By Simon Pratt.
Middle Head. We sail past its cliffs and rock shelves all the time. And try not to hit it while cutting the corner south. What a view it has, looking straight through the Heads, north to Manly, south down to Rose Bay, and if you lean out over the cliff, you can just see back up the harbour towards MHYC.
It was because of this commanding position that the British, soon after arriving in Sydney Harbour, decided that Middle Head need some cannon to keep Britannia’s enemies out. First this was the French, then Dutch, Spanish, Americans, and later the Russians were the threats. The first battery had been built where the Opera House now sits a few months after the first fleet arrived, and other early batteries were clustered around Sydney Cove.
Governor King deemed it better to deter ships further down the harbour, and a small battery was built on the south side of Middle Head, adjacent to and above Obelisk Beach in 1801. Its guns could target a ship maneuvering past Sow and Pigs (named because before dynamiting, it apparently resembled a sow and litter). You can inspect this secluded semi-circular emplacement today, hewn out of solid sandstone; not easy to find, but well worth the effort. It’s a gem.
An appraisal in 1820 suggested the young colony did not even offer ‘…that hope of Plunder that would induce Pirates to attack.’
London and the Governor bickered on who should pay for improved defenses and provide the troops and gunners, and the forts fell into decay.
The 1801 battery; oldest on Middle Head
Until 1851 and the Gold Rush. War with Russia three years later gave added impetus. Construction actually started on a new battery at Middle Head, but as the war faded, so did the plans. It was 1870 before they got serious again. A road was hacked out of the bush between Blues Point and Middle Head by unemployed labourers (today’s Military Road) to move the big guns out to the headland. The barrels–each 3 meters long and weighing nearly 6 tonne– were wrapped in timber beams and rolled down the rough road by 250 soldiers. ‘Such a crop of broken and twisted limbs, sprains, and severe flesh wounds was seldom known before’ noted the major in charge. 1874 there were seven big guns sited at Inner Middle Head facing ENE to the Heads, and four more at Outer Middle Head looking southeast across to Sow and Pigs. Another battery was built up on Georges Head, and this has been restored and can be seen today. These 68 pounders could put a 30-kilo cannonball out to 3000 meters; exactly the distance from Outer Middle Head to the rock shelf off North Head that Gavin tried hard to ram on several occasions in dear old Delphin.
Not only were the guns obsolete by the time they were installed–technology had moved on–but they were silhouetted on the skyline to an attacker entering the harbour and there was not enough ammunition storage. To replace them with modern technology two new enormous 10-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns each weighing 25 tonnes were shipped from England to Circular Quay, barged to Cobblers Beach, and hauled up to Outer Middle Head to be sited 80 meters above the waves. New emplacements, magazines, steam engines to power searchlights, and observation posts were all built into the sandstone. A new-fangled electric minefield stretched between Middle and South Heads, with the control station at Chowder Bay. When a ship came close to a mine, the watching technicians would switch on the current, and ka-booom! Unfortunately, they never got to test it on a live target.
For the bored gunners here and at North and South Heads stuck far from the city’s lights, discipline was a problem. Within a few years of being formed, of the 1000 artillerymen, nearly 400 had deserted and many more were charged with drunkenness, sleeping on duty, or striking superior officers. Part of the problem was there was nothing to shoot at. From when the first guns were installed at Middle Head in 1801 to the disbanding of the coastal artillery in 1962, they never got the chance to fire once in anger. But their deterrence worked.
Weaponry continued to evolve. In 1890 the guns at Inner Middle Head were replaced with fancy ‘disappearing’ guns. These sat on a hydro-pneumatic mount and when fired, the gun recoiled below the parapet for reloading. More batteries were built between Middle Head and Chowder Bay and new-fangled machine guns were installed to cover a landing at Obelisk Bay.
But the very big guns were installed on North Head just before WWII. A ship within 27 kilometres of these could cop a 170-kilo shell at 1800 miles an hour if unlucky (at an elevation of 80 metres, the horizon about 30 kilometres out from these guns). Because of them, no ships attacked during the world wars, and they were scrapped in the 1960’s along with all the other guns still sitting on Middle Head. Sadly, no-one thought to keep any; the only two left are the old ones at Georges Heights.
Middle Head today forms part of Sydney Harbour National Park, but is also part of the Harbour Trust which was fortuitously established to safeguard the ex-Military harbour sites of Sydney from property development in 1998. North Head, Chowder Bay, Cockatoo Island and Woolwich Dock are also part of the Harbour Trust portfolio.
At present, both Headland Park at Georges Heights and Chowder Bay have been
restored to former glory. There are extensive historic buildings integrated with landscaped grounds, and few visitors. Check out the tastefully renovated Sergeants Mess or Gunners Barracks, or the guns shown in the photo above, set in attractive bushland. Middle Head waits its turn for funding and upgrading.
You can still wander around the old gun (less) placements, check out the ‘tiger cages’ where they trained diggers how to resist torture before heading off to Vietnam, or just enjoy a picnic in the shade of gum trees, with fantastic views. There’s plenty of parking nearby, though it costs, and there are a couple of cafes in the complex. Middle Head wears its history nicely; it’s a great spot for harbour watching
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