The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
Trinitrotoluene (or TNT) was the most commonly used explosive by the Allied forces. It had a high blast effect and had the advantage of being handled in liquid form for filling purposes, later cooling to a solid. Curtis captured workers in the proccess of taking samples of the dangerous material during his visit to the Commonwealth Explosives Factory at Maribyrnong, Melbourne. He described the explosive works as '...five to six hundred separate buildings, each designed for some special purpose...divided by concreted walks, tunnels, gates or high earthen mounds. There were sections devouted to the manufacture of nitroglycerine, gun cotton, propellants such as cordite and high explosives like T.N.T. There were pyrotechnics, detonators, cartridge bundling shell filling and assembly houses - all part of an amazing crosshatch pattern of building strung out over the flats of the Maribynong River.' By 1940 the Explosives Factory was employing more than 3000 men and Curtis noted the ever present 'element of risk' due to the dangerous nature of the work.
In 1940 Emerson Curtis visited the Commonwealth Explosives Factory, at Maribyrnong, Melbourne. He described the works as '...five to six hundred separate buildings, each designed for some special purp
Trinitrotoluene (or TNT) was the most commonly used explosive in the Allied forces. This drawing shows it being poured into shells in a liquid form in order that the whole space of the shell was occup
A 6 inch calibre Mark 1D artillery projectile (empty) to hold 100 pound weight of high explosive. This projectile is 603 mm long and 149 mm diameter and has a tapered nose. The projectile is painted y
A 1000 pound AN M-65 General Purpose (GP) high explosive aerial bomb. These bombs were used to target ammunition dumps, airplanes, railway tracks, engines and cars, aircraft on the ground, and all typ
A 300 pound (140 kilogram) Demolition-High Explosive (H.E.) type M31 aerial bomb. There is no nose fuze, or nose fuze hole cap inserted. The body is painted a pale olive-green with a 32 mm wide yellow
A 3 inch calibre, Mark II T, high explosive, projectile as used in the 20 hundredweight anti-aircraft gun that was in service (with various modifications ) from 1914 to 1945. The projectile is 270 mm