In 1936, the Commonwealth government approved a program to enhance the defences of key Australian ports. Significant expenditures were authorised for state of the art coast defences including 9.2 inch and 6 inch weapons and their associated command, control and support infrastructure. On Rottnest Island this included the Bickley battery, Oliver Hill Battery, Kingstown Barracks, the Rottnest military railroad, observation posts and plotting rooms. A collateral benefit of this defence expenditure was the employment opportunity offered to unemployed men through "susso. The Susso is the Australian slang term referring to "sustenance" (welfare) payments, especially during the Great Depression.
This Subcollection brings together the photographic and documentary record held by the Australian Army Museum of Western Australia of that building program between its inception and the declaration of war in September 1939. The defences were oriented towards defeating attacks by surface raiders with the potential enemies being Japan and Germany. As it turned out, the war took different directions and different threats emerged. Both potential enemies closed in on the coasts of western Australia by sea and air but the Rottnest defences and those of Fortress Fremantle never fired in anger.
