Fort Macquarie was a square

castellated A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

battlement fort built in 1798 at

Bennelong Point Bennelong Point, a former island in Sydney Harbour, is a headland that, since the 1970s is the location of the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. History Bennelong Point is known to the local Gadigal people of the Eora ...

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 ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

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 ...

, on the site where the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

now stands. It was demolished in 1901 to make way for the

Fort Macquarie Tram Depot Fort Macquarie Tram Depot was part of the Sydney tram network. It opened in 1902 on the site of the old Fort Macquarie and was demolished in 1958 to make way for the construction of the Sydney Opera House. History Fort Macquarie Tram Depot was ...

History

The original name of Bennelong Point, the finger of land on which Fort Macquarie was built, was Inbughalee (djubuguli), Farm Cove was Yoolaugh and

Sydney Cove Sydney Cove (Eora: ) is a bay on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, one of several harbours in Port Jackson, on the coast of Sydney, New South Wales. Sydney Cove is a focal point for community celebrations, due to its central Sydney locatio ...

was Warane. On 25 November 1789 an Aboriginal man named Bennelong was captured and brought to Governor

Arthur Phillip Admiral Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first governor of the Colony of New South Wales. Phillip was educated at Greenwich Hospital School from June 1751 unti ...

. Eventually three huts were built on this spit of land for

Bennelong Woollarawarre Bennelong ( 1764 – 3 January 1813), also spelt Baneelon, was a senior man of the Eora, an Aboriginal Australian people of the Port Jackson area, at the time of the first British settlement in Australia in 1788. Bennelong serv ...

, his wife Bangaroo, and other Indigenous visitors.Vanishing Sydney
2 March 1901, The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), p. 539. Retrieved July 16, 2020. The first attempt at fortifications were erected here in July 1788, when Lieutenant

William Dawes William Dawes Jr. (April 6, 1745 – February 25, 1799) was one of several men who in April 1775 alerted colonial minutemen in Massachusetts of the approach of British army troops prior to the Battles of Lexington and Concord at the outse ...

was directed to build a small redoubt there. When finished in November 1788 it held two brass six-pounder guns. This early fort was demolished in 1791 and the guns and flagstaff moved to the west side of the cove.FORT MACQUARIE
26 January 1935, The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 10. Retrieved July 16, 2020 The earthworks were then used for the Governor's garden and later the largest building in Sydney, a 24 x 7.5 metre storeroom, was erected there. In 1798 a half-moon battery was built on the extreme end of the point with which used guns from the "Supply'. It was described by Mr. Pern in 1802,

the goal battery on the northern point of Sydney Cove is built on a rock of difficult access, carrying six pieces of cannon protected by a trench of turf, crosses the fire by another battery.

Lieutenant William Kent and crew were assigned to man the battery which purportedly consisted of guns taken from . In 1817 Governor Lachlan Macquarie directed that a new fort be built on the site at Bennelong Point and this was completed in February 1821. In 1901 the New South Wales Minister of Works decided to remove Fort Macquarie. A naval drill shed on the site was also pulled down and both buildings were replaced with the

whose crenulated walls imitated the original towers and walls of the fort.

Design

Francis Greenway Francis Howard Greenway (20 November 1777 – September 1837) was an English-born architect who was transported to Australia as a convict for the crime of forgery. In New South Wales he worked for the Governor, Lachlan Macquarie, as Australia's ...

the foundation stone of Fort Macquarie was laid by Governor

Lachlan Macquarie Major-general (United Kingdom), Major General Lachlan Macquarie, Companion of the Order of the Bath, CB (; gd, Lachann MacGuaire; 31 January 1762 – 1 July 1824) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Scotland. Macquarie se ...

on 17 December 1817. The stone used was from the nearby Governor's Domain quarry and convicts worked on it for around two years before it was complete. Its square design meant three of its faces were open to the sea to ensure a clear line of fire for its cannons. At the centre stood a two-storey tower, 27.4 metres in circumference which housed a guardroom and storehouse. The walls at the top were around one and a half metres thick. A powder magazine capable of storing 350 barrels of gunpowder was constructed underneath and the tower could provide accommodation for a small military detachment of 1 officer and 18 men, with stores for the battery. The battery consisted of fifteen pieces of ordnance: ten 24-pounders and five 6-pounders. The powder magazine capable of storing 350 barrels of gunpowder was constructed underneath the tower which also provided accommodation for a small military detachment of one officer and 18 men, with stores for the battery. In the early years the fort was separated from the main spit of land by a narrow passage of salt water crossed by a drawbridge, this was later filled up to make a roadway.

Cannon disposal

Two 42 pdr ML cannon from Fort Macquarie were removed from the fort and transported to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

in 1903 to form a memorial in Gregson Park,

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

. In 2006 they underwent a refurbishment and have been replaced back into Gregson Park. Another cannon now sits in

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...

References

History of Sydney

Macquarie Macquarie may refer to: People * Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of the British colony of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821. * Elizabeth Macquarie Campbell, Lachlan Macquarie's second wife Locations * Division of Macquarie, an electoral district in th ...

1817 establishments in Australia Military installations established in 1817 Demolished buildings and structures in Sydney Buildings and structures demolished in 1901 {{Australia-mil-stub