the Anglo-Australia Defence Project and the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA) was declared for the purposes of 'testing war materials'. The range itself, is less than half the size it originally was, but it still covers an area of around 127,000 km² (49,000 mi²) in area - or an area roughly the size of England or the State of Florida.

Test Activities at Woomera. In 1947, the Woomera Test Range was (and still is) the western world's largest land-based defence test and evaluation range, that is usable all year round for testing defence air and space systems including missiles, rocket assisted payloads, and artillery. In recent years, it has been in very high demand for UAV flight testing.

In the early 1950s, the range was nearly twice the size it is today, but within even its current land borders, the range still has a clear centre line exceeding 600 km (375 miles) in length. By simple comparison, the massive China Lake Test Range in the US fits inside the RAAF Woomera Test Range about three times. Thus the apparent, and significant, increase in testing activities at Woomera in the last ten years is not by coincidence. As the only operational test and evaluation range in the western world fit-for-purpose and capable of testing the new generation of 'beyond visual range' (BVR) aerospace systems within its land borders, Woomera seems to be entering a new era in history and it is getting the support of the Federal Government to finally upgrade its systems with clear references to Woomera in the 2009 Defence White Paper.

Nurrungar Project. From 1969 to 1999, Woomera village was the domestic support centre for the nearby Nurrungar satellite ground station ( 31°19′26″S 136°46′37″E31.323809°S 136.776942°E. This facility closed in 1999 when new satellite based technologies allowed withdrawal of monitoring systems back within the USA. Despite many contrary opinions, the facility was always a fully integrated AUS-US facility. The Nurrungar Prohibited Area is separately administered from the WPA and is appears to now be managed as a Defence training area by Defence Support Group.

The Anglo-Australia project concluded in 1977 and until the RAAF took operational control of the Range and main airfield in 1999, the operational capabilities of Woomera were firstly administered by DSTO and then by the Australian Defence Support Group (DSG), until it became apparent to Air Force that while the village remained well supported, the operational systems supporting aerospace test and evaluation needs on the range had become run-down. With the new aerospace systems being planned to come into service with the ADF over the next 30 it was clear that the unique capabilities of Woomera were going to be needed. The RAAF's foresight in the late 1990s thus saved a critical national asset at exactly the right time.

Since 1999, test and evaluation activities appears to have significantly increased at Woomera, and the recent announcement of substantial upgrades to Woomera's operational systems by the Australian Government underpins the critical nature of this unique facility to Australia's long-term security.

Air and Space Research

Rocket Programs. Woomera has been used as an aerospace rocket and missile test and evaluation range since the early 1950s. During its first 30 years of operations, over 6000 rockets of varying sizes were launched during joint Australia-United Kingdom weapons and aerospace testing in the far west of the WPA at EMU and TARANAKI test sites. Many of these rockets reached altitudes as high at 300–400 km. During the 1950s, nuclear testing took place here when the United Kingdom conducted ground-based tests of nuclear weapons. These sites were later 'cleaned' by the UK under a massive environmental remediation program.

Although many sounding rockets were launched from Woomera, only two satellites were launched there successfully. These satellites were the British satellite Prospero in 1971 and the Australian WREsat in 1967. Most of the old 50s and 60s launch pads have been removed and the land remediated. The historic ELDO launch sites with their 10-story concrete launch ramps remain in existence. Launcher 1 at the rangehead is still fully active and hosts several significant rocket launches each year into sub-orbital zones.

The HiFIRE(Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation) and JAXA hypersonics programs launch to around 330 km, or about twice the altitude of the International Space Station. The Air Force provides significant support to Australian universities' space education programs through such activities as those run by the Australian Space Research Institute, which conducts several launches each year of sounding rockets. However, the ADF remains a high-rate user, testing rocket propelled missiles such as Hellfire and AMRAAM through the year.

Note: JAXA used Woomera in 2005-2006 for testing their NEXST-1 (National Experimental Supersonic Transport) aircraft.

Kistler Project. In 2006, Woomera was chosen by Kistler Aerospace as the first launch site of their K-1 RLV. However, Rocketplane Kistler failed to win the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services contract to supply a reusable space logistics support vehicle, resulting in cancellation of the agreement by the U.S. space agency in October, 2007.

Australian Air & Space Test & Evaluation (T&E) Activities at Woomera. Australia's Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) remains a high-rate user of the Woomera Test Range. DSTO is Australia's version of DARPA (USA) or DSTL (UK). However, the prime users are all Defence Test & Evaluation (T&E) agencies such as the AOSG's Development & Test Wing (which includes the famous Aircraft Research & Development Unit or 'ARDU'), IW Wing, and other agencies such as ADTEO, Army, Navy, and many allied services acting jointly with the ADF or Australian DOD.

Recent media reporting indicates that the range is once again very busy in the space rocket/rocket missile test business and is in high demand as a test centre for UAVs which require very large 'safe' areas during their testing phases. The Australian Government has also recently announced very significant funding (in the order of A$118M) to upgrade range systems and it can be very difficult the get accommodation at the ELDO for about 10 months of the year. Also, very high profile media reporting about the sale of OZ Minerals mining assets within the WPA has led to some clarity about the longer-term need of Woomera to Australia's strategic defence needs.

See also

• British nuclear tests at Maralinga (part of the Woomera Prohibited Area)
• Skylark launch tower
• Woomera Airfield