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Bankside Fuel Depot
Description
TitleBankside Fuel Depot
DescriptionAccording to Heritage NZ Poutere Taonga, the Bankside Fuel Depot in Breadings Road, Bankside is one of only five surviving examples of the original 17 secret aviation fuel depots planned as part of the 1940s war effort in New Zealand.
By early 1942 the threat of Japanese invasion in the South Pacific meant an increased effort to provide defence for New Zealand's shores. Additional airfields were planned and associated secret aviation fuel depots were needed to hold the required fuel. The largest of all those depots built, the Bankside Fuel Depot (AR16), was built in 1942 by the Public Works Department to serve the nearby Te Pirita airfield which had been rapidly constructed to take American heavy bombers. The capacity of the tank was 750,000 gallons, and up until it was decommissioned in 1944 it was guarded 24 hours a day.
Designed by the Public Works Department, the construction of the Bankside Fuel Depot was a major undertaking involving the reuse of an existing tank and the creation of a bomb blast protection wall containing 97,000 bricks. Fencing, a pumping station, prefabricated accommodation and messroom buildings and railway sidings were also part of the Depot. The tank and prefabricated buildings have long since been removed, but the brick blast pit, and remnants of the pumping station, shafts and gate posts survive: they are not accessible to the public.
By 1944 what could be salvaged from the site was removed. The land was returned to the Selwyn Plantation Board and the area planted in pine trees. For decades the blast pit was used as a dumping ground for old cars and contaminated materials.
Required by Environment Canterbury to clean up the site, Selwyn Plantation Board spent $3m to remove rubbish and test the soil for contamination. $100,000 was granted from the Ministry for the Environment’s Contaminated Sites Remediation Fund towards investigation costs.
As the site was suspected to contain toxic chemicals, radioactive material and old unexploded ammunition, great care was taken with the clean-up. In the event, the majority of the rubbish was found to be low risk and only moderate levels of contamination were detected in localised areas. The clean-up was completed in 2009.
The Bankside Fuel Depot includes the largest and most intact example of a blast wall from the aviation fuel depots throughout New Zealand. This and associated surviving features from the Depot provide an insight into wartime collaboration with respect to a very important yet rarely recognised part of New Zealand's defence effort during World War II.
Bankside Fuel Depot is listed within the Selwyn District Council's Built Heritage Resources (H404).
Source: Heritage NZ Poutere Taonga and Engineering NZ websites.Date1942
DescriptionAccording to Heritage NZ Poutere Taonga, the Bankside Fuel Depot in Breadings Road, Bankside is one of only five surviving examples of the original 17 secret aviation fuel depots planned as part of the 1940s war effort in New Zealand.By early 1942 the threat of Japanese invasion in the South Pacific meant an increased effort to provide defence for New Zealand's shores. Additional airfields were planned and associated secret aviation fuel depots were needed to hold the required fuel. The largest of all those depots built, the Bankside Fuel Depot (AR16), was built in 1942 by the Public Works Department to serve the nearby Te Pirita airfield which had been rapidly constructed to take American heavy bombers. The capacity of the tank was 750,000 gallons, and up until it was decommissioned in 1944 it was guarded 24 hours a day.
Designed by the Public Works Department, the construction of the Bankside Fuel Depot was a major undertaking involving the reuse of an existing tank and the creation of a bomb blast protection wall containing 97,000 bricks. Fencing, a pumping station, prefabricated accommodation and messroom buildings and railway sidings were also part of the Depot. The tank and prefabricated buildings have long since been removed, but the brick blast pit, and remnants of the pumping station, shafts and gate posts survive: they are not accessible to the public.
By 1944 what could be salvaged from the site was removed. The land was returned to the Selwyn Plantation Board and the area planted in pine trees. For decades the blast pit was used as a dumping ground for old cars and contaminated materials.
Required by Environment Canterbury to clean up the site, Selwyn Plantation Board spent $3m to remove rubbish and test the soil for contamination. $100,000 was granted from the Ministry for the Environment’s Contaminated Sites Remediation Fund towards investigation costs.
As the site was suspected to contain toxic chemicals, radioactive material and old unexploded ammunition, great care was taken with the clean-up. In the event, the majority of the rubbish was found to be low risk and only moderate levels of contamination were detected in localised areas. The clean-up was completed in 2009.
The Bankside Fuel Depot includes the largest and most intact example of a blast wall from the aviation fuel depots throughout New Zealand. This and associated surviving features from the Depot provide an insight into wartime collaboration with respect to a very important yet rarely recognised part of New Zealand's defence effort during World War II.
Bankside Fuel Depot is listed within the Selwyn District Council's Built Heritage Resources (H404).
Source: Heritage NZ Poutere Taonga and Engineering NZ websites.
Date1942Place
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Bankside Fuel Depot (1942). Selwyn Stories, accessed 06/04/2026, https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/nodes/view/6077
