Big Volcano (Wollumbin) Visitor Guide

by Tweed Heads and District Historical Society, Tweed Maritime and Heritage Museum
Kennedy Drive, Tweed Heads,  November 2003

Photos © by David Palmer and graphics courtesy of THDHS

Walk of Remembrance and Centaur Memorial

The Walk of Remembrance and Centaur Memorial is located on the headland at Point Danger, straddling the New South Wales and Queensland state border at the twin towns of Coolangatta and Tweed Heads.

Along with the "Walk", Australia's first laser powered lighthouse and an impressive memorial (incorporating ballast from the HM Bark Endeavour) to Captain James Cook, the headland features extensive coastal views, and is a popular although briefly visited attraction, by those unfamiliar with the significance of the structures they view.

This Introduction is © Copyright 2001 and reproduced with the kind permission of Bill Bainbridge of Tweed Heads and District Historical Society Inc, from the booklet "Walk of Remembrance and Centaur Memorial, Point Danger - Coolangatta Queensland Australia".

The Silent War

The Walk of Remembrance and Centaur Memorial honours the ships and the brave men and women who gave up their lives for Australia.

During the Second World War, 41 allied naval and merchant ships were sunk off Australia's coast by enemy action.  Hundreds of service personnel and merchant seamen were killed in these tragedies.

Few people today are aware of the war at sea which raged along the Australian coastline during World War II.  A total of forty-one allied ships were sunk adjacent to our shoreline by the actions of mine laying German surface raiders (Pinquin, Atlantis, and Kormoran) and Japanese submarines.

Naval and merchant seamen were losing their lives only a few kilometres beyond the beaches. This silent war was kept from the knowledge of the Australian public at the time to prevent panic and the loss of morale.

Japanese Submarines

Most attacks took place in the years 1942 to 1944 when Japanese submarines operating from the forward base of occupied Guam prowled the eastern and northern seaboard.

These were large vessels, often equipped with a small spotting aircraft which flew reconnaissance flights over Newcastle and Sydney. They were 1-21, 1-24, 1-27, 1-76, 1-77, 1- 181 and others.

By day they hid at sea beyond the continental shelf in deep water and approached the coast by night or in rough weather to harry shipping.

AHS Centaur and HMAS Sydney

The most tragic loss on the eastern coast was the torpedoing of the hospital ship, AHS Centaur on 14 May 1943 with the loss of 268 lives.

The loss on 19 November 1941 of the light cruiser HMAS Sydney off Geraldton, Western Australia with the loss of 645 naval seamen was the most severe.

Merchant Seamen Losses

However the lives of merchant seamen were often forfeited.

The Iron Crown, a BHP ore carrier sank in one minute after being struck by a torpedo off the south coast of Gippsland Victoria, taking 37 seamen to the bottom with her.

The Wollongbar, a North Coast Steam Navigation vessel, sunk off Coffs harbour, took the lives of 32 merchant seamen. The others listed [in detail in the booklet] will show the great loss of life which ensued from these attacks.

Most shipping sunk near our coast by aircraft happened in the early stages of the war with Japan. These occurred mainly off the northern Australian mainland in 1942. Many losses occurred in the air raids on Darwin and surrounding seas.

Tweed Heads fisherman, Claude Edds, spotted a Japanese submarine a few miles to sea off Point Danger in 1943 which he reported to authorities.

- Warren Keats OAM

If you are using this booklet* as you are doing the "Walk", commence at the Southern end of the path, at the bottom of the steps leading down from the Captain Cook Memorial and Lighthouse.

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