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You are here: Home / Naval Heritage Sites / Spectacle Island Explosives Complex NSW

Spectacle Island Explosives Complex NSW

· Jun 29, 2017 ·

Click on a date bar for more details of the period

1788 – 1889

Farm Cove

Hostile Natives

Government House Parramatta

1889 – 1913

Commodore Loring RN

Flagship HMS Pelorus

RN Staff 1904

1913 – 1995

Royal Australian Fleet

1900’s

Moving Misiles

1995 – Present

Heritage Collection

Cooperage

Chapel Christening

Heritage Significance

Spectacle Island is historically significant as the oldest naval explosives manufacturing and storage complex in Australia.  Dating from 1865 it was originally built to hold government gunpowder.  It was later converted for use by the Royal Navy for storage of naval munitions and subsequently the Royal Australian Navy when formed in 1911.

Spectacle Islands heritage significance is fully described in the National Heritage Database.  Key points include;

  1. It was used for the manufacture of projectiles and has a direct association with Australian participation in the First and Second World Wars.
  2. The 1865 buildings are significant for their association with NSW Colonial Architect James Barnet.  Barnet-designed Victorian Georgian buildings including the Residence, Guard Room and Barrack, Cooperage, Laboratory, Powder Magazine and the Labourers Quarters.
  3. Many of the 1890s-1900s era buildings, reflect Federation Free Style design including the Filled Shell Store and
  4. Contained within several buildings at the complex is the Naval Repository, a collection of relics and artefacts of key significance to the history of the Royal Australian Navy.

Primary Sidebar

Additional reading for Spectacle Island

  • Occasional Paper 142: Spectacle Island - Historical Viewpoints
  • James Gorman VC
  • Occasional Paper 85: A Curious Spectacle
  • The Spectacle Island Railway
  • RAN Heritage Management: The Long Memory
  • Spectacle Island Command 1894 - 1900

 

World & National Heritage Sites

  • Cockatoo Island
  • HMAS Sydney II and the HSK Kormoran Shipwreck Sites
  • HMVS Cerberus

Commonwealth Heritage Sites

  • Chowder Bay Naval Facilities
  • Royal Australian Naval Transmitting Station ACT
  • Royal Australian Naval College ACT
  • Garden Island WA
  • Naval Offices QLD
  • HMAS Cerberus
  • Admiralty House, Garden and Fortifications
  • Beecroft Peninsula NSW
  • Spectacle Island Explosives Complex NSW
  • HMAS Penguin
  • HMAS Watson

The NHSA acknowledges support provided by the Australian Department of Environment and Energy which made these pages possible.
Greater detail on building history, the natural and Indigenous significance to these sites is available by accessing the National Heritage List.

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