Middle Head Fortifications | |
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Location | Middle Head Road, Middle Head, Mosman, Mosman Council, New South Wales, Australia |
Coordinates | 33°49′38″S151°16′05″E / 33.8272°S 151.2680°E |
Built | 1801–1942 |
Architect | James Barnet |
Owner | NSW Office of Environment and Heritage |
Official name | Chowder Bay Barracks Group, Chowder Bay Rd, Georges Heights, NSW, Australia |
Type | Listed place |
Designated | 22 June 2004 |
Reference no. | 105254 |
Class | Historic |
Place File No | 1/13/026/0008 |
Official name | Middle Head Military Fortifications; Middle Head Fortifications; The Old Fort |
Type | State heritage (complex / group) |
Designated | 2 April 1999 |
Reference no. | 999 |
Type | Fortification |
Category | Defence |
The Middle Head Fortifications is a heritage-listed former defence establishment and military fortifications and now public space located at Middle Head Road, Middle Head, Mosman in the Mosman Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It is also known as the Middle Head Military Fortifications or The Old Fort. The fortifications consist of the Outer Middle Head Battery located at the end of Old Fort Road, the Inner Middle Head Battery located at the end of Governors Road, and the Obelisk batteries reached by a path from the corner of Middle Head Road and Chowder Bay Road. The fortifications at Middle Head formed part of Sydney Harbour's defences. The property is owned by the Department of Planning and Environment. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. [1]
The first fort at Middle Head was built in 1801 and the last batteries were constructed in 1942. The majority of the fortifications were built between 1870 and 1911. The site contains the works of several periods and technologies, which remain in place for review today. Historically it dates from the time when defence was first moved away from Sydney Cove and towards The Heads. [2]
There were three sets of fortifications built in Mosman 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 battery on Middle Head built in 1871 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 attempted entry through the Sydney Heads. The whole area is linked by an extensive network of tunnels, ancillary rooms, gunpowder magazine and a disappearing gun emplacement. The site has its own underground power room that is supported by iron columns. Rooms located below ground were used to train some of Australia's first troops who were sent to Vietnam in 'Code of Conduct' courses, which were lessons in how to withstand torture and interrogation, by simulating prisoner of war conditions. [3]
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. [4]
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 First Australian Imperial Force and the commander of Australian forces in the Gallipoli Campaign. 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. [5]
Extensive restoration work has been conducted by the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust which has revived many of the old buildings.
The sites facilities include:
Middle Head Military Fortifications was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 [1] and in 2004 the Chowder Bay Barracks Group, including the Georges Head Battery, was inscribed on the Commonwealth Heritage List. [6]
The Sydney Harbour National Park is an Australian national park comprising parts of Port Jackson, Sydney and its foreshores and various islands. The 392-hectare (970-acre) national park lies in New South Wales and was created progressively, from 1975.
Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea. It is the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. The location of the first European settlement and colony on the Australian mainland, Port Jackson has continued to play a key role in the history and development of Sydney.
Fort Denison, part of the Sydney Harbour National Park, is a protected national park that is a heritage-listed former penal site and defensive facility occupying a small island located north-east of the Royal Botanic Garden and approximately 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) east of the Opera House in Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. The island is also known as Mattewanye or Muddawahnyuh in the Eora language, and as Pinchgut Island.
Vaucluse is an eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 8 kilometres (5 mi) east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of Waverley Council and the Municipality of Woollahra.
Mosman Council is a local government area on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Georges Heights is an urban locality in the suburb of Mosman, adjoining Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Georges Heights is located in the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman and is part of the Lower North Shore.
The Sydney Heads are a series of headlands that form the 2 km (1.2 mi) wide entrance to Sydney Harbour in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. North Head and Quarantine Head are to the north; South Head and Dunbar Head are to the south; and Middle Head, Georges Head, and Chowder Head are to the west and within the harbour. The Heads are contained within the Sydney Harbour National Park.
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Bradleys Head is a headland protruding from the north shore of Sydney Harbour, within the metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is named after the First Fleet naval officer William Bradley. The original Aboriginal inhabitants, who belonged to the Borogegal clan of the Eora nation, knew Bradleys Head as Borogegy, Booraghee, Booragy or Burrogy. On the headland is an active lighthouse, Bradleys Head Light, constructed in 1905.
Bare Island is a heritage-listed islet located at La Perouse, New South Wales in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney in eastern Australia. The islet is located about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) south east of the Sydney central business district, within Botany Bay, close to the bay's northern headland. Containing former fortification facilities, Bare Island was a former war veterans' home and museum and is now a historic site that was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 and is significant as an almost completely intact example of late nineteenth century coastal defence technology. It was designed by Sir Peter Scratchley, Gustave Morell and James Barnet and built from 1881 to 1889 by John McLeod on behalf of the NSW Department of Public Works.
Sydney Harbour was protected by coastal batteries and other fixed defences from the early 19th century until the 1960s. These defences were constructed to protect the Australian city of Sydney from attack by enemy warships and submarines.
The Lower Georges Heights Commanding Position is located in the urban locality of Georges Heights in the suburb of Mosman, on the shores of Port Jackson, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Lower Georges Heights Commanding Position was constructed and designed to stop enemy ships from entering into Sydney Harbour, and worked in conjunction with several others forts located within close proximity.
The Georges Head Battery, also called the Georges Head Military Fortifications, is a heritage-listed former military fortification located on the Georges Head on Chowder Bay Road, Georges Heights, New South Wales, Australia.
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 Sydney, 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.
The Steele Point Battery is a small fort, on the shores of Port Jackson in the eastern Sydney suburb of Vaucluse, Australia.
The Bradleys Head Fortification Complex is a heritage-listed former mast and defensive battery and military fortification and now war memorial and recreational area located at Bradleys Head Road within the Sydney Harbour National Park in the Sydney suburb of Mosman, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Government engineers and built from 1840 to 1934. It is also known as Bradleys Head Forts and HMAS Sydney 1 Mast and Associated Memorials. The property is owned by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 30 August 2010.
The Dawes Point Battery remains is a heritage-listed former artillery fortification and now visitor attraction located adjacent to the southern pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge at Hickson Road in inner city Sydney, on the boundary between Dawes Point and The Rocks in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was built and modified from 1791 to 1925 by Lieutenant William Dawes, Robert Ross, Francis Greenway, and George Barney. The property is owned by Property NSW, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 10 May 2002.
Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman.
The Tomaree Head Fortifications is a heritage-listed fortification at 2 Shoal Bay Road, Shoal Bay, New South Wales, Australia. It is also known as Tomaree Head Battery, Tomaree Battery and Stephens Battery. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 22 October 2010.
341 George Street, Sydney is a heritage-listed bank building located at 341 George Street, in the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1927 to 1932 and housed the headquarters of the Bank of New South Wales, and later Westpac. It is also known as Westpac Bank building and Bank of NSW building. Westpac sold the building in 2002, but continues to lease the lower floors for use as banking chambers. The upper floors are leased by other tenants.
This Wikipedia article contains material from Middle Head Military Fortifications , entry number 00999 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence , accessed on 2 June 2018.