AR9 Fuel Bunker

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Halfway along Buckland Track, near the Lake Te Koo Utu Albert Street car park, you’ll find a concrete “bunker.” For decades, children whispered that it was a bomb shelter, or that secret tunnels ran beneath Cambridge. In truth, it’s all that remains of a World War II aviation fuel depot.

Recently restored, the pump house now offers a glimpse into this little-known chapter of Cambridge’s wartime history.

Cambridge’s Wartime Secret: The Hidden Aviation Fuel Depot

Why Cambridge?

During WWII, aviation fuel was as valuable as gold. Because airfields were obvious targets, the RNZAF created a network of hidden storage depots across New Zealand. Cambridge was chosen for its proximity to the main base at Rukuhia (now Hamilton Airport), while still being far enough away to remain hidden and safe.

Building the Depot

Public Works Department workers — also busy constructing the Karāpiro Dam — excavated a massive crater in 1942. It was

• 60 feet deep

• 130 feet across at the top

• Large enough to hold a tank with 600,000 gallons of fuel

The steel tank was dismantled from Wellington, transported north, and re-erected here at a cost of £5,033. A concrete-lined tunnel led from the tank to the pump house you see today, where pipes carried the fuel downhill to trucks waiting by the lake.

To hide the site, fast-growing gums and shrubs were planted. A special railway siding (today’s Lakewood site) allowed trains to quietly unload fuel, often at night. From here, tankers supplied Rukuhia and kept the Air Force flying.

Life at AR9

Known officially as Air Fuel Reserve Depot No. 9 (AR9), the site was guarded day and night by armed airmen. Conditions were rough: huts were dark and cold, meals came from the nearby hotel, and with no running water, bathing happened “whenever they could best arrange it.”

Each week, six to eleven rail cars of fuel arrived. But with so much fuel stored in one place, danger was never far away.

Fire and Tragedy

On 14 October 1943, disaster struck. A fire broke out in the barracks hut. The likely cause was a cigarette. Four huts were destroyed, and one young guard, Leading Aircraftman Richard Edward Isaacs, aged just 20, was killed. He is buried in Karori Cemetery, Wellington.

After the inquiry, extra safety measures were added — including a direct phone line to the Cambridge Fire Brigade, foam equipment, and even regular mowing of the grass.

After the War

With peace in 1945, the Domain Board wanted the land returned. But it took years to dismantle the site. The massive tank was drained in 1946 and finally removed in 1950. The crater was reshaped into a shallow basin, and the pump house was sealed in the 1970s.

Rumours and Legends

Even after its closure, the site sparked imaginations. Some locals swore the tunnel reached all the way to the Town Hall to let the Mayor escape in an air raid. Others claimed it popped out under Fort Street at the “goat shelter.”

In reality, the tunnel ran only a short distance — just enough to link the tank to the pump house. But the mystery stuck, and generations of Cambridge children knew it simply as the bomb shelter.

 

Discover more here AF9 Fuel Depot, Wings over Cambridge