HQJOC - Bungendore NSW (Australia)

A little while back, I remember reading somewhere that the new 'windfarms' in NSW had a sign on the road stating a Joint Operations Centre. So, I went searching for info on this, but came across another centre I wasn't aware of. This is a purpose built facility right on the outskirt of the ACT & NSW border.

The Australian Headquarters Joint Operations Command (HQJOC) is the Australian Defence Force's (ADF) operational level headquarters responsible for the command and control of ADF operations worldwide. It was formed from "Headquarters Australian Theatre" (HQAST) in 2004 to reflect the changing internal structure of the ADF and the need to establish a purpose built, co-located joint headquarters.

Source

Google Earth overview

The ACT / NSW Border is defined by the railway line coming in from the north of base to the western side heading in to Queanbeyan. You can clearly see that the base is based on the NSW side with the access road via the ACT, yet the staff all follow the ACT laws and holidays.

Construction:

Noting these concerns, and aware that planning was underway for the collocated headquarters site near Bungendore, Cosgrove initiated a review of the command arrangements, and in March 2004 the Defence Minister, Senator Robert Hill, announced the establishment of a new Joint Operations Command. The command brought together the former HQAST and the operational functions of Maritime, Land and Air Commands. It incorporated Special Operations and Joint Logistics Commands, and commanded Strategic Operations Division in Canberra, Northern Command in Darwin, the ADF Warfare Centre at Williamtown and the Joint Operational Intelligence Centre in Sydney.

his low key announcement—which had implications for the tender process for the new buildings—disguised one of the most fundamental changes in joint command arrangements during the past 40 years.

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Communication installer: KLM Group

KLM Group's installation incorporated a wide range of specialist communications cabling, the vast majority of it fibre, to service 10,000 outlets in a design and construct contract. At peak times during the project KLM Group had over 60 people working on site delivering the stringent requirements of the project.
The new headquarters complex represents a capital investment of about $300 million in equipment, buildings and infrastructure.

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Construction: awarded to Leighton Holdings

The Department of Defence awarded a contract to Praeco Pty Ltd, a consortium comprising of Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd and ABN AMRO Australia Ltd, to design and construct the purpose-built Headquarters Joint Operations Command (HQJOC) near Bungendore, NSW.

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Video

Management services of the facility, including access control,

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One can only imagine the type of access needed if Leighton designed it! ... they designed the electronic tolling stations found around Australia inc M5East (syd) > CLEM7 (bris) > CROSSCITY (brisbane) > M7 (syd)

Praeco

In October 2001 the Australian Government announced that a new Defence headquarters would be constructed between Queanbeyan and Bungendore in New South Wales, on the Kings Highway corridor.

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hmm - so directly after John Howard arrived back in Australia from Washington after 9/11 .. the boundary kind of has a Pentagon feel about it huh.

Data and Command centre technology

As part of Joint Project 8001, Defence developed the new Headquarters Joint Operations Command site at Bungendore near Canberra. AGIS provided personnel to manage the project lifecycle for implementation of the C4I systems (command, control, communications computing and intelligence), which was comprised of over 50 different ICT systems. AGIS provided ‘hands-on’ project management support to Codarra Advanced Systems Pty Ltd to ensure the delivery of a highly complex, highly integrated, state-of-the-art, high tech command centre which now serves as the nerve centre for the command and control of global Australian Defence Force operations.

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So we have the building of the HQ for $300 mill
and the installation of the technical & computer systems for $93 mill
and

"Over the next 28 years, including GST, Defence will outlay in the order of $1.4 billion for this facility and its ongoing maintenance and operation," he said.

Mike Kelly says the new command headquarters will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week and employ about 700 people.

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the contract deed between Defence and Praeco covers the capital cost of the buildings and infrastructure for the facility, and the cost of providing a range of contracted services such as access control, cleaning, administrative support, waste removal and maintenance services over the 30-year contract term. Defence has contracted to pay Praeco an Annual Service Payment, commencing when the facility was completed in July 2008; the first full-year payment to be A$39.99 million, in 2009–10. The whole-of-life nett present cost to Defence for the provision by Praeco of the buildings, infrastructure and services over the 30 year term is A$572.2 million.

//Wikipedia

Little thing i find odd is on Nearmap - the site states "HQJOC - AFP Site" (Australian Federal Police)

Hope you enjoyed reading about Australia's newest base.

Nice information

Still it being in Australia it will be tough drumming up enough support to even care about the existance of this secret installation.

Can you say a secret that no one cares about - Talk about redundant

reply to post by lavenlaar


It's not really a secret, it's kinda an equivilent to the pentagon in some ways.
While the Australian defense force may be involved in overseas affairs i would challenge anyone to find some absolutely damning evidence of conspiracy or extreme amounts of war crime activity. They are always and have always been really open about UFO stuff and all that most of them seem interested in is making clear that they are a DEFENSE force, NOT an attack force.
Can't say the same for Great Britian though, and New Zealand, well, They do their best and that's what counts, right?

We help america because it's part of the deal. It doesn't mean we are part of that machine though, it just means that we REALLY need america as an ally and they find our geographic location REALLY useful for various reasons.

Cool find though. Did you know that there is also a massive Nationwide Logistics and distribution centre set up in that general area as well? it's all part of a plan to centralize our Production, import/export and distribution infastructure. It is apparently located an equal distance from Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. With the massive distances that need to be traversed in this country it makes perfect sense to have a joint operations installation and a logistics centre so close to the Nations capital.

reply to post by InformationAccount


Actually a lot of people care about Australia, isn't it better to say nothing than to be a nooob. Actually no, speak up because it's good to know who you are.

reply to post by Raivan31


not sure where you get your national hub idea from though

Sydney - Canberra = 300 km
Melbourne - Canberra = 661 km
Adelaide - Canberra = 1192 km

Parkes is more suited when you consider Brisbane as well

BTW Bungendore is a nice place, quaint old buildings and great atmosphere - nice place for the military to kick back and crack a coldie

cheers

Nice post OP!

Seems a lot like the PJHQ here at Northwood in the UK. It's basically a joint command centre, which is all very James Bond....but not very secret. Would be interesting to have a look around though.

Cheers

Robbie

Hi All, I haven't posted for a while but this one is closer to home than normal. My (late) uncle had a hand in getting the HQJOC running at their new headquarters. My mother and father went with my aunt to HQJOC on the only day civilians have been allowed to enter, to watch them unveil a bronze bust of my uncle out the front (its named after him - General John Baker). They were very security concious while my parents/aunt were on site - no one could go anywhere without a minder, and whenever you walked into a room, all computer screens that were operational were switched off till you left. Apparently its like the bases you have in the US, that can basically operate without support from the outside for X amount of time (I don't know the actual period). My parents have a couple of pics of the front entrance which I can post if people are interested, but all cameras were checked before anyone left to ensure that the images were 'clean'.

Not much I know, but I thought was worth mentioning