Duntroon's secret hidden bunker is closed to the public, but Tim The Yowie Man excavates some of its hidden secrets and takes us inside to have a look. Original Footage: via Vorfreude Pictures
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Canberra, our nation's great capital. It's been called many things since being
00:05 founded back in 1913. The bush capital, the garden city, the city of circles and
00:11 more recently the secret city. For years we've heard rumours of secret bunkers
00:16 and hidden tunnels running beneath our national institutions. Unfortunately
00:21 apart from a couple of pedestrian walkways and a few cramped service
00:25 tunnels most of these subterranean byways are purely urban legend. But there
00:31 is one Canberra institution that does house a secret bunker beneath its floor
00:37 boards. Its purpose wasn't for hush-hush political deals nor for secret spy
00:43 business. No, it was all about escaping watchful eyes. Today I'm visiting the
00:52 Royal Military College in Canberra or as most people call it Duntroon. This is
00:57 room 92 of cork block home to one of Duntroon's best-kept secrets, the cork
01:03 block cavern also known as the room within a room. This hidden hideaway was
01:10 excavated back in 1958 by a group of industrious college cadets and it's
01:15 still here today. Of course it's now off limits to the public but luckily for us
01:22 today we've been given special permission for a little look around. So
01:27 what did inspire a group of 19 year old cadets to hack out this cavern beneath
01:32 their bunk? Was it to hide alcohol? Was it to create a secret rendezvous spot to
01:39 meet a girlfriend? Both of which were forbidden on campus. No, nothing quite so
01:45 scandalous. The reason they built this was so that they could hide these. You
01:53 see back in the 50s much like today cadets had dedicated spaces to store
01:58 their gear. Each of these spaces was numbered 1 to 12 and everything needed
02:03 to be neatly displayed for inspection. Of course this meant everything had to be
02:07 meticulously folded and in perfect pristine condition at all times. So when
02:13 the cadets found themselves with a pair of muddy boots or other non-standard
02:16 issue junk on their hands they needed to get creative. They needed to create a
02:23 secret number 13. Apart from being hard work the excavation was risky business
02:30 for the young cadets. Discovery of their extracurricular activities would have
02:34 led to severe disciplinary action including possibly being turfed out of
02:39 the college altogether. Further refinements included a stove for hot
02:43 food and a cabinet for borrowed crockery and cutlery. Everything a group of young
02:49 cadets would need to enjoy a little bit of time away from the piercing gaze of
02:54 their superiors. Ironically it was the bunkers disuse that led to it being
02:58 discovered in early 1959. Maybe the commanders were secretly impressed with
03:04 the cadets gumption. Maybe they were too embarrassed to acknowledge that such
03:09 a covert operation had been carried out under their noses. Or maybe simply there
03:15 just wasn't anything in the standing orders that dealt with construction of a
03:19 hidden room. Either way the cadets got off scot-free. Thankfully cork block
03:27 cavern wasn't filled in and although it's not accessible to the public nor to
03:32 cadets it's nice to know that it still stands as a monument of ingenuity,
03:37 teamwork and daring. The very attributes the Royal Military College would like
03:43 every cadet to embrace. I'm Tim the Yowie Man and as always thanks for watching.
03:53 [MUSIC PLAYING]