A decontamination program at the Marrangaroo Army Camp continues to unearth some of the darkest secrets from the darkest days of World War II.
The Defence Department announced last year that it would be joining with specialist contractors to clear the site of relics that had only been whispered about for more than half a century since the end of hostilities.
At that time it was confirmed that deadly chemical warfare agents, phosgene and mustard gas, had been stored in abandoned railway tunnels at the Marrangaroo base during the 1940s.
Other chemical bombs had been stored in old tunnels at Clarence and at Glenbrook in the lower Mountains.
At the end of hostilities it was indicated in top secret records from the time that the bombs, all presumably emptied, had been buried at the Army base.
Other drums containing the chemicals were riddled with machine gun fire in the nearby Newnes State Forest then incinerated.
The decontamination program announced last year was designed to finally remove any lingering concerns about what might lay below.
Milsearch, a firm with international experience in this field, was engaged to carry out the decontamination using advanced protection procedures for the work crews and for residents of properties within reasonable proximity of the base.
After two months the work is progressing well and the Army and civilian personnel involved in the project are confident of achieving the targets set in the briefings.
What has been revealed, though, is that there were more of the wartime ordnance relics than previously anticipated.
Hundreds of the bombs and canisters have been unearthed and all have been found to be empty, despite one unfounded brief scare when it was feared that a seal was intact.
The only unexpected development was the isolated discovery of a phosphorous incendiary bomb that prompted advice to Lithgow’s other emergency services and was quickly declared safe.
Major Kevin O’Rorke, who is the senior Army officer in the operation, showed the Lithgow Mercury a stack of the aircraft bombs that had been dug up.
All had been neutralised decades ago.
The mustard gas was stored during the war as a defensive measure had enemy forces reached the so called Brisbane Line.
The intention was that the gas, which does not quickly disperse, would deny the area to the enemy for an extended time.
Fortunately there was no mainland invasion and the chemical weapons did not have to be used.
At the time the Mercury was taken on the inspection there had been some 900 bombs recovered.
But there was no contamination at all and indications that most of the shells had never even been filled from the drums of the chemical agents stored in the tunnels.
The decontamination program has also unearthed the residue of a large amount of conventional small arms and aircraft ammunition, most it burned in open pits in the 1940s.
It is the biggest operation of its kind undertaken in the region since the war and is on target to be completed by July this year.
* FOOTNOTE: The Marrangaroo Defence Department property continues to be used for training purposes, mainly by the Army and Navy.
These days the training is in the use of conventional explosives, a far cry from the sinister and secretive operations of the 1940s when the depot was disguised to resemble an innocent village when viewed from the air.
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