Atherton Tablelands World War II Historical Tour

11/06/2026

Thank you to Antony Roth from Lost Cairns & District for reporting on our tour. It was a great day!

09/06/2026

Gift vouchers available for tours! Don’t know what to buy someone that doesn’t need anything, then why not buy them an experience?

08/06/2026

Come 'Ngetit'! We'll look after you and feed you smoko!
We have guests that have swapped to next week's tour so 2 seats now available for Wednesday 10 June!
Call 0414 360 049 for any enquiries or 1300 366 361 to book.
We can even research for you!
Cost $70 for half day bus tour

Photo Credit: Australian War Memorial ART21726

07/06/2026

🥯🥐🍞Big shout out to Brumby’s Atherton for their continued support of our tours morning tea!

22/05/2026

22/05/2026

We're back for 2026! We are proud to be entering our 6th year of running these tours! This year we are under the umbrella of Tolga Museum, since we were members anyway 😉 and thank the Tableland National Servicemen's Association for its outstanding support.

We would like to extend a warm welcome to Wes, our bus driver for the season, John can concentrate on talking🤣, Terry and Nicole can organize the logistics.

🎟️Tours are $70 per person and include morning tea, half day bus tour, research assistance, tour site booklet & booking fees. Tour is not for profit, and proceeds go back into the areas we visit.

👉Bookings can be made at Atherton Visitor Information Centre by calling 1300 366 361

📅Tour dates are as follows: (Wednesdays)
3 June - Fully booked
10 June - available
17 June - available
24 June - available
1 July - available
8 July - available
15 July - available
22 July - available
29 July - available
August - dates tba

If you have travelled with us before and would like to give us a review on our page, we would be grateful.

We are volunteers committed to honoring service and sacrifices made by so many during WW2 🌺

Thank you for your support and we look forward to making new friends, hearing and sharing more stories.
Cheers, John, Wes, Terry and Nicole

19/05/2026

Did you know that in World War II, Cooktown was the site of the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) 44/56 Radar Station?

In the 1930s and 40s, military and government planners recognised that aerial raids posed a new threat to Australia. Potential foes, such as Japan, possessed large numbers of modern aircraft with increased range and armament, and had developed supporting infrastructure and doctrine. Additionally, aircraft carriers allowed strikes beyond the limitations of built airfields.
Their concerns were to be validated by Japanese raids on Darwin, Broome, Townsville and others.

By September 1941, 32 air warning radar stations were planned throughout Australia. These stations used radio direction finding equipment to triangulate the position and course of an aircraft; providing guidance to allies or warning of enemy operations. Grassy Hill, Cooktown was considered a suitable site and in August 1942 the RAAF 44 Radar Station unit was formed in Townsville to be ferried north by boat.

The initial establishment called for a total of 60 men, but the actual strength rarely exceeded 36. Shorthanded, the unit arrived in mid-November to find that the technical housing for the radar was incomplete and that no permanent camp site had been prepared. A disused house near the base of the hill was requisitioned as a temporary mess, store and orderly room while the men slept in tents. They finished the installation of the radar themselves and, after delays in equipment delivery, the station was operational at the end of January 1943.

The unit was redesignated RAAF 56 Radar Station in April 1943 and the radar upgraded in 1944. Though the men did improve the site (including camouflaging the radar), facilities remained very basic until the station was disbanded and dismantled at the end of the war. Today, concrete slabs are some of the few remnants of the site and the men who served there in defence of Australia.

If you want to learn more about RAAF 44/56 Radar Station or other wartime sites near you, visit the WWII Historic Places map here: https://qld.pulse.ly/hwxileze0n

View of tents in a radar camp, Cooktown, Queensland, around 1943, 29617, North Queensland Photograph Album, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Image no 29617-0001-0253.

15/05/2026

This was a new addition to the Rocky Creek War Memorial Park in 2025, honouring the VC Recipient’s in the Pacific.
VP 80