Fort Kelburne | |
---|---|
Location | Ngauranga, Wellington, New Zealand |
Built | 1885–1887 |
Built for | New Zealand Army |
Demolished | 1963 |
Fort Kelburne was a coastal artillery battery located in Wellington, New Zealand. [1] [2] [3] Built between 1885 and 1887 in the vicinity of Ngauranga, following fears of an impending war with Russia, the fort was used for training purposes, later receiving renovations during the First World War. [4] Fort Kelburne, along with Fort Buckley in Kaiwharawhara, were the first coastal defences to be built in a ring that was designed to protect Wellington Harbour.
Following the end of the war, the fort ceased to be occupied by the New Zealand Army, with ownership transferring to the Public Works Department. In the course of its existence, no shots were ever fired in anger. [5] In 1963, the fort was completely demolished by the Public Works Department to make way for two large connecting roads between the Wellington Urban Motorway and Ngauranga Gorge. As a result, little remains of the former installation.
Fort Kelburne was the first of four coastal fortifications built in Auckland, Wellington, Lyttleton and Dunedin in the development of New Zealand's coastal defences during the Russian scare. Construction began in December 1885 and was completed in April 1887. The naming of the fort varies in difference references between Kelburn and Kelburne, but is likely named after Viscount Kelburne, the eldest son of Lord Glasgow, who was the governor-general of New Zealand from 1892 to 1897. [6]
The fort was built on a series of tiered levels following the topography of the hill, with its main guns mounted 37 metres (120 ft) apart. A brick and concrete palisade along with a spiked steel fence was built around the gun pits to repel land-based attackers. The guns were linked underground by a bomb-proof passage. All underground galleries and gun pits were built using the cut-and-cover method.
Little to no remains of the fort can be seen today, due to the construction of the Wellington Urban Motorway. The access road up the hill from Ngauranga remains, while one 6-inch Armstrong hydro-pneumatic gun remains as a monument at Trentham Military Camp. [7] Other remains are located at the National Army Museum in Waiouru.
However, during demolition by the Public Works Department, the fort was well documented with photographs and diagrams made. Copies of these can be found at both Archives New Zealand, as well as the National Library of New Zealand. [8]
Beacon Hill Battery is a late-19th and 20th century coastal fortification that was built to defend the port of Harwich, Essex. It is a scheduled ancient monument.
The large Miramar Peninsula is on the southeastern side of the city of Wellington, New Zealand, at the entrance to Wellington Harbour, in Wellington's eastern suburbs. According to Māori legend, it was formed when the taniwha Whaitaitai beached as he tried to escape the confines of the harbour.
The remains of Fort Buckley, in Wellington, New Zealand, overlook the Interislander ferry terminal, the Wellington Harbour & the Wellington Motorway towards the Hutt Valley.
Wrights Hill Fortress is a counter bombardment coastal artillery battery in the Karori suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. It was built between 1942 and 1944 and is predominantly underground, with numerous tunnels linking the war shelters, gun emplacements, magazines, plotting rooms and engine room - which are, at some points, over 50 feet underground. The fort was intended to house three 9.2" Mk. XV guns, but only two guns were installed and the fort never saw action. After World War II was over, fort commanders fired both of the guns. The fall of the shot was observed in Cook Strait and these test firings were deemed a success. In 1960, somewhat ironically, both of the guns were sold to the Japanese as scrap metal, the very nation Wrights Hill Fortress was constructed to defend Wellington against. The design of the fort is similar to the Stony Batter and Whangaparaoa 9.2" Mk. XV batteries, near Auckland.
Fort Worden Historical State Park is located in Port Townsend, Washington, on 433 acres originally known as Fort Worden, a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps base constructed to protect Puget Sound from invasion by sea. Fort Worden was named after U.S. Navy Rear Admiral John Lorimer Worden, commander of USS Monitor during the famous Battle of Hampton Roads during the American Civil War.
State Highway 1 is the longest and most significant road in the New Zealand road network, running the length of both main islands. It appears on road maps as SH 1 and on road signs as a white number 1 on a red shield, but it has the official designations SH 1N in the North Island, SH 1S in the South Island.
Ripapa Island located just off the shore of Lyttelton Harbour, has played many roles in the history of New Zealand. The island initially played a key role in an internal struggle for the South Island Ngāi Tahu tribe in the early 19th Century. Between 1873 and 1885, the island was used as a quarantine station for ships arriving from Britain to the nearby port in Lyttelton. However 1880 saw the use of the quarantine buildings as a prison, notably for members of the Parihaka Māori settlement in Taranaki during its passive resistance campaign against the surveying and selling of its land by the government. The quarantine buildings were dismantled when the Island was incorporated into the coastal defence scheme.
The Hutt Valley Line is the electrified train service operated by Transdev Wellington on behalf of Metlink on the section of the Wairarapa Line railway between Wellington and Upper Hutt, New Zealand.
The Transmission Gully Motorway is a 27-kilometre-long (17-mile), four-lane motorway north of Wellington, New Zealand; it is part of the State Highway 1 route. Construction began on 8 September 2014 and completion was originally scheduled for April 2020, but contractual negotiations as well as difficulties resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic caused delays. The motorway was officially opened on 30 March 2022 and opened to public traffic the following day.
The Johnsonville–Porirua Motorway is a motorway in Wellington, New Zealand. The majority of the motorway forms part of State Highway 1, the main route of traffic in and out of the city, with the northernmost 2.1 km (1.3 mi), formerly part of SH 1 until 7 December 2021, designated as State Highway 59. Completed in the 1950s, it was New Zealand's first motorway.
The Ben Buckler Gun Battery is a heritage-listed fortified former gun emplacement and military installation of the late-Victorian period and now public open space located in the North Bondi locality of Ben Buckler, in the Waverley Municipality of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The gun battery was designed by NSW Colonial Government and built during 1893. It is also known as Ben Buckler Gun Battery 1893, 9.2 Disappearing Gun and Bondi Battery. The property is owned by Waverley Municipal Council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 15 December 2006.
Coastal fortifications were constructed in New Zealand in two main waves: around 1885 as a response to fears of an attack by Russia, and in World War II due to fears of invasion by the Japanese.
The Signal Hill Battery was constructed in 1892–3 at Watsons Bay and is adjacent to the Signal Hill Lighthouse on Old South Head Road.
Culver Battery is a former coastal artillery battery on Culver Down, on the eastern side of the Isle of Wight, England. The fortification is one of several Palmerston Forts built on the island following concerns about the size and strength of the French Navy in the late 19th century. It was operational during the First and Second World Wars. The battery was closed in 1956.
Fort Ballance is a former coastal artillery battery on Point Gordon on Wellington's Miramar Peninsula.
Coastal defenceand coastal fortification are measures taken to provide protection against military attack at or near a coastline, for example, fortifications and coastal artillery. Because an invading enemy normally requires a port or harbour to sustain operations, such defences are usually concentrated around such facilities, or places where such facilities could be constructed. Coastal artillery fortifications generally followed the development of land fortifications, usually incorporating land defences; sometimes separate land defence forts were built to protect coastal forts. Through the middle 19th century, coastal forts could be bastion forts, star forts, polygonal forts, or sea forts, the first three types often with detached gun batteries called "water batteries". Coastal defence weapons throughout history were heavy naval guns or weapons based on them, often supplemented by lighter weapons. In the late 19th century separate batteries of coastal artillery replaced forts in some countries; in some areas these became widely separated geographically through the mid-20th century as weapon ranges increased. The amount of landward defence provided began to vary by country from the late 19th century; by 1900 new US forts almost totally neglected these defences. Booms were also usually part of a protected harbor's defences. In the middle 19th century underwater minefields and later controlled mines were often used, or stored in peacetime to be available in wartime. With the rise of the submarine threat at the beginning of the 20th century, anti-submarine nets were used extensively, usually added to boom defences, with major warships often being equipped with them through early World War I. In World War I railway artillery emerged and soon became part of coastal artillery in some countries; with railway artillery in coast defence some type of revolving mount had to be provided to allow tracking of fast-moving targets.
Kau Point Battery is a 19th-century coast defence battery constructed in Wellington, New Zealand in the 1890s. It is located on the east side of Point Halswell in Wellington, New Zealand, approximately midway between the Massey Memorial and Fort Ballance, close to the site of the ancient Māori settlement of Kau-whakaara-waru.