RAAF Base Scherger is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base located approximately 26 km (16 mi) east of Weipa on the western side of Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, Australia. One of three bare bases in a chain of bases across Australia's top end, the base is occupied by a caretaker staff and can be activated at relatively short notice. The base was constructed by troops drawn mainly from the 17th Construction Squadron, in what is believed to have been the biggest project undertaken by the Royal Australian Engineers at the time.
Gate to RAAF Scherger
Weipa is a coastal mining town in the local government area of Weipa Town in Queensland. It is one of the largest towns on the Cape York Peninsula. It exists because of the enormous bauxite deposits along the coast. The Port of Weipa is mainly involved in exports of bauxite. There are also shipments of live cattle from the port.
Weipa
Bauxite section on kaolinitic sandstone, 1969
Mining equipment at the Comalco (now Rio Tinto Aluminium) bauxite mine; Weipa, 1995
Former Weipa Immigrant Detention Centre, 2010. It closed in 2014.