Residents in a bustling coastal area of Queensland were startled awake early in the morning by a loud explosion around 4 a.m.
The incident originated when a man, accompanied by a friend while walking his dog, stumbled upon an unexploded shell on a beach in the Sunshine Coast at approximately midnight.
The bomb squad from the Defence Force was called in to safely detonate the 11-kilogram shell.
The discovery of the World War II-era ordnance on Wurtulla Beach prompted a swift response from the police. Sean Mackney, who was out with his friend, recounted that they noticed something unusual at the foot of a sand dune. His friend initially expressed concern that she had found a bomb. “I was taken aback,” he commented.
Intrigued, Mr. Mackney picked up the object, only to realize the gravity of the situation. “I felt foolish for doing that… I was incredibly anxious,” he admitted. “It was surprisingly heavy.” He added that he was uncertain about the next steps, prompting a call to the authorities, who arrived promptly. “I’m quite surprised that no one else noticed it and wonder how long it had been there,” he remarked.
Police officers secured the area until personnel from the Department of Defence took over. A spokesperson confirmed that the item was classified as a 25-pound High Explosive projectile from World War II.
The controlled explosion occurred at around 4 a.m., startling local residents.
Rhiannon McPherson, a nearby resident, described waking up to “a tremendous bang.” “I initially thought there had been a severe car accident; it sounded like something substantial hitting concrete,” she said. “I expected to hear sirens but nothing followed. I woke my husband, but he didn’t hear a thing. Even my dog stayed quiet, which was unusual.” She was left pondering whether she had imagined the noise.
The region has a history of unexploded ordnance due to its previous use as a live firing site during World War II. The Defence Department highlights that the Wurtulla area has significant potential for such unexploded items.
According to the Defence, the 25-pounder was the main artillery used by Commonwealth Forces until the 1960s. Manufactured in Australia starting in 1942, these guns served the Australian Army until 1965. The “high explosive” version of this shell measures around 30 centimeters in length and contains a nose fuse along with up to 900 grams of amatol, a combination of TNT and ammonium nitrate.
Unexploded ordnance of this kind is typically found in or around locations that were utilized by the Army for artillery training, often lying up to 1.5 meters below the surface, as noted on the Defence’s website.
Each year, the Australian Defence Force’s bomb disposal squad manages approximately 500 incidents involving unexploded ordnance across the country, including notable finds such as World War II bombs on remote beaches in the Northern Territory and a device discovered on the New South Wales South Coast in 2024.
