Tag Archives: military
Celebrating Peace In Sydney
The Distinguished Royal New South Wales Lancers
A Neutral Harbour – Neutral Bay
This week, with a number of military anniversaries being celebrated all around the world, not least the start of the First World War, it seemed the perfect time to look Neutral Bay. There are many places in and around Sydney which have played a role during times of war and in the defence of the city, but Neutral Bay is rather special being, as the name suggests, an historic neutral harbour.
Cockatoo Island
The image above, showing a busy Cockatoo Island, is evocative of a time when this island in Sydney Harbour was not only the focus but indeed the heart of naval life in Sydney. Cockatoo Island has a long and fascinating history, but the image above, from circa 1920 harks back to a time when the island was the Commonwealth Naval Dockyard.
Cockatoo Islands history, in the era of European Settlement, dates back to the early years of the colony when the island was home to a prison which was built in 1839 to alleviate the overcrowding on Norfolk Island. By the 1850s, although still a prison, the role of the island was slowly starting to shift towards naval service with the Fitzroy Dock and a workshop built (by the prisoners in fact) to service the Royal Navy. By the 1880s shipbuilding and repair work done on the island was expanding rapidly and a second dry dock, Sutherland Dock, was built.
During this era the shipyard serviced the Royal Navy, but in 1913, with the establishment of a new, Australian Navy, Cockatoo Island became the Commonwealth Naval Dockyard, servicing not just the Royal Navy, but the new Australian Navy. In fact by 1930 Australias first steel warship had been built at the islands shipyard. Over the 20th century ship building and repair continued to expand, even servicing submarines, but in 1992 the dockyard closed. Today, the island is controlled by the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust and you can visit to discover more of the story of this historic island.
Nestles and Abbotsford House
This week, The Past Present again decided to investigate a snapshot of Sydney’s Industrial History. Many of the black and white photos in the collection, all from circa 1936 and by an unknown photographer, show industrial sites in Sydney and other cities along the Australian East Coast. Today we are focussing on the image above, showing the old Nestles Factory at Abbotsford on the Parramatta River.
If you look closely, in the centre of the photo there is an ornate old house amongst the factory buildings. This is Abbotsford House which was built between 1877 and 1878 for Dr Arthur Renwick and it is this house from which the suburb of Abbotsford takes its name. The property eventually passed to Albert Edward Grace, one of the founders of Grace Bros, who sold the property to Nestles in 1917.
The property was not just a house though. It included orchards, sporting fields, a boatshed and a large pavilion which had been built by the Grace family. This pavilion was the original site of Nestles production at the site while Abbotsford House served as an administrative office. A purpose built factory was constructed around the house between 1918 and 1920. Being located on the Parramatta River, the factory could easily be supplied with their raw materials, including coal. These products were delivered by boat to the factory jetty, and from there were transferred to a specially built narrow gauge tramway and then to the various storerooms and boilers.
Although the factory was most famous as the home of Nestles, producing their famous milk products and chocolate, it also served other, more surprising, roles in Australian history. In 1927 the grounds and riverfront were used to shoot scenes for the Australian film For The Term Of His Natural Life and later, in World War II the factory turned to packing supply rations for soldiers serving on the Kokoda Track. The factory closed in 1991 with the factory buildings being demolished and replaced by housing, while Abbotsford House survived the destruction, being preserved and restored. Today it is again a private residence.
Big Gun Practice At Middle Head
This week, in honour of Remembrance Day commemorations earlier this week, The Past Present is examining a postcard of one of Sydney’s many coastal defences. The postcard above shows ‘Big Gun Practice At Middle Head’ and dates to the early 1900s. It shows troops practicing with the big guns at the coastal fortifications on Middle Head.
Early on in Sydney’s history, defences began to be built around Sydney Harbour, mainly to protect against foreign invasion but also to help in case of convict uprisings. Middle Head played a vital role in these coastal defences and in fact the first gun emplacement in Sydney was built at Middle Head in 1801, during the Napoleonic Wars. The main battery on Middle Head was built in 1871 and was designed by the colonial architect James Barnet. The fortifications were in a strategic position and additions continued to be made up until 1911. The aim of this fortification, and of those located on Sydney’s other heads, was to fire on enemy ships attempting to enter Sydney Harbour. Any ship entering the harbour had to go past North, South and Middle Heads and therefore, past the fortifications built there.
Although those visiting the site today see some of the fortifications above ground, the area was connected by a system of tunnels and there is a great deal more to the fort than what can be seen from the surface. Some of these underground rooms were even used during the Vietnam War to train troops, including training to withstand torture, interrogation and prisoner of war conditions.