WWII RAN Fuel Installation, Edge Hill, Military heritage site in Edge Hill, Australia

The WWII RAN Fuel Installation in Edge Hill is a former naval supply facility featuring five large storage tanks surrounded by concrete protective walls and several auxiliary structures. An underground pipeline once connected these tanks to Cairns wharves for fuel distribution.

The Royal Australian Navy and United States Navy built this facility in 1943 to store fuel during World War II. It served as a key strategic supply point supporting Allied operations across the Pacific region.

Tanks 3 to 5, the three concrete tanks, now form the Tanks Arts Centre, a contemporary venue for visual and performing arts. The name comes from the structures themselves: the curved interiors of the former fuel tanks serve as gallery and performance spaces. The centre sits within the Flecker Botanical Gardens precinct.

The tanks stand on Collins Avenue, about five kilometres north of Cairns city centre, on the southern slopes of the Mount Whitfield range. Tanks 1 and 2 lie on the north side of the road on the former railway reserve; tanks 3 to 5, now the arts centre, sit within the Flecker Botanical Gardens precinct. The underground pipeline ran from a small pump house beside tanks 1 and 2 along the old Cairns–Herberton railway embankment to Trinity Wharf.

The location was deliberately chosen for its natural camouflage protection against air raids and positioned at a careful distance from the exposed wharf precinct. This strategic separation shielded the tanks from direct enemy attack throughout the war.