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Published: January 27th 2014
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Sunday 19th January 2014. Watson's Bay and Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Today was going to be the only day where we could spend the entire day with Rachel as she is working right up until the day before she leaves on her trip. We decided to go to Watson's Bay as we had not been there before. We caught the bus to Circular Quay and caught a Ferry over to Watson's Bay. This is an eastern suburb of Sydney, located 11 km north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Woollahra.
The weather was gorgeous with a clear blue sky. After we disembarked the boat we went and had a drink at one of the harbourside bars. Rachel then led us along the waterfront to the start of the South Head Heritage Trail which is in the Sydney Harbour National Park. The area between Inner South Head and Camp Cove, wrapped around HMAS Watson, became part of the Sydney Harbour National Park in 1977 which allowed its transformation into a recreational area. This area includes access to Hornby light and the remnant fortifications.
We crossed a fantastic beach
which was very busy and climbed the steps where a sign announced we had reached the trail. The first thing we came to were some old gun emplacements. Historically there have been frequent recommendations for the fortification of South Head to help defend Sydney harbour from attack, however there were few actual constructions of fortifications, and even fewer installations of artillery, until World War II.
In 1804 Governor King suggested that "in order to fortify the harbour it would be necessary to have a battery of twelve eighteen-pounders on the inner South Head, one side to face the east".
The military road built by Governor Macquarie to Outer South Head in 1813 would have allowed the transport of men and equipment if required, but no permanent garrison was established. Numerous nineteenth century reports on the defense needs of Sydney harbour made recommendations that included the fortification of South Head and gun emplacements at Inner South Head in particular, but action on these was slow. Reports recommended the building of a fort, the need for an observation tower, the extension of the military road to the Hornby light and the installation of a boom across the
harbour from Inner
South Head. Some construction of fortifications at South Head may have started by 1841, but fortifications were only completed in 1854, accelerated by the threats of the Crimean War. After this defense priorities were reassessed, and it seems no artillery was installed at that time.
Following the departure of British troops from the colony in 1870, work resumed on fortifications at South Head in 1871, and by 1874 there was actual artillery in place. This consisted of three 10-inch, two 9-inch and five 80-pounder guns, supplemented in 1878 by torpedo firing stations at Green Point, south of Camp Cove. A 'Government Road to the battery' existed from the 1850s, from Watson's Bay to Inner South Head. Around 1880 a cobblestone road was constructed from Camp Cove to take equipment, landed there by boat, up to the fortifications above. By 1887 there was an operations room for Sydney's defenses at South Head. Further south near the signal station, a breech-loading
'disappearing' gun was installed by the early 1890s. At Federation there was a large but aging array of artillery established as Sydney's defenses, but by 1911 this was rationalised, with greater emphasis on South Head, which had eight of the
20 guns in position and two more not yet mounted. Though manned in World War I, they were given little strategic priority.
After World War I, the focus shifted further to South Head. In 1927, of ten guns mounted to defend Sydney harbour, one was at the signal station and two at Inner South Head, with a further two mounted in reserve. The military acted to close South Head to fishermen. The School of Artillery near The Gap (the harbour entrance) from c1895 to 1938 had its own practice batteries. Sydney's World War II defenses maintained artillery both at Inner South Head (now referred to as the Hornby Batteries) and near the signal station, together with Green Point at Camp Cove. The signal station
battery was dismantled soon after the war, and much of the sequence of fortifications from a century of defenses remains visible. After reading all the blurb we continued along the track.
We soon arrived at Lady Bay (a nudist beach), once called "Lady's Haul". Rach informed us that most of the people on the beach were gay men. We did see a couple of clothed girls but only the boys were exposing their bits
and pieces to the harsh rays of the sun.
We then reached a point where there was a loop path around South Head. It was here that we came across the Hornby Lighthouse and the lighthouse keepers cottages. The light was erected after a serious shipwreck. According to the blurb, at around midnight on 20 Aug 1857 the sailing ship Dunbar, en route from England, was wrecked on rocks south of the Gap while attempting to enter Sydney Harbour during foul weather. All but 1 of the 122 people on board the Dunbar perished. Twenty year old crew member, James Johnson, had a miraculous escape when the high seas washed him up onto a rock ledge.
One month after the loss of the Dunbar, it was recommended that a lighthouse be built at South Head. A site was chosen and designs for the lighthouse and cottages for the head lighthouse keeper and assistant lighthouse keepers were completed by Colonial Architect Alexander Dawson. Preparations did not proceed quickly enough though, to assist the Catherine Adamson, which was wrecked off inner North Head on October 23rd the same year with the loss of 21 lives.
The lighthouse was completed
in 1858, for the total cost of £3127. The lighthouse was called the Hornby Light. The origin of the name is uncertain, but it is thought that the NSW Governor Sir William Denison named it in honour of the British Admiral Sir Horatio Hornby, father of his wife Lady Denison, or after Sir Phipps Hornby former British Lord of Admiralty. The Hornby Lighthouse was painted bright red and white stripes to distinguish it from the MacQuarie lighthouse 2 km to the south. Sixteen kerosene lamps, each one in front of a parabolic reflector, were evenly spaced
around 2 concentric circles to provide the first lighting in the tower. In 1904 the lighting was changed to ten incandescent gas burners. An electric powered white beacon replaced the burners in 1948. The Hornby light is now the second oldest remaining harbour light in NSW and is still in use, maintained by the Sydney Ports Corporation.
We finished the loop and returned to the ferry wharf where we went to Doyles for some world famous fish and chips. It was packed. D got in the queue for the food while M and Rach circled like sharks for a free table. M eventually
pounced and secured 3 seats while Rach went and got a bottle of wine. It was absolutely delicious and the setting was amazing. We caught the ferry back to Circular Quay and decided, as we had an all day inclusive ticket, to get the ferry down the Paramatta River to Sydney Olympic Park which is where the 2000 Olympics were held. The weather was distinctly iffy in the city but we went anyway.
It took ages and we stopped at loads of places. Sometimes people got off and on on the starboard side, sometimes the port side. We were standing on the port side and had more than our fair share of "move behind the black and yellow lines" at each stop. We were quite proficient at it by the time we arrived at the Sydney Olympic Park stop. Or so we thought! Sydney Olympic Park ferry stop is nowhere near the Sydney Olympic Park!!! After a couple of aborted attempts at finding the park we asked a cyclist for directions. It was quite a walk - the cyclist informed us it had taken him 15 minutes to get to where we were on a bike. Undeterred we walked
in the direction indicated. Eventually we came to a sign that announced "Sydney Olympic Park". M and Rach had a celebratory photo taken under the sign.
It was a magnificent complex but seemed to us to be totally under used. There were a few kids skateboarding and some stalls selling hot dogs but otherwise it was really quiet. D took some snaps of the complex and the stadium then we went to the station where we caught a train back to the city.
We had some salad and cheese and biscuits for supper and then we all retired exhausted - we had walked miles.
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