(Image: Adam.J.W.C., cc-sa-3.0)
A number of fortifications were constructed over the past 120 years in the La Perouse suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, tasked with guarding the approaches to Botany Bay on Australia‘s east coast. One of the best preserved is undoubtedly Henry Head Battery, constructed during the late 19th century and reactivated against the Japanese threat during World War Two.
(Image: Adam.J.W.C., cc-sa-3.0)
Completed by 1895, Henry Head Battery was equipped with two BL 6 inch gun Mk V carriage-mounted ‘disappearing guns’, remaining active for 15 years until its closure in 1910. Considered obsolete, the reinforced concrete structure fell into disuse and remained silent for around 30 years.
(Image: Adam.J.W.C., cc-sa-3.0)
But with the Pacific War raging by December 1941, the battery, with its double walls and ceilings designed to protect its crew and ordnance from a direct hit, was reactivated in the face of the new threat.
(Image: Adam.J.W.C., cc-sa-3.0)
With its defensive armament upgraded to two standard British Empire 18-pounder Mk IV field guns and two QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns, the latter designed to counter enemy torpedo boats, submarines and aircraft, Henry Head Battery guarded the waters and skies off Botany Bay.
(Image: Adam.J.W.C., cc-sa-3.0)
But when the war ended in 1945, the bunker once again became abandoned. Beneath its concrete exterior, a network of subterranean tunnels and vaulted ammunition storage rooms remain remarkably intact despite years of disuse.
(Image: Adam.J.W.C., cc-sa-3.0)
As these photographs demonstrate, Henry Head Battery, like many modern ruins, hasn’t escaped the treatment of vandals and graffiti artists. But the abandoned bunker’s solid construction and former military application have ensured its structural longevity throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries.
(Image: Adam.J.W.C., cc-sa-3.0)
Keep browsing – check out more offbeat places in Australia.
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