Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt, Military communication facility in Exmouth, Australia
The facility sits about six kilometers north of town and includes thirteen radio towers spread across flat terrain. The tallest of these towers rises nearly 400 meters into the air, making it one of the largest structures in northwest Australia.
The station opened in September 1967 during a ceremony attended by the American ambassador and the Australian prime minister. Only weeks later, the prime minister disappeared while swimming off the coast of Victoria, adding an unexpected layer of memory to the site.
The facility stands as an enduring collaboration between American and Australian naval forces, marking decades of international military partnership.
The site transmits low frequency radio signals over long distances to vessels and submarines in the Pacific and Indian Ocean. Visitors can see the towers from the road, but the grounds themselves are generally closed to the public.
Buried beneath the site lies a copper cable network stretching nearly 400 kilometers, which helps transmit signals over vast distances. This underground web forms a kind of invisible infrastructure under the desert surface.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
