The Australian Army Artillery Museum was an artillery museum located in

North Fort North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

, on the northern head of the entrance to

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

, in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It was formerly called the "National Artillery Museum", and had a large collection of the heritage and history of the

Royal Australian Artillery The Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery, normally referred to as the Royal Australian Artillery (RAA), is a Regiment of the Australian Army descended from the original colonial artillery units prior to Australia's federation. Australia's first ...

. It was administered by the Army History Unit (AHU) with the assistance of volunteer members of the Royal Australian Artillery Historical Company(RAAHC).

Collections

The museum displayed more than 50

gun A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, p ...

s and mortars and associated equipment, numerous paintings, displays, memorials, and medals. The Library has over 2,500 photographs, about 4,000 technical and historical books, and unique research material. The collections covered the period from the first European Settlement (1788) to very recent operations.

Facilities

The museum grounds included shaded

picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...

areas with barbequeues, a Harbour Lookout Area (the ''Observation Platform''),

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

fortifications and tunnels (listed in the Australian

Commonwealth National Heritage list The Commonwealth Heritage List is a heritage register established in 2003, which lists places under the control of the Australian government, on land or in waters directly owned by the Crown (in Australia, the Crown in right of the Commonwealth ...

), and a Café that had extraordinary views of the entrance to Sydney Harbour and the channels to

Bradley's Head Bradleys Head is a headland protruding from the north shore of Sydney Harbour, within the metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is named after the First Fleet naval officer William Bradley. The original Aboriginal ...

, and

Sydney CBD The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or city centre is often refer ...

Closure

On 19 December 2010 the museum closed and the collection moved into storage at Bandiana pending creation of a new army artillery museum at

Puckapunyal Puckapunyal (more formally the Puckapunyal Military Area, but also known as the Puckapunyal Camp or Puckapunyal Army Base, and colloquially as "Pucka") is an Australian Army training facility and base 10 km west of Seymour, in central Vi ...

army base in Victoria, the base the Artillery School had moved to in 1997, leaving the museum behind at North Head. The move resulted from incompatible objectives of the

Sydney Harbour Federation Trust The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust ("Harbour Trust") is an Australian Government agency established in 2001 to preserve and rehabilitate a number of defence and other Commonwealth lands in and around Sydney Harbour. The Trust has been focused ...

as owner of the site and the Army History Unit who were responsible for the collection. The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust wanted the historic North Fort area to be open to the public seven days a week, in line with their objectives to maximise public access to the former defence lands around Sydney Harbour. They further insisted that if the area was not opened seven days a week then the army would have to pay rent to the trust. The Army refused, claiming that their funding levels only permitted the opening of the museum and North Fort area on weekends. The army also gave as a reason for the move that the purpose of their unit museums was to assist in the training of junior soldiers and that the artillery museum had been unable to serve this purpose at North Head, being nearly 1000 km away from the school at Puckapunyal.Last rounds for artillery museum at North Head
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References

External links

"Royal Australian Artillery Historical Company"
{{Museums and galleries in Victoria (Australia) Museums in Sydney Military and war museums in Australia Australian Army Artillery museums