"War Factories Now Future Industrial Centres"
About a mile along the highway beyond sleepy old St Marys are a number of pleasant, new-looking cottages. They are some of the 400 temporary houses which were built for married employees of the war-time factory. These houses are serving a most useful purpose in this period of housing shortage.' (Cairns Post, 24 March 1947)
[image] Aerial of St Marys showing the Duration Cottages, 1978 (Penrith City Library Photographic Collection)
The development of a Munitions Factory at St Marys during World War II brought great change to this "sleepy" village. At the beginning of World War II the Australian Government decided to increase production of ammunition for the war effort. Between 1941 and 1943 some 4,500 acres of the former King family's Dunheved farm north of the railway line at St Marys was compulsorily acquired as the site of the second largest munitions filling factory in Australia. The factory contained 850 buildings which processed and stored explosives and filled ammunition. It had its own sewerage treatment plant, canteens and entertainment and sprawled north from St Marys railway station for almost five kilometres.
[image] St Marys filling Factory Float, 1940s (Penrith City Library Photographic Collection)
[image] Workers filling shells at St Marys, 1962 (Penrith City Library Photographic Collection)
This area also housed the Munitions Factory workers in "Duration Cottages", housing built for the duration of the war. Built only as temporary housing, the cottages were supposed to be demolished after the war, but with the shortage of housing the Federal Government could not justify their demolition. Today these cottages are within a heritage conservation area.
Source: Stacker, Lorraine - Penrith, The Making of a City, Halstead Press, 2014.
[image] Duration Cottages, Benalong Street, St Marys, 2012 (Penrith City Library Photographic Collection)
This memorial garden, including the original munitions artefacts, are dedicated to reflect the important role played during World War II by the men and women who worked in the Munitions Factory and also the people of St Marys.
This memorial was made possible by funding from the Australian Government, Australia Remembers Committee (1945 - 1995), Australian Defence Industries (ADI) and Penrith City Council.
PENRITH CITY COUNCIL