Spectacle Island Buildings
This list has been compiled from a number of secondary sources, comprising:
- Spectacle Island - Draft Heritage Management Plan 2009
- Australian Heritage Places Inventory
- A list compiled about 1902 titled "Naval Station, Spectacle Island - The Following Table Shews the Year in Which Each of the Buildings at Spectacle Island was Erected."
Image courtesy of the Mitchell Library,
State Library of NSW - Call number: PXA 635/837
Each of these sources contains apparent inconsistencies and hence this list should not be regarded as authoritative. There are certainly other buildings that were constructed and later demolished.
The list numbering is based on the current Asset Register for the Island. Most buildings are marked with these numbers. The names assigned to the numbers represent the earliest use of the building. Most have had multiple uses over the years.
1863-65 (Original Powder Magazine)
001 Storekeeper's Residence
003 Guard room and barrack
004 Latrine block
006 Cooperage
007 Laboratory
009 Powder magazine
009A Covered way
021 Labourer's quarters
na Original wharf (demolished)
1872
na Labourer's cottages (2) (demolished)
Before 1877
040 Privies
1877
044 Laboratory
na Labourer's cottages (2) (demolished)
Before 1884
034 Forge
053 Front wharf
1884
010 Shell store
012 Gun carriage shed
026 Armourer's workshop
029 Guncotton and torpedo (mine) store
1886
028 Torpedo cable tanks
1891
011 Gun mounting shed
025 Return store
041 Quick-firing ammunition store
048 Laboratory
051 Detonator store
na Flagstaff
1893
046 Dry guncotton store
Before 1894
052 Back wharf
1894
050 Latrine
Before 1895
008 Cooperage
1896
na Bathing place
Before 1898
047 Filled shell store
1898
014 Boat shed and slipway
1899
036 Filled shell magazine
037 Filled shell magazine
Around 1902
015 Testing Room
024 Wash house
1902
042 Quick-firing ammunition store
1914
005 Cordite test house
na Silver test room (demolished)
032 Doubtful explosives magazine
1915
019 Mess
033 Substation/transformer house
038 Changing room
049 Shell filling and emptying room
1918
022 Salt water fire pump housing
1920s
017 Painting and scraping store
1920
027 Not known (demolished)
030 Depth charge store
1921
013 Plan storage
1922
023 Police lodge
1943
054 Observation post
1939-45
031 Canteen
1942
035 Emergency diesel generator set
Before 1945
039 Empty package store
1945
002 Magazine office (demolished)Buildings in Use - 1924
In 1924 there were some 75 buildings or structures on the Island. These are listed below, together with their uses. Unfortunately, the building numbering does not correspond with the current Assets Register.
On the evidence of this list, by 1924 most of the mass-detonating explosives had been transferred to the new sub-depot at Newington. Also, the Shell filling and emptying room built in 1915, no longer appears as such. This suggests that shell filling was no longer being carried out.
Explosives Storehouses/Magazines
11 Cordite magazine no. 1
42 Small arms ammunition store
43 Miscellaneous magazine stores (Commonwealth)
44 Miscellaneous magazine stores (Commonwealth)
45 Pyrotechnic store
46 Isolation magazine
51 Cordite magazine no. 2
56 Fuze store
57 Tube store
58 Detonator store
59 Miscellaneous magazine stores (Imperial)
Laboratories, etc
3 Cordite Heat Test House (005)
4 Cordite silvered vessel test house
6 Packing room for miscellaneous magazine stores
12 Packing room for pyrotechnic stores
28 Test and proof house
44 Painting and scraping room
47 Proof house for DA fuzes
55 Packing room for fuzes, tubes and small arms ammunition
60 Laboratory tool house
61 Laboratory
Ordnance and Gunwharf Stores
9 Ordnance store - Imperial (ground floor)
10 Ordnance store - Commmonwealth (top floor)
16 Ordnance store - Commonwealth (top floor)
17 Gun pound
18 Gun pound
23 Gun pound
29 Gun fitting and boxed rifle store
54 Gun pound
Miscellaneous Storehouses
5 Dockyard and miscellaneous store
7 Produce store (Commonwealth)
8 Produce store (Imperial)
13 Bulk paint and oil store (Commonwealth)
14 Bulk paint and oil store (Imperial)
15 Empty shell store (ground floor)
39 Return store
41 Undergrouund cable tanks (empty)(028)
48 Empty package store (with overhead platforms)
50 Empty metal case and cartridge case store (3 bays)
53 Surveyed items shed
62 Articles in use store
63 Articles in use store
65 Benzene store
66 Kerosene store
68 Wood stack
69 Lime store
70 Depot cleaning tool shed
Amenities and Offices
2 Main office
24 Seamen's quarters (3 rooms)
25 Room for drawings
26 Storehouseman's office
31 Storehousemen's Messroom
32 Workmen's messroom
34 Assistant Inspector of Naval Ordnance office
35 Clerk's office
36 Examiner's room
37 Foreman of Stores office
40 Police lodge
49 Shifting rooms
52 Bathing shed
71 WC no. 1 (seamen, Police and Storehousmen
72 WC no. 2 (workmen)
73 WC no. 3 (workmen)
74 Record room
75 Workmen's kitchen
Workshops
19 Artificer's workshop
20 Joiner's workshop
21 Plumber's workshop
33 Electrical shop
38 Rigging shed
64 Paint shop
Miscellaneous
1 Residence of Officer-in-charge (001)
22 Fire engine and gun shed
27 Boat house
67 Works Dept shed
For more information on the history of the island, visit the Australian Heritage Places Inventory and the Australian Heritage Database. Due to frequent changes in the URLs for the relevant entries these are not given and you will need to do your own search.
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