It is right there?
post
The PM disappeared whilst swimming (and there was a conspiracy theory that he had been a spy from China and was picked up by a submarine before the net closed in). If the communication station also mysteriously disappeared, that would be quite a coincidence.
The US did name a warship after Holt, though. It served for a few decades, then was decommissioned and sunk as a target in exercises.
This place is so remote, the average bloke from WA doesn't even know it exists.
Wow that's cool.
I live in Western Australia, although 2 or 3 thousand km from this area.
This seems to be a "very low frequency" facility. meaning you need very long antennae. The building in the centre runs antennae to the 6 points of the visible hexagon I guess.
West Aus government maintains a public database of aerial survey imagery with way better resolution than google maps. The image below is the building in the centre. The long white thing is the central mast. You can see the antennae (antennas?) connected to the top.

Actually on further inspection the antennas seem to be way more complicated. This image shows more detail of the white thing at the bottom of the frame.

Did it go for a swim?
No idea - I cross posted c/mildlyinteresting but mainly because the pictures looked really interesting!
The headline is a little bit fucked up. Harold Holt, Australian PM, went for a swim (against advice) and never returned. The headline messes that up.
I wa making a joke about the spy base - sorry, “listening outpost “ going for a swim.
Lots of conspiracy theories about old Harold, my favourite theory is that he faked his own death to avoid being caught having an affair
all 13 comments