Bare Island Fort, La Perouse, Botany Bay Australia

Visited La Perouse on Botany Bay this afternoon, and spoiled for choice for traces of past empires.

I could have chosen the Telegraph Station which terminated one of the early British Imperial cables, the memorial to La Perouse the French explorer who arrived in Botany Bay just after Captain Arthur Philip and the First Fleet, or the Fort on Bare Island.

I choose Bare Island which was part of the Imperial design for protecting Sydney from sea-borne attack (presumably from the French, Americans or Russians?). it was constructed between 1877 and 1886, and was built to contain a 18 tonne 10-inch rifled muzzle-loading gun and supported by two smaller 9-inch guns.

This was probably obsolete even when constructed, and technology quickly moved on, so in 1894 one of the 9-inch guns was replaced by the ultra-modern "disappearing gun emplacement". But technology moved on and by the time the Fort transferred to the new Commonwealth of Australia in 1903, only one gun was still operational and the Fort became a training depot, and then a rather exposed war veteran's home.