THE TANKS, CAIRNS

These tanks are part of the botanical gardens & Arts Centre. 

The demands of navel operations during the Pacific War led to the construction of these 3 concrete fuel tanks, completed for the Royal Australian Navy in 1944, and carefully camouflaged under the rainforest shroud of Mount Whitfield to protect them from enemy eyes. 

The tanks held crude oil & pumped it through an underground, gravity fed pipeline to a fuelling jetty in Trinity Inlet, about 47 klm away. 

The Australian Navy used the Tanks for refuelling Aussie and visiting American and British ships right up until their decommissioning in 1987. 

The council purchased them in 1991 as there was a greater community need for more arts space in the city. 

Given the areas significance to the region, the entire precinct was placed on the State Heritage Register in 2006.