Unexploded WWII bomb may be lying dormant under Royal Sydney golf course

January 14, 2013

An unexploded artillery round gives a new meaning to “bombing it down the fairway”.

Tim Barless of the Sydney Morning Herald reports today that an unexploded bomb may be lying underneath the eighth fairway of the Centenary Course of the Royal Sydney Golf Club.

An unexploded artillery round, fired from a Japanese submarine during the Second World War is supposedly lying somewhere underneath the eighth fairway of the Centenary Course, the small nine hole course at Royal Sydney (not the championship course).

The shell containing more than three kilograms of high explosive was one of 10 fired from an I-class submarine, among the world’s largest, in what was the first naval bombardment of mainland Australia.

The attack came shortly after midnight on June 8, 1942, a week after the attempt to sink Allied warships in Sydney Harbour by three Japanese midget submarines. The sub surfaced 16 kilometres south-east of Sydney on a moonless night and fired the shells into the eastern suburbs, before diving and disappearing.

The story comes from a new book titled A Parting Shot written by Steve Carruthers detailing the Japanese Submarines around Australia during WWII. He is quoted in the piece as saying:

“In terms of people walking around the golf course and taking a swing, the chances of anything blowing up, well, it is impossible to calculate the odds. It’s very unlikely.

‘”I am sure the Royal Sydney would never agree to this but if they ever reclaimed the land and builders started to put in high density housing then I wouldn’t want to be around.’”

Full story at the SMH: Golfers face extra handicap with 70-year-old bomb threat to fairway