Historical Australian Towns: Historic Hobart Forts: Tasmania

The area around Hobart is part of the lands of the Mouheneener people.

June 1802

Nicolas Baudin arrived in Sydney with his ships, Le Geographe and Le Naturaliste, in June 1802.

Francois Peron, the chief zoologist of the expedition recorded his observations in a secret report (entitled Mémoire sur les établissements anglais à la Nouvelle Hollande). On returning to France, Peron tried to instigate a French invasion of Van Diemen's Land (Tas) by a French military force.

Le Geographe and Le Naturaliste

May 1803

In a letter dated 9 May 1803, to Sir Evan Nepean, Secretary of the Admiralty, Governor King wrote; “It was reported to me after the French ships sailed that a principal object of their voyage was to fix on a place at Van Diemens Land for a settlement, and that the French officers who had talked of it had pointed out a particular place, what they called Baie du Nord (North West Bay) in Storm Bay Passage (D’Entrecasteaux Channel). “Under these circumstances, I judged it expedient to form a settlement at Risdon Cove on the River Derwent”.

The British had fears of French claims on Australia by Napoleon Bonaparte.

the fears of the European nations

Sep. 1803

The first permanent British settlement in Van Diemen's Land commenced on 8 September 1803 at Risdon Cove on the Derwent River's eastern shore. There were various issues, including a shortage of fresh water and poor soil.

The settlement was relocated to Sullivans Cove on the western shore of the Derwent River on 16 February 1804. (decision of Lieutenant-Governor David Collins)

David Collins, first Governor of Tasmania. Collins also established the first, short-lived settlement in what is now the state of Victoria at Sullivan Bay on Port Phillip in 1803. Collins moved the colony to the Derwent River, on the island of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania)

Collins had two ship's cannons placed in an elevated position near the centre of Sullivan's Cove (now Franklin Square) for protection against French warships being sent up the river.

Sullivans Cove, Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land in 1804. Lantern slide of Sullivans Cove, Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land, in February, 1804. Inscribed with the words 'Water colour drawing in the possession of J. B. Walker Esq., Hobart, 1891'. UTAS

By 1806 the colony was struggling for food. Collins decided to provide convicts with guns so they could hunt kangaroos for meat. This led to clashes with Aboriginal people, as their food sources were threatened.

1811: Governor Macquarie Arrives

Governor Lachlan Macquarie toured the Hobart Town settlement in 1811 and was concerned by the lack of suitable defences and the overall disorganisation of the colony.

Macquarie served as the fifth Governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821

Directions for the layout of Hobart were given by Governor Macquarie. There was a central square and seven streets named Macquarie, Liverpool, Argyle, Elizabeth, Murray, Harrington and Collins.

Anglesea Barracks, the oldest Australian Army barracks still in use, was chosen in December 1811 by Macquarie. Construction began in 1814.

Macquarie had stopped on a small hill and said to his aide-de-camp, Captain Antill, “This is the spot for a barracks”. This became Anglesea Barracks.

Anglesea Barracks, the oldest Australian Army barracks still in use, was chosen in December 1811, by Macquarie. Construction began in 1814

The Russian occupation of Paris in 1814 caused alarm in Europe and the colonies.

12 permanent forts would eventually, be constructed in the Hobart region

Anglesea Barracks, the oldest Australian Army barracks still in use, was chosen in December 1811, by Macquarie. Construction began in 1814

1818: Mulgrave Battery Built

By 1818, the new battery had been completed in Battery Point near the present Castray Esplanade and named Mulgrave Battery, in honour of Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave, the Master-General of the Ordnance.

The Mulgrave Battery was described as a "poor pitiful mud fort" and there was no view down the river.

Described in 1829 by Henry Widowson as:

"[A] pitiful mud fort with half a dozen honeycombed guns perfectly harmless to the artillery men who fire them and serving only to make a noise on the King’s birthday and on one or two other public occasions." – Old Hobart Town Today, Frank Bolt.

The Hobart Town almanack for the year ...(1829)

The original guardhouse, built in 1818, is the oldest building in Battery Point. Battery Point was linked with an underground passage with the Ordnance store (built 1806), enabling ammunition direct access to the battery site.

Hobart Signal Station is the oldest building in Battery Point, built in 1818 as part of a series of semaphore stations that sent and received messages.

The yellow signal denotes a sail in sight, Mulgrave Battery. The Hobart Town almanack for the year ...1832

Mulgrave Signal Station & Battery (in Princes Park) was used to keep the time in Hobart. A canon was fired at 1 pm and a round ball was raised at Mulgrave and at Mt Nelson.

The Mulgrave Battery was dismantled when the Prince of Wales battery was built in 1845.

Lycett, Joseph, Mount Nelson Near Hobart Town from Near Mulgrave Battery Van Diemen's Land c. 1823 - 25

1835: Hobart Almost Undefended

Captain Roger Kelsall arrived in Hobart in 1835 to take over HM Ordnance Department. He wrote in his report that in his view, the colony was almost undefended.

His ambitious plan was to fortify the whole inner harbour of the Derwent River with a network of heavily armed and fortified batteries located at Macquarie Point, Battery Point and Bellerive Bluff on the eastern shore.

By the late 1830s, relations between Russia and Britain had deteriorated.

The Queens Battery

Construction began on the Queens Battery, at the Domain in Hobart, in the 1830s, but it didn't receive its guns until 1860. Named in honour of HRH Queen Victoria, the Queens Battery sat below the location of the Hobart War Memorial (Cenotaph).

Sir William Jervois was appointed Inspector General of Fortifications and was secretary to a committee formed to organise the defence of the Empire in 1857. Jervois proposed that the main battery at Hobart should be "Queens Battery,"

Jervois' plan for Hobart comprised three heavily armed batteries situated at strategic points around the harbour. A ring of shore batteries covering the city, combined with powerful fire could be maintained against an enemy ship. (1.)

Queens Battery was used for ceremonial purposes until 1923.

Tunnel to Prince of Wales Battery magazine. TAS. A new battery, named Prince of Wales Battery, was completed in 1841. Mulgrave Battery was renamed Prince of Wales Battery in 1855 when and expanded to include the Prince Albert Battery higher on the hill.

1850s

The area of today's Prince's Park was part of Mulgrave Battery but was renamed Prince of Wales Battery in 1855 and expanded to include the Prince Albert Battery higher up the hill.

The Crimean War (October 1853 to February 1856) between the UK and Russia increased fears of a Russian invasion.

Anglesea Barracks viewed from St. David's Church, Hobart, TAS. Time Period -1850-1856, Libraries Tas

Hobart Town Volunteer Artillery Company (1859) was Hobart's first defence force.

1860s

In November 1864, The Times in London published an article which asserted that the Colonies were on the edge of a Russian invasion. The Age and Argus, wrote articles calling for greater defence capabilities against the threat of a Russian invasion.

Hobart Town Volunteer Artillery members, TAS, 1869, Members of the Hobart Town Volunteer Artillery standing in a gun emplacement at Queen's Battery.
LEFT TO RIGHT: BACK ROW: SERGEANT ROBLIN, TRUMPET MAJOR SMITH, SERGEANT CLARKE, SERGEANT HARBOTTLE, SERGEANT MAJOR HARRIS, SERGEANT HOGG, ORDERLY CLERK MEWBURN;
FRONT ROW: QUARTER MASTER SERGEANT BEAUMONT, ARMOURER SERGEANT CHISHOLM, SERGEANT MAJOR HOOD, SERGEANT INSTRUCTOR ECCLESTON RA, SERGEANT BEST, SERGEANT EVANS, SERGEANT SEAGER AND SERGEANT HENN (PHOTOGRAPH DONATED BY MAJOR GENERAL J. WHITELAW, AO, CBE)

1870s: Russian Fears

On 11 May 1870, the corvette Boyarin appeared at the Derwent River, fuelling rumours in Hobart that a Russian invasion was almost a certainty.

Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Friday 27 May 1870

A visit by three Russian warships to Hobart in 1873 sparked confusion and fear. The warships remained lay in the harbour for three days and then suddenly disappeared without explanation.

Sir Peter Scratchly, who was appointed Commissioner for Defence for all States except West Australia, in 1877, modified the proposals of Sir William Jervois, adding heavy armour at "Queen's Battery" and heavier and improved guns at "Kangaroo Bluff".

The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 was viewed by Britain as plan of potential expansion by the Russian Empire into India. The Australian colonies were advised to improve defence capabilities.

The fear of Russian invasion was a factor in Australia building the first real warships, HMS Acheron and HMS Avernus, in 1879.

British troops were withdrawn from Australia between 1870 and 1901.

1880: Kangaroo Bluff and One Tree Point

Built into a pentagon shape with a steep bluff on one side, in the suburb of Bellerive, the Kangaroo Bluff Battery was built from 1880 to 1884. This fort was to be enclosed by a wall and surrounded by a moat.

The guns for the Kangaroo Bluff arrived on November 3, 1882, on board
the barque "Luffra," from Britain, a trip of 118 days.

Also in 1880, the third battery commenced construction situated at One Tree Point and would be known as "Alexandra Battery," named for Princess Alexandra, the Princess of Wales.

Anglesea Barracks, Hobart, TAS, 1880

Photograph - Queen's Battery, 1880, LibTAS

Mulgrave Battery, Hobart, 1889

Alexandra Battery was one of six batteries built in the 1880s, part of the Derwent River Defence Force Network, TAS

Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Tuesday 15 April 1890

1900s

Not far from Alexandra Battery, Fort Nelson, was built in 1904. Fort Nelson and its two gun emplacements, two shell stores, and magazine room were built on Porter Hill.

Fort Nelson is the only fort situated away from the coast. This was a weakness, as a ship sailing close to the western shore would have been safe from the guns of the fort.

Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Thursday 22 April 1909

Rows of metal poles leading up from the fort to the mountain may have provided electricity and facilitated telegraph and telephone communication.

Over the years, other buildings were constructed on the site, including, barracks and water storage.

Sandy Bay Fort [Hobart, Tasmania] 1911-1915, NLAUST

Senior Cadets - F Company 93rd Battalion - at Anglesea Barracks, Hobart, Tasmania - 1912, Aussie~mobs

1920s

The Kangaroo Bluff Battery was operated by the Tasmanian Artillery Company volunteers until its closure in the 1920s.

"When in 1920, the "Bluff Battery" had outlived its usefulness,

it was decided to dismantle and dispose of everything.
The guns were sold to a well known Hobart engineering firm,
which tried to break them up on the spot with explosives.
The experiment tried on the two smaller guns caused so much

consternation among the local residents because of the

flying fragments that the idea was abandoned.

As a result the two larger guns still lie

amongst the mouldering earthworks."

Beginning of Hobart's [?] Defences (1951, March 3). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954)

THE PASSING OF AN ANCIENT HOBART LANDMARK Rifle Pit on Sandy Bay Road to be Demolished News (Hobart, Tas. : 1924 - 1925), Saturday 9 May 1925

1930s: Forts Direction and Pierson built to remedy the weakness of Fort Nelson

Fort Pierson was established to protect the Port of Hobart from enemies coming through the channel.

The guns from the Alexandria Battery were moved to Fort Pierson at the start of the war, and warnings of Artillery practice from Forts Pierson and Direction, using live ammunition, were posted about.

The guns were fired once across the bows of a US Liberty ship that had failed to stop and observe the protocols of the port.

PERSONNEL of the 40th Battalion (Derwent Regiment) receiving instruction in correct aiming with the light machine-gun at a night parade at Anglesea Barracks, Hobart. Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Wednesday 17 November 1937

Off to the training camp at Brighton. Light horsemen, followed by the cable waggon of the Signal Corps, leaving the parade ground at Anglesea Barracks, Hobart. ercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Saturday 9 April 1938

Signallers map reading at Anglesea Barracks. Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Saturday 28 May 1938

THE DEPUTY. DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL SERVICES, 6th Military District (Col. H. N. Butler) makes his annual inspection of Voluntary Aid Detachments at Anglesea Barracks,Hobart. The V.A.D. is a section of the Australian Army Medical Corps, and the parade was held last week. Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Wednesday 25 May 1938

Anglesea Barracks, Hobart, TAS, Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Saturday 25 June 1938

The BELLERIVE BLUFF BATTERY, which is being turned into a training camp for the Boy Scouts' Association. The picture shows the cabin erected as a mess shelter and equipment store. Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Friday 1 April 1938

Aerial View of Anglesea Barracks in 1939, Hobart, TAS

1940s: WWII (1939-1945)

The port of Hobart was closed at the end of 1940, when German mines were found at the mouth of the Derwent

A German cruiser, Pinguin, laid two minefields off Hobart on 31 October 1940. A Japanese spy plane flew from the submarine in Great Oyster Bay, south along the east coast of Tasmania. Then along the Derwent River over Hobart before returning to the submarine.

On 1 November 1940, and over the period 29–31 October, Storstad, a Norwegian tanker captured by the Germans, laid mines in Banks Strait off the north-east corner of Tasmania.

Feb 1942: In February 1942, the Japanese submarine I-25, under the command of Captain Meiji Tagami, was near King Island in Bass Strait.

HOBART, AUSTRALIA. 1943-04-30. PERSONNEL OF FORT PIERSON, HOBART COAST ARTILLERY MANNING THE 4-INCH GUN, THE ONLY ONE THE FORT POSSESSES. T 20712 GUNNER D.A. FULTON IS EXTREME LEFT AND T 26383 GUNNER R. MCDONALD IS ON THE EXTREME RIGHT. AWM

Gas Mask Testing in Gas Chamber Fort Direction, TAS, 1943, AWM

1 of 3 Search Light Bunkers at Fort Direction, TAS, 1943, AWM

HOBART, AUSTRALIA. 1943-04-20. THE CAMOUFLAGED COMMAND POST OF DIRECTION BATTERY, FORT DIRECTION, HOBART, TAS, AWM

HOBART, AUSTRALIA. 1943-04-30. DURING EXERCISES AT FORT PIERSON, HOBART COAST ARTILLERY, USE IS MADE OF THE HELIOGRAPH FOR SENDING MESSAGES TO FORT DIRECTION. PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS T 22652 GUNNER R. SHEPHEARD (CENTRE, FRONT) AND TX 10821 LANCE-BOMBARDIER J.P. HEALY OPERATING HELIOGRAPHS WHILE TX 10677 BOMBARDIER B.J. HARVEY STANDS IN THE DOORWAY. AWM

Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Thursday 16 November 1944

Fort Nelson was abandoned after World War II and its canons moved to Fort Direction.

Field-Marshal Montgomery chatting with the headmaster of the Hutchins School (Mr P. Radford) following the parade at Anglesea Barracks, Hobart, yesterday morning. Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Monday 7 July 1947

This gun crew was in good spirits as it prepared to leave Anglesea Barracks on Saturday for an artillery bivouac at Fort Direction, South Arm, TAS, Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Monday 1 November 1948

1950s

These two brass cannon at the entrance to the headquarters building at Anglesea Barracks, Hobart,were made rn 1855 and 1856. Guns of this type were first used in 1862 by volunteer artillery regiments in Tasmania. Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Saturday 1 July 1950

Launceston recruit Pte. K. Barnard signed on the dotted line at Anglesea Barracks, Hobart, yesterday, before he left on the first stage of the journey to Korea. He will join a training company on the Mainland. Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Tuesday 31 July 1951

Part of Tasmania's biggest military display since the Second World War - the handing over parade for333 National Service trainees at the "At Home" at Anglesea Barracks, Hobart, on Saturday afternoon. Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Monday 12 November 1951

PROSPECT of a fortnight's camp at Fort Direction had these members of the Launceston Sea Cadet Company in good mood when they left Launceston yesterday. With them is Lt. G. A. Cutts. The cadets will be among 120 from units throughout the state at the camp Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Saturday 10 January 1953

Members of the women's army services are in camp for Fort Direction, TAS. There are 16 members of the Women's Royal Army Corps, and 12 members of the Royal Australian Army Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Wednesday 31 March 1954

A troop ot 25-pounders from the 6th Field Regiment firing a 21-round. salute from the Queen's Domain, Hobart, yesterday in honour of the Queen's birthday. The regiment's adjutant (Capt L. Crew) commanded the troop.Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Thursday 22 April 1954

Around Hobart's Forts

Anglesea Barracks

Anglesea Barracks Military Prison was originally Provost's Quarters, Hobart, TAS

Anglesea Barracks, Hobart, TAS

Battery Point

Princes Park Gunpowder Magazine, in Battery Point, a disused, fully intact subterranean magazine built in 1840

Tunnels under Princes Park in Battery Point, Hobart, TAS

On the hill at Princes Park is the oldest building in Battery Point, TAS. Hobart Signal Station, built in 1818 as part of a series of semaphore stations that sent and received shipping, government, military and penal messages

Kangaroo Battery

Kangaroo Bluff Battery Historic Site, Bellerive, Hobart, TAS. The appearance of Russian warships in the area in 1873 prompted the need for a third battery to support the existing Battery Point and Queens Battery

Kangaroo Bluff Historical Site. Located overlooking the head of the Derwent River Hobart, TAS, developed this Battery to protect and prevent enemy vessels posing a threat to Hobart

Alexandra Battery

Alexandra Battery was one of six batteries built in the 1880s as part of the Derwent River Defence Force Network

Point Pierson

Point Pierson, south east of Hobart, TAS, was constructed with one four-inch (102 mm) gun and became known as Fort Pierson. Several huts to house men were built as well as an observation building and an underground tunnel and command structure. Local residents recall barbed wire surrounding the site well after WWII and the site’s de-commissioning