Dawes Point Battery

The Dawes Point Battery is an historical fortification that was located adjacent to the southern pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge at Dawes Point, New South Wales, Australia. ^[1]

History

The first known building to be constructed on the site of Point Maskelyne (later renamed Dawes Point) was an observatory constructed in early 1788 by Lieutenant William Dawes.

A powder magazine was installed in 1789 followed by the Battery in 1791. The battery was constructed under the direction of George Barney, one of Australia’s most important Colonial Engineers of the mid 19th century. The site had previously been used as a cemetery for prisoners executed at Sydney Gaol (1797-c1830). The fort was expanded substantially in 1819 when Governor Lachlan Macquarie ordered convict Francis Greenway, who was an architect to design and construct a castellated fort at Dawes Point, which at the time was only meant to appear threatening to ships sailing into Sydney Harbour. In that same year sandstone blocks were quarried on site at Dawes Point Park for the construction of the fort.^[2]

Dawes Point fort received many upgrades throughout the 1800’s as new threats to Britain’s empire arose. The fortification was intended to be the first line of defence in the event of an attack by the Spanish in 1790 and further threats of Napoleon’s French troops in 1810.

In 1850 during the Crimean War, there were further fears of an attack by the Russian Pacific Fleet so the battery received additional subterranean powder magazines and occupancy was taken up by Royal Artillery. In this year the Dawes Point Battery became the command post for a series of fortifications that were built around the inner harbor, which included Fort Denison.

Colonel George Barney was given the task renovating Sydney’s fortifications and an extension of Dawes Point in 1860.

Sydney’s Harbour defences had been relocated to the entrance of Port Jackson by the end of the 1800s, thus rendering Dawes Point obsolete. The battery was then used to accommodate the Commandant of the Australian Military from 1901 and 1903.

Most of the fort was demolished in 1925 to make way for the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. In 1932 the remaining buildings that served as a headquarters for Dorman and Long, the British company responsible for the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge were demolished and the whole area landscaped and set aside for public use.

Steel Point Battery

The Shark Point Battery is a small fort, located on the shores of Sydney Harbour in the eastern Sydney suburb of Vaucluse, New South Wales Australia.

The main gun emplacement with the RAN degaussing station in view

History

The land on Shark Point was resumed from its private owners and construction of the battery began in 1871 and was completed in 1874 with an additional barracks being added in 1880. The site was designed under the supervision of colonial architect James Barnet who was responsible for designing several other harbour fortifications during this period. In 1872 three 80-pounder rifled muzzle-loading guns were installed.

In 1893 the fort was upgraded to hold a BL 9.2 inch (234 mm) Mk VI breech-loading 'counter bombardment' British Armstrong 'disappearing' gun. The Shark Point Battery was one of three such batteries protecting Sydney Harbour. The other two are the Ben Buckler Gun Battery at Bondi, and the Signal Hill Battery at Watsons Bay. The design of the batteries included a domed metal shield that covered each gun pit was intended to protect the gun from incoming shells. The Shark Point Battery's 9.2 inch gun's serial number was 7317. At some point the gun was removed and the battery converted to hold three 5-inch breech-loading guns.

The Shark Point battery formed part of the Sydney Harbour defences and was originally built at a time of fears of a Russian attack and other concerns such as in the withdrawal of British garrison troops, threats to British dependencies and increasing self reliance in defence matters. The fort worked in conjunction with various other forts located on Sydney Harbour that were also built in or around 1871. These forts included, the Middle Head Fortifications, the Georges Head Battery, the Lower Georges Heights Commanding Position and another small fort on Bradleys Head, known as the 'Bradleys Head Fortification Complex'.

In its last form, the battery consisted of three sandstone gun emplacements or pits with embrasures for the guns to fire through. These pits were connected by open passages and covered passages that led into underground chambers that consisted of a gunpowder magazine, a shell and artillery store and two shell and lamp recesses built of stone. The site had its own living quarters that included amenities for the workers manning the fort. The fort was surrounded by a picket fence with a sandstone base and another barbed wire fence for security. The fort also had its own jetty with connecting roads.

Shark/Steel Point at present consists of a three-gun battery. The passageways, tunnels, magazine store and barrack room are now partially buried. The stone lintel cover of the entry to the rear emplacement was smashed and the tunnel filled with debris, allowing water to seep in causing damage to the interior. The stonework of the lower emplacements and connecting passages are in good condition and there is still one gun emplacement located above ground.

The land on which the fort is located was granted to the state of New South Wales in 1980 and later became the responsibility of the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife. A small portion of the land on which the fort is located is used as a degaussing station by the Royal Australian Navy.

Sydney Harbour defences

Sydney Harbour was protected by coastal batteries and other fixed defences from the early 1800s until the 1960s. These defences were constructed to protect the Australian city of Sydney from attack by enemy warships and submarines.

Sydney's earliest fortifications were built around Sydney Cove to protect the new colony of Sydney from attacks from non-British ships or convict uprisings. The first gun emplacement was built in 1801 on Middle Head (north of Obelisk Bay) during the Napoleonic wars. More permanent fortifications were built during the first half of the 1800s in response to feared foreign attacks and new threats to the British empire. In 1790 the Dawes Point Battery was meant to be the first line of defence against an attack by the Spanish Empire, Napoleon’s French troops in 1810, and the Russian Pacific Fleet in the 1850s (during the Crimean War). This was part of a line of defences that were concentrated on protecting the inner Harbour, these also appear to have been given a low priority. Construction of Fort Denison began in 1841, though the fort wasn't completed until 1857.

Sydney's defences were expanded following the withdrawal (Cardwell reforms) of British soldiers from Australia during the 1870s. This prompted the construction of four sets of fortifications on Georges Heights and around other parts of the harbour, the Middle Head Fortifications, the Georges Head Battery, the Lower Georges Heights Commanding Position‎ and a smaller fort located on Bradleys Head were constructed during this period and upgraded in the 1880s on the advise of British experts. They were designed to attack enemy ships as they attempted entry into Sydney Harbour. Some of these forts, were at the time, built of an out dated design.

A Submarine Miners’ Depot was constructed at Chowder Bay (Georges Head) in the 1880s. In 1888 the site was modified for the latest in harbour defences. The site was a strategic position and considered the best place to observe and fire mines which were laid underwater. Minefields were laid across the main shipping channels of Port Jackson from 1876 to 1922 and a base was built at Chowder Bay for the submarine miners (Clifton Gardens). From Georges Head, miners watched for ships entering the harbour. Their job was to explode the mine closest to an approaching enemy ship. Each underwater mine was attached to an electric cable that ran up the cliff to the firing post.

The work of the submarine miner was secretive, technical and dangerous. During a demonstration in 1891, a crowd of several thousand watched as a terrible accident killed four miners and injured another eight. The Submarine Mining Corps was dismantled in 1922.

Sydney's defences were expanded over the last decades of the 19th century and eventually incorporated a fort on Bare Island to defend the approaches to Botany Bay.

World War II

Sydney's defences were not expanded from their pre-Federation condition until the 1920s. During the 1920s a number of well-constructed fortifications were built to protect Sydney. Sydney's defences were further expanded following the outbreak of World War II and were considerably augmented once Japan entered the war. While Sydney's anti-submarine defences were not yet complete at the time of the attack on Sydney Harbour on the night of 31 May 1942, they were successful in sinking two of the three Japanese midget submarines which attempted to enter the Harbour.

The end of coastal defence

Following the end of the Japanese threat to Australia Sydney's defences were reduced from 1944. The last fortifications were not decommissioned until the 1960s, however. While Sydney is no longer protected by fixed defences, a high proportion of the Australian Defence Force is based within the greater Sydney region and could be called on to protect the city during an emergency. During the 2000 Sydney Olympics security for the Harbour was provided by Special Forces, Navy Clearance Divers and warships.

Current major ADF facilities in Sydney include:

• Air Force
  • RAAF Base Richmond
• Army
  • Holsworthy Barracks
• Navy
  • HMAS Kuttabul
  • HMAS Penguin