Darwin Museum Underground WWII Oil Storage Tunnels — Attraction in Darwin City

IN 1942, JAPANESE AIR RAIDS destroyed the above-ground oil tanks at Stokes Hill, Darwin. After these losses, crews set about building 11 bomb-proof underground tunnels below the cliffs of the Australian city. But by the time the war ended, only six of the tunnels had been completed, and none had ever been used.

The Bombing of Darwin on February 19, 1942, was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australian soil. Two separate raids involving 242 Japanese aircraft left at least 250 people dead and a swathe of destruction to the city, the harbor, and the ships moored within it.

Also lost were 7 of the 11 surface storage tanks in Darwin, vital reservoirs of precious oil. Following the attack, secret plans were made to build the new tanks in reinforced tunnels with an average depth of about 50 feet underground. The secret project was called “the Safe Oil Storage,” a name unlikely to throw any hostile spies off the scent.

To build these tunnels, the longest of which was to stretch for almost 650 feet, a camp was set up to house 40 workers. The total manpower eventually rose to about 400. Conditions were tough and progress was slow. By November, 1944, tunnels 1, 5, 6, 10 and 11 had been lined with concrete and thin steel sheeting, each with an internal width of 14.7 feet and a height of 17.7 feet. But a big problem soon emerged: They all leaked. This led to corrosion, further delays, and ever-mounting costs. And then the war ended.

The completed tunnels never housed any oil by the time peace was declared. But some use was made of them during the following half century. During the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation between the British Commonwealth and Indonesia, jet fuel for RAF and RAAF bombers was stored in tunnels 5 and 6 for three years. Then, in the 1970s and ’80s the Australian Fire Brigade filled the tunnels with smoke for training purposes.

The tunnels were later opened to the public on February 19, 1992, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin. They now house a collection of photographs of Allied wartime activity and interpretation boards for self-guided tours. In 2016 and 2017, tunnel 5 hosted the Tunnel Number Five festival of underground music… underground. The acoustics were...

What a surprise in the difference in experiencing the small business tourist operator to that of a government funded tourist attraction.

We were really keen to view the tunnels after several people had recommended them as such an interesting thing to do whilst in Darwin.

We arrived at 3:40 pm aware that closing time for the tunnels was at 4 pm.

We were greeted outside the tunnel by the attendant who quickly proceeded to informed us that the tunnel was closed, and that we had missed the tour start time as it took 15 to 45 minutes to go through the exhibit, so we were not permitted to enter, as she was closing up.

When we queried that there appeared to be time to still go through the exhibit (quickly – and we were quite prepared to pay full fare) she informed us that we needed to respect that the staff had to have ample time to close the exhibit as they had other commitments. She also highlighted that we wouldn’t go to a retail store 5 minutes before closing. Note that we were there 20 minutes before closing.

We were really taken aback by the woman’s rudeness. Particularly given that after a week visiting all sorts of museums and going on tours in Darwin, this was the first time in Darwin where we experienced someone in the tourist industry with such an unpleasant manner and with no comprehension of the importance of true customer service. Not to mention NT tourist industry intent on building up the industry after two years of COVID lockdown.

I would never want to wish anybody ill, but this woman does not belong in the tourist ...

I'd love to provide a review of the place, however we never got to visit. We turned up on Friday 5/11 at 10:30am and they were closed. There was a sign with business hours list and two phone numbers to call. I called one number which went straight to voicemail (and never got a call back), and my partner called the other number and she got a response.

The lady who answered immediately went into a tirade about how Darwin was in lockdown and how we had to be considerate of others and to not put her at risk. My partner told her not to talk to her that way and hung up. She shortly received a text message about how as a nation no one should be put at risk, especially for tourism.

To add context, overnight Darwin went into lockout, so some COVID restrictions were put in place such as wearing masks, however if you are double vaccinated (which we are) it is business as usual. Note that 95% of stores and the Darwin Visitor's Centre were all open, so it isn't unreasonable that we expected the tunnels to be open.

Now we don't have an issue with them not wanting to open. What we do have an issue was the attitude we received - this is extremely poor customer service. Here's a hint - all you needed to say was "Sorry, we're not open due to the COVID situation". We would have completely understood.

Also, your business hours are listed incorrectly on Google Maps as we turned up earlier in the week (before COVID hit) at about 2pm only to see that they closed at 1pm, while Google Maps said they...