If you’ve got an hour or two to kill and perhaps it’s raining or it’s too hot to be walking around outside, I recommend you pay a visit to Coffs Harbour’s quirky Bunker Cartoon Gallery. 

The World War II Bunker has been turned into a fabulous gallery space

It’s a unique and funky little art gallery housed in an authentic, underground WWII bunker. It’s also Australia’s first and only dedicated cartoon gallery and has the largest collection of contemporary cartoons in the Southern Hemisphere (around 18,000 works at last count in December 2008).

Around 11,000 cartoons, caricatures and comic strips have been catalogued and are available in folders at the reception area for viewing at your leisure (in addition to the ones that are on the walls, which rotate every couple of weeks and usually follow a theme).

The gallery is also used as an art exhibition space, with exhibitions changing about once a month so there’s always something new on show.

If you’re in for a chuckle and just something a bit different, the Bunker Cartoon Gallery is well worth a visit.

The historic but quirky Bunker Cartoon Gallery in Coffs Harbour

Essential info: Entry is only $2 for adults and $1 for children. The gallery is open Mondays to Saturdays from 10am to 4pm. It’s located on John Champion Way, corner of Hogbin Drive and Albany Street, just a few blocks from the Coffs Harbour CBD. 

More information about the cartoons, the bunker’s history and the changing exhibitions is available on the Bunker Cartoon Gallery website. Enjoy!