- Author
- Editorial Staff
- Subjects
- History - pre-Federation, Infrastructure and Facilities
- Tags
-
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- September 2023 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
Those with $2.50 concession cards may recall making the most of their travel limits by having a comfortable day’s train outing from Sydney to Newcastle. Alas, Newcastle’s Central Railway Station is now trainless and passengers must alight at Hamilton. The main thoroughfare of Hamilton is cosmopolitan Beaumont Street which was once the domain of English coalminers. After WWII it became central to Greek and Italian migrants, and is now home to many newly established communities from Asia and the Pacific region.
Just south from the centre of Beaumont Street is Gregson Park. Facing the park is the Holy Apostles Greek Orthodox Parish Church and, built on classical architectural lines, a Hellenic Community Centre. The park is also home to an impressive war memorial and standing guard are two fine examples of large 19th century cannons. Local historian Ruth Cotton’s book Hidden Hamilton says that in 1905 two cannons from Sydney’s Victoria Barracks were shipped to Newcastle at considerable expense and erected at Gregson Park. They were first located near the bowling club but when the war memorial was built they were moved to their present position.
The only identification features on these cannons are near the trunnions with one gun showing ‘5’ and ‘W–Co’, the other ‘2593’ and ‘Low Moor’. The Australian National Artillery Register says these are 42-pounder smooth bore muzzle-loading guns; the first, ‘No 5’, was cast by Walker & Company of Rotherham, Yorkshire in 1843 and the other, ‘2593’, cast by Low Moor Ironworks of Bradford, Yorkshire in 1844.
These 42-pounder guns were first introduced into the Royal Navy around 1720 and used on the lower gun decks of some line-of-battle ships until about 1839; they were also used for land defence. This type of weapon, also known as a carronade, was only effective at short range.
Dawes Point
Lieutenant William Dawes was a Marine officer serving with the First Fleet. With a keen interest in astronomy, in 1788 he constructed a wooden hut known as the Observatory on land near the narrowest part of Sydney Harbour which became known as Dawes Point (near the southern pylon of the Harbour Bridge). In 1789 the site was further developed by the construction of a sandstone magazine which could accommodate about 50 barrels of gunpowder. In 1791 fortifications were made for ten 6-pounder cannons which had been brought out in HMS Sirius for the defence of the colony. So we can assume the Dawes Point guns never went to sea other than as cargo and formed part of a shore based defensive battery.
These were sited in two batteries (assumed to each contain five guns), East Battery near the present site of the Opera House and West Battery at Dawes Point. The East Battery was later incorporated into Fort Macquarie and West Battery was modified to provide accommodation and take larger weapons.
In 1853 a request was sent from the New South Wales Colonial authorities to the Imperial Government to improve the fortifications of Sydney Harbour. Twenty 32-pounder and twenty 56-pounder guns were requested. The following year twenty-seven 32-pounders were despatched with five 42-pounders substituted for the heavier 56-pounders. The commendable speed of this transaction is possibly due to a surfeit of this type of artillery as the Royal Navy was phasing out these short-range weapons in lieu of heavier longer-range cannons.
In respect of Dawes Point, the NSW Government Register of Gun Emplacements says: The cannons were installed in the semi-circular (upper) battery as part of Major Barney’s works from 1855-1859, in response to the Crimean War threat. The five 42-pound cannons were probably installed in 1857. Their teak carriages bear the date 1856, however that is a manufacture date and it is known that they had not arrived by the time of Denison’s report to the Executive Council in November 1856. Circular tracks for each were set into the bedrock in order to swivel each cannon about a 180-degree angle. By 1861 a further five 42-pounders had been landed and emplaced at Fort Macquarie.
Relocation of Dawes Point Guns
In 1904 the obsolete smooth bore guns were offered to municipalities and parks as display pieces. As a result, two guns went to Coogee and were later transferred to Clarke Reserve, Malabar beside the war memorial. The carriages have rotted away and the guns now rest on sandstone bases. Another gun resides near the original site at Dawes Point, again without a carriage, resting on a concrete plinth. This means that of the original battery the remaining two guns, still with carriages, reside at Gregson Park, Hamilton.
In comparison to modern day counterparts the 42-pounder was a large calibre weapon but with a limited maximum range of about 2000 yards or one nautical mile. In modern terms its size compares with 6.85 inches or 174 mm – the latest generation RAN Hobart-class destroyers are mainly armed with missile systems but still have a single barrel 5 inch or 127 mm gun which has a maximum range of about 20 nautical miles. The historic guns from the Dawes Point Battery must have served their purpose well as they are never known to have fired a shot in anger, but the residents at Hamilton can rest easy knowing they are today so well protected. And given renewed interest in national defence we trust a copy of this story is leaked to our northern Pacific neighbours.
For future visitors these cannons might benefit from a plaque outlining their significant history.
References
Australian Artillery Register, Royal Australian Artillery Historical Company, 2008.
Cotton, Ruth, Hidden Hamilton, Hunter Press, Hamilton, NSW, 2014.
Curran, Robert, Colonial Powder Magazines, 2016, http://users.tpg.com.au/borclaud/ranad/about_daws_battery.html
NSW Conservation Register of Gun Emplacements, 2016.
Oppenheim, Peter, The Fragile Forts: The Fixed Defences of Sydney Harbour 1788-1963, Army History Unit, 2004.
Sutton, Ralph, Thompson, Ken & Storer, Bill (Edit), Military Forces in New South Wales 1788-1904, The Army Museum Sydney Foundation, 2021.