Dubbo RAAF Stores Depot
The Dubbo RAAF Stores Depot is an heritage-listed former Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) stores depot located at Cobra Street, Dubbo in the Dubbo Regional Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. The depot was designed by Sidney Williams & Co and built from 1940 to 1943. It is also known as Dubbo RAAF Stores Depot (former), No. 5 (1942) and No. 6 Stores Depot (1942–52); No. 2 Stores Depot Detachment D (1952–92); Defence National Storage and Distribution Centre Detachment (1992-1995). The property is owned by private companies, Andorra Developments and Belmorgan Property Development. The depot was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 29 June 2004.
Dubbo RAAF Stores Depot
At the end of World War II the Dubbo Stores Depot was the largest stores depot of its kind in Australia in both size and stock. The site features five types of prefabricated buildings and it is unusual to find all of these together. The pristine condition of the buildings is seen as the result of several factors including: superior hardwood used in construction; simple construction with no problem areas; dry climate conditions; and military standards of maintenance. The buildings have a political and technical significance for indicating how standing design preferences and practices were overthrown as part of national wartime reorganisation. Technologies that had previously had little impact in Australia were used extensively while technologies introduced by the USA military were embraced. Unseasoned local hardwood, a material that had previously been regarded as unsuitable for large buildings, achieved primacy. The technical achievements of this period for timber construction can hardly be overstated. The longest span and most widespread timber structures in Australian history were constructed in this period. Almost every species of Australian timber was placed in extreme field test.