Middle Head Fortifications

The Middle Head Fortification is located at the end of Old Fort Road, Middle Head, Mosman New South Wales. The fortifications at Middle Head formed part of Sydney Harbour's defences.

History

The site on which the fortifications are built includes all of the fortifications that were built between 1870 and 1911. The site contains the works of several periods and technologies that still exist to this date. Historically it dates from a time when defence was first moved away from Sydney Cove and towards The Heads.

There were three sets of fortifications built in Mosman, New South Wales and Middle Head in the 1870s, these were upgraded in the 1880s on the advice of British experts. These fortifications still exist and are now heritage listed, they are, the Lower Georges Heights Commanding Position‎, the Georges Head Battery and a smaller fort located on Bradleys Head, known as the Bradleys Head Fortification Complex.

The first battery on Middle Head was built in 1871 and was designed by James Barnet, a colonial architect. The fort was built on a strategic location and received many additions until 1911. It formed part of a network of 'outer harbour' defences. They were designed to fire at enemy ships as they entempted entry through the Sydney Heads. The whole area is linked by an extensive network of underground tunnels, ancillary rooms, gunpowder magazine and a disappearing gun emplacement. The site also has its own underground power room that is supported by iron columns. The gunners Barracks were built from sandstone quarried on site and still exist to this day, they are located on Middle Head concealed in bushland. Underground tunnels and rooms were used to train some of Australia's first troops that were sent to Vietnam in 'Code of Conduct' courses (lessons in how to withstand torture and interrogation) by simulating prisoner of war conditions.

In 1974 the Middle Head fortifications featured in the movie Stone.

In 1979 most of the area became national park and the military has moved on to more strategic locations. The army base on site which included the transport group and 30 Terminal Squadron, left Georges Height's in 1997. The Headquarters Training Command section relocated to the Victoria Barracks in 2002.

The Officers Quarters

The Officers quarters is a Victorian Regency style building that was built on a rough stone base. It was designed by Colonial Architect James Barnet and is considered to be one of the most significant buildings at Middle Head. The site incorporates a defensive ditch or moat and includes a fortification wall. The house looking in the direction of Middle Harbour meant that it could be used for surveillance purposes as well.

One former resident was Major General Sir William Throsby Bridges KCB CMG, the first commander of the Australian Imperial Force and the commander of Australian forces at Gallipoli. Throsby Bridges was killed by a sniper whilst leading the forces at Gallipoli. His warhorse Sandy was brought back to Australia, seeing out its days in Victoria.

Primarily used as a residence this building originally housed two officers separately, a senior and junior officer.

During World War II this building served as a Red Cross Hospital and later as accommodation for the Australian Women’s Army Service. The house continues to be used as a residence.

Beehive Casemate

The Beehive Casemate is an historical fortification located on the banks of Obelisk Bay, in Sydney Harbour. Construction began in 1871 and was completed in 1874.

The fort was constructed under the supervision of colonial architect James Barnet.

The underground Casemate was one of the first to be locally designed and built after the withdrawal of British troops in 1870 and the Cardwell Reforms.

The fortification contains three domed chambers that were used as gun emplacements, each chamber had a small opening or window for the gun to fire through with each window looking out towards the Sydney Heads.

The underground chambers were made of brick and mortar and were built into the excavated cavities in the sandstone bedrock. They were intended to fire on enemy ships as they navigated the passages around Sow and Pigs Reef, within the entrance to Sydney Harbour.

Henry Head Battery

The Henry Head Battery is located on the northern side of the entrance to Botany Bay at Henry Head, La Perouse, New South Wales, Australia.

Constructed between 1892 - 1895 with a large disappearing gun emplacement, the fort operated until 1910, upon which the fort became obsolete.

The battery along with 2 six in gun emplacements and observation posts was reutilised during World War II to defend the approaches to Botany Bay.

During WWII it was armed with 2 18-pounder Mk IV field guns and 2 QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss guns. The underground bunker and tunnel complex consisted of vaulted ammunition storage rooms with double walls and ceilings. The doubling up of walls and ceilings was a preventative measure meant to stop the walls from collapsing in the event of a direct hit. The battery is currently not in use.

Henry Head Battery is at coordinates 33°59′54″S 151°14′17″E

Ben Buckler Gun Battery

The Ben Buckler Gun Battery is a fortified gun emplacement of the late-Victorian period located in the Northern Bondi locality of Ben Buckler, Sydney Australia. ^[1][2]

History

The Ben Buckler Gun Battery was constructed in 1892 as one of a set of three coastal defense fortifications for Sydney Harbour, the other two being Signal Hill Battery at Watsons Bay and the Shark Point Battery in Vaucluse. These fortifications were the last link in Sydney’s outer defense perimeter, which was intended to defend Sydney from bombardment by an enemy vessel standing off the coast. The fortifications built in the 1890s around Sydney's eastern suburbs were the culmination of some twenty years of construction of harbor defense installations that reflected the changing policy of the time to meet new technologies, threats and styles of warfare.

Gun emplacement

The Ben Buckler Battery is a rare, intact concrete 1890's gun emplacement, which was designed and developed for the new BL 9.2 inch (234 mm) Mk VI breech-loading 'counter bombardment' British Armstrong 'disappearing' gun. The Australian colonies bought 10 of these, three for Sydney, plus an extra barrel, four for Victoria at Fort Nepean and Fort Queenscliff, and two for Adelaide, South Australia, purchased in 1888. The Adelaide guns were never installed at Fort Glenelg and the British government bought them back in 1915. The barrel of the gun that had been installed at Signal Hill Battery survives on public display at the Royal Australian Artillery Museum at North Fort, North Head.

The Ben Buckler gun, Serial Number 7319, is the only complete 9.2-inch in Australia and was the largest gun in New South Wales. The gun barrel weighed 22 tons and it took a total of thirty six horses to transport the barrel from Victoria Barracks in Darlinghurst to the battery in North Bondi; the transit took over three weeks.

Soon after its arrival, the gun was installed on a hydraulically operated disappearing mount. The gun was located below ground level and beneath a domed iron shield set into a wall of reinforced concrete that was ten meters in diameter. The domed metal shield that covered the pit was intended to protect the gun from incoming shells.

Once the gun was loaded, the hydro pneumatic action shunted it forward and up through a slot in the shield. After discharging, the recoil mechanism forced the gun back into its pit. This protected the gun crew while loading and made the gun a very difficult target for an enemy ship to hit. The domed metal shield that covered the pit was intended to protect the gun from incoming shells.

Sometime in the 1950s the army vacated the site. The government was unsuccessful in finding a scrap metal buyer to remove the gun, so it buried the gun and gave the site over to parkland. The gun's existence was forgotten until it was rediscovered in the mid-1990s by Water Board engineers planning a new pipeline. It is now classed as an architectural relic and is under the protection of the Heritage Council.

Ben Buckler Gun Battery, North Bondi is at coordinates 33°53′03″S 151°17′04″E