Dawes Battery Remains

The first fortification of the Colony of New South Wales was a small redoubt erected by Lieutenant Dawes at Cattle Point – now Bennelong Point.

After a dispute developed between England and Spain another battery was constructed on Dawes Point, again by Lieutenant Dawes. This was completed in August 1791.

There were upgradings throughout the 1800s. In 1819 Governor Lachlan Macquarie ordered the convict architect Francis Greenway to construct improvements to the Dawes Point fort. These comprised a semicircular battery supported by a new decorative castellated guardhouse, built on the site of the 1780 powder magazine.

Because of fear of a Russian naval attack during the Crimean War, Lieutenant Colonel George Barney upgraded defences of the inner harbour; this involved reinforcement of Dawes Battery. The works included construction of the Artillery Barracks, improvements to the semi-circular battery (then known as the Upper Battery), construction of the Lower Battery (for field artillery), and construction of the Officers’ Quarters; it was completed in 1860.

However, by the end of the 1800s Sydney’s defences had been relocated to the entrance of Port Jackson and Dawes Point and other inner defences slipped into obscurity.

In 1925 most of the fort was demolished to make way for the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The remaining buildings became the headquarters for Dorman Long, the company building the Bridge; these were demolished in 1932.

Archaeological excavations in 1995, 1999 and 2000 revealed extensive remains including two underground rooms for storing gunpowder. An interesting ‘find’ in the excavation, was the top of the concrete block that incorporated the steel guide tubes (on the eastern side), through which passed the cables that restrained the half arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge as it progressed.

All the remains have been incorporated into a redesign of the park. The site is excellently and graphically interpreted, including a timeline of the fort’s development.