Gavin Grimmer
Update 28 November 2014
The next tunnel we will talk about is one that has been suspected for many years and we shall call it the “Dighton Tunnel” as it was just out the back of Ernie and Joan Dighton’s Army house that they lived in for 9 years on the western side of North Head (1953-62). In Joan’s words, “We used to go down a tunnel not far from our house which came out on the water front near the sewer outlet, there were also other tunnels going off that one as we walked down it. This is the tunnel we used when we went fishing.”
James Blackburn 1958 - 70: “Another entrance was in the bank below the Navy fence near an Army
house where Corporal Ernie Dighton R.N.Z.A. lived for many years with his family.”
George Furnell 1950-55: Near Ernie Dighton's house which was situated on the northern side of NH, was a tunnel entrance. It wasn't very big, about 3 or 4 ft wide and high enough for a man to walk through.
On the 14th November 2014, I paid North Head another visit with a friend Lindsey Jones and his neighbour Peter Golder. Peter did his compulsory military training on North Head in the 1960’s.
As we walked around the water front, we stopped in the vicinity of No.2 Search Light and Peter said he remembered a tunnel that he used to go in somewhere in the vicinity of No.2 and No.3 S/Lights but could not remember exactly where as so much had changed. He said he could remember that this tunnel had quite a steep incline and when you went in it you could see the light way up the other end of it. This got me thinking as for to be able to see light at the other end meant that the tunnel was dead straight in direction, and therefore this could only mean it was the Dighton Tunnel! A couple of years ago I also had the privilege of attending North Head with Martin, and Vernon Rule (and his wife) - another eyewitness quoted in Martin’s book. Vernon also spoke of this tunnel, thought it was in the vicinity of S/L No.2, but was perplexed as to what had happened to it. At a later point of time, when perusing the photos I noticed some other possibilities in this 16-02-1955 photo:
I’ve noticed that witnesses really struggle to pinpoint these entrances as they are
no longer there. I’ve watched both Vernon and Peter walking back and forth really
straining their memories with a look of bewilderment on their faces. This got me
thinking that maybe their memory was of a tunnel behind a building in the vicinity
of SL.2. There was a latrine just a little further north of SL.2 and if you look
closely on this photo you will notice a track going to the right hand side of the
latrine and possibly this may have not only gone to the latrine but may have gone
into a tunnel. There is yet another possibility, and that is on the “Sheet 1 in 12”
map. For those that have read Martin’s book/books, you will know that many witnesses
claimed to have seen the complete set of 12 maps showing all the
different levels
in the tunnel complex, yet these other 11 maps have mysteriously disappeared!
I have for a long time had the theory that this one remaining map was used as a Master Plan and the other maps were drawn up initially on transparent paper over the top of Sheet 1 in 12 and hence why there is lots of extra faint dots and lines that have presumably blotted through from the plan being drawn up on top. There also appears in certain places on this map objects that show up in some of the photos, yet appear to have been attempted to erase them from this one. In the case of SL.2, note the narrow double row of dots leading towards the heavily drawn mark and the heavy mark on the edge of the SL symbol.
This is why I have included the possibility in the above picture shown by the centre yellow arrow.
NH Page 27
