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Category: Military

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Bradleys Head

HMAS Sydney (I) Mast Bradleys Head

Bradleys Head

Many people using Sydney Ferries will have past Bradleys Head with its mast from HMAS Sydney, but many will not know its significance. This small headland holds memorials to the Royal Australian Navy ships lost during wartime.  The RAN considers this location the pre-eminent naval memorial in Australia.

  • Bradleys Head Location
    Location

HMAS Sydney Mast and Associated Memorials

The most striking feature on the headland is the mast of HMAS Sydney (I), because it stands tall above its surroundings. It commemorates all who served on the four ships named Sydney and forms the focal point for the other memorials. Walking around the gardens you come across memorials to individual ships, from the first submarine AE1 to HMAS Canberra.

  • HMAS Sydney (I) Mast Bradleys Head
    HMAS Sydney (I) Mast
  • HMAS Sydney (I) Mast at Bradleys Head
    HMAS Sydney (I) Mast at Bradleys Head From the Harbour
  • HMAS Canberra Plaque Bradleys Head
    The Rifle Wall

Doric Column

Sitting off the headland is a Doric stone column in the waters of the harbour. It is from the demolished Sydney Post Office and in conjunction with the tower off Fort Denison, it was used for speed trials of vessels in Sydney Harbour. No longer used for this purpose, it is an interesting sight.

  • Doric Column Bradleys Head
    Doric Column
  • Doric Column at Bradleys Head
    Doric Column at Bradleys Head From the Harbour

Bradleys Head Light

The Bradleys Head Light, completed in 1905, is located on the point of Bradley’s Head Peninsula. Used as a navigation marker and warning light, it also makes for a great photograph. The lighthouse is mounted on a rock and connected to shore by a footbridge.

  • Bradleys Head Light
    Bradleys Head Light

Access to Bradleys Head is past the Taronga Park Zoo and down a narrow windy road. On the way down, you will pass the Rifle Wall, part of the old fortifications built to defend Sydney. Although probably not as interesting as the naval memorials, it is still historically important and worth stopping at.

  • The Rifle Wall Bradleys Head
    The Rifle Wall

A great little stop for a wander around, either before or after the zoo if you are interested.  Or you could add it to a visit to Middle Head and its fortifications.

To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.

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Bowenfels Gun Emplacements

QF 3.7-inch Anti-Aircraft Gun Bowenfels Gun Emplacements Lithgow NSW

Bowenfels Gun Emplacements

The Bowenfels Gun Emplacements were constructed during World War 2,  to protect the Small Arms Factory and coal production at a Lithgow. These industries were important to Australia’s war effort.  The potential of an attack due to improvements in aircraft technology led to the construction of air defenses.

Placed around Lithgow, two anti-aircraft batteries defended the town and its infrastructure during the early 1940s. Three dummy sites, intended to confuse attackers were built nearby. The Bowenfels site is the only one preserved. Well presented with information panels describing the area and its function, it is great to walk around. Several panels were from World War 2, like the one below on how to recognise Japanese planes.

  • Aircraft Recognition Chart Bowenfels Gun Emplacements Lithgow NSW
    Aircraft Recognition Chart


 QF 3.7” Anti-Aircraft Guns

A huge bonus is the presence of three 3.7” anti-aircraft guns, placed as they would have been during the war. These are mobile units, not the static ones used here, but are very similar. This gives the site a realistic feel, unlike many other disused fortifications where no guns are present.

  • QF 3.7-inch Anti-Aircraft Gun Bowenfels Gun Emplacements Lithgow NSW
    QF 3.7-inch Anti-Aircraft Gun
  • QF 3.7-inch Anti-Aircraft Gun Bowenfels Gun Emplacements Lithgow NSW
    QF 3.7-inch Anti-Aircraft Gun

The concrete structures are all in good condition and visitors can enter them all and inspect the guns. Panels detail the uses of the different types of structures. Some were for the guns while others housed range detectors and command bunkers.

  • Bowenfels Gun Emplacements Lithgow NSW
    Bowenfels Gun Emplacements Lithgow NSW

Access to the Gun Emplacements

Access is easy, and a small visitors’ car park is available next to the site, which is only a short walk away. Now surrounded by modern development on three sides, the site itself is in a grassy field.  Walking over the field is easy, but no pathways are present, so be careful and watch your footing.

A great piece of Australian war time history hidden away in the outskirts of Lithgow. After visiting the Small Arms Factory, it was interesting to visit its defender only a few kilometers away. Worth visiting if you are in the area because it’s the only inland one known to exist.

To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.

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Tomaree Head Summit Walk

Xenith Beach Tomaree Head Summit Walk

Tomaree Head Summit Walk

The Tomaree Head Summit Walk is part of the Tomaree National Park near Nelson Bay New South Wales, Australia. This is a great bush walk to the summit of Mount Tomaree, which can be very steep in places, so take your time. Rest and enjoy the fantastic scenery and stunning views from the top as well as along the way. From the summit you can see out to the surrounding islands and waterways.

The walkways are very well constructed and maintained by the 
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.  At the base of the mountain they are paved changing to metal gratings, railings and natural rock paths as you get higher. There are several stairways and narrow walkways, so be patient and let others pass.

  • Tomaree Head Summit Walk
    Tomaree Head Summit Walk
  • Steps on the Track Tomaree Head Summit Walk
    Steps on the Track
  • Metal Walkways Tomaree Head Summit Walk
    Metal Walkways

Parking

The car park at the start of the track is quite small and on weekends and during school holidays it can become full quickly. Some people park on the road or on one of the side-tracks, but even these can become full.

Xenith Beach

The entrance for Xenith Beach is a near the start of the Tomaree Head Summit Walk. If you don’t want to go onto the beach you get fantastic views from the top of the walk.

  • Xenith Beach Tomaree Head Summit Walk
    Xenith Beach

World War 2 Gun Emplacements

The track to the World War II gun emplacements leads off from the Tomaree Head Summit track. We took this track after coming back down from the top of the mountain. The walk around to the gun and placements is flat and consists of an old bitumen road, so is very easy after the climb to the summit. The emplacements themselves date from World War II and are of concrete construction. Although dismantled, leaving only the outer shells, they are still interesting to visit.

If you’re interested in World War II and the fortifications built in Australia at that time this is a great place for you to visit. As an additional bonus you get some great views over the surrounding ocean and out to the islands.

  • Fort Tomaree Tomaree Head Summit Walk
    Fort Tomaree

To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.