..

Inside the fence of the large facility there are many large rooms like kitchens and secure rooms. Now the whole facility is completely empty. it has been stripped of lights, power plugs and anything that might have been useful. There are still bullet proof secure rooms in the facility. Inside the fence there is rows of barbwire, microwave beams and many other security features. There is even still a tennis court on the grounds.

Cold War uses

During the Cold War the site was crucially important to America's defenses, being at the time the only facility for providing "launch on warning" surveillance of possible ICBM launches. 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; 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 to the contrary, 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 sometime later.)

Vietnam War

Leaked Department of Defence documents have revealed that satellites controlled by the Pine Gap and Nurrungar facilities were used to pinpoint targets for bombings in Cambodia.

Persian Gulf War

During the Persian Gulf War it managed to score a few positive publicity notes for detecting early launches of IraqiScud missile attacks; years later, a USAF assessment would emerge revealing that in fact oversights at the bases were responsible for one of the worst disasters for Coalition forces during the war, on February 26, 1991 when an Iraqi Scud missile broke up above Dhahran and fell into a warehouse housing U.S. soldiers, killing 28 and injuring more than 100.

The report found that ground operators at Nurrungar played a part in the tragedy, which the Air Force described as a "worst case combination of events"; these were in turn compounded by failures in the MIM-104 Patriot intercept system deployed near the Dhahran base itself.

Decommissioned in 1999

After September, 1999 its operations were moved to the Joint Defense Facility Pine Gap, near Alice Springs, and ownership of the premises were transferred to the Village of Woomera.

Since then the village has been seeking a new tenant for the premises; with "remaining buildings offer a combined floor space of over 5,000 square metres, and could be refurbished to support activities that take advantage of the geographic and physical attributes. The site is surrounded by a high security perimeter fence and includes a large radome structure."

References

• http://www.af.mil/news/airman/1296/spaceop.htm - Manning the Donut Hole: On Duty in Australia's Outback
• http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/24/167.html - compilation of several articles about the JDFN
• http://www.abc.net.au/pm/stories/s52512.htm - Inside Nurrungar
• Desmond Ball, A Suitable Piece of Real Estate (Sydney: Hale & Iremonger 1980)
• Desmond Ball, A Base for Debate: The US Satellite Station at Nurrungar (St Leonards: Allen & Unwin 1987)
• Desmond Ball, Pine Gap: Australia & the US Geosynchronous Satellite Program (St Leonards: Allen & Unwin 1988).

1. Catley, Bob and Mosler, David: America and Americans in Australia, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998, pp. 36-37
2. History of the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition
3. Nurrungar History
4. John Pilger, 'The Coup', in 'A Secret Country', 1989
5. Nurrungar played fateful role in Desert Storm tragedy
6. Nurrungar brochure site on the Woomera web site.