Bradleys Head Fortification Complex
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 in the Mosman Council local government area of 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 small fort is located on the northern side of Sydney Harbour, just south of Taronga Park Zoo, and the fortification formed part of a total defence system for Sydney Harbour and recalls a period when the colony of New South Wales became increasingly aware of its isolation and wealth. History Development of the fort Bradleys Head is the site of two fortification complexes which formed part of a total defence system for Sydney Harbour. The first settlers established two defensive batteries at Dawes Point and Bennelong Point to protect the colony. They were equipped with naval guns and covered the entrance to Sydney Cove. The batteries were manned by marines of the First Fleet until the arrival of the first contingent of soldiers from the NSW Corps with the Second Fleet in 1790. In 1801 additional batteries were established by Governor King at Garden Island and on Georges Head in response to the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, thereby covering the approaches to the settlement. A large stone walled fort commenced on the crown of Observatory Hill in 1804. It was named Fort Phillip in 1805. When Governor Macquarie took office in 1810, the outer batteries were neglected and in poor condition. He decided to reconcentrate the defences of the settlement at Fort Phillip, Dawes Point and Bennelong Point. These three positions remained the defensive backbone of Sydney until the 1840s. In September 1839, during the office of Governor Gipps, Captain George Barney, the first Colonial Engineer, put forward a proposal for improving the defences, including construction of batteries and permanent Blockhouses for the defence of the ports of Sydney, , Wollongong, Port Macquarie and Port Phillip. Requests for funds were sent to the Board of Ordinance in the United Kingdom. Work using convict labour commenced at Bradleys Head and Pinchgut (Fort Denison) in August 1840 in anticipation of a successful response. Funding was refused in October 1840. A subsequent representation was more successful, although this approval would not be received until March 1842, more than eighteen months after commencement of works at Bradleys Head. In the meantime two American warships (sloop of war Peacock and sloop of war Vincennes) entered the harbour unannounced on 30 November 1839, under the cover of darkness. Although only a courtesy visit, the event demonstrated the settlement's vulnerability to attack and highlighted awareness