Colonial Gunpowder Magazines of Sydney
Torpedo Corps, Berry's Bay, New South Wales
Dawes Battery, New South Wales
Georges Head Battery and Chowder Bay Mining Depot, New South Wales
Sydney Military Barracks Powder Magazine, New South Wales
Spectacle Island, New South Wales
The Board of Ordnance was present in the Colony from 1836 until 1850, but as there were still Imperial troops in Australia until 1870, there remained a need for Imperial business to be performed by a Colonial organisation.
Ordnance Stores and the Ordnance Storekeeper in the Colony of New South Wales
Abner Brown departs the Colony after his "delicate affair" is exposed leaving unpaid a bill owed to the Sydney Gazette newspaper. Is this Abner Brown, known also as Battery Brown, the Ordnance Storekeeper?
"Battery Brown" and His "Delicate Affair"
Do, Mr. Bombardier, thy business mind.
Fill thy shells with ammunition of other kind.
Abner Brown, Impartiality and "Blossom" the Cow
"On Thursday 4 March 1875, a deputation from the Sydney and suburban municipalities and the Sydney Chamber of Commerce met with the Colonial Secretary to urge the removal of the gunpowder magazine to some safer place than Goat Island."
The 1875 Storage of Gunpowder Board
"Officers in charge of magazines will be required to know exactly where each article is stored, so as to be able to find it at once when required on the darkest night."
The Gunpowder Acts of the Colony of New South Wales
"The proximity of the magazine to the place from whence the flames aspired, was, in itself, a circumstance so dreadful, as not to leave a moment to decide."
"One of the most awful and imposing spectacles which has occurred since the conflagration of the Three Bees about 20 years ago, was witnessed on Saturday in the harbour of Port Jackson."
The "Ann Jamison" Blows Up at the King's Wharf.
On the evening of March 4 in 1866, a shipbroker's office at no. 17 Bridge Street, Sydney was devastated by the accidental explosion of two bottles of nitro-glycerine.
By 1882, and with the prospect of an imminent transfer of Spectacle Island to the Royal Navy, magazine space at Goat Island was insufficient for the task at hand so reliance was placed on the use of hulks for storing merchant's powder.
Port Jackson Explosives Hulks and Bantry Bay Magazines
"The prettiest sight of the whole spectacle on Saturday was the explosion of a torpedo beneath a little doomed boat moored for the purpose. It was one of the colonial-made torpedoes, manufactured in Sydney under contract with the Government ..."
The New South Wales Torpedo and Signalling Corps
"Bayliss was not just involved with gunpowder. He was advertising his business as a lighterman from 1856; in 1865 he advertised himself as “W. Bayliss, Stevedore and Lighterman and Licensed Government Powder Lighterman”. He was also dealing in ballast, water and boats and had a side business in dog carts, buggies, gigs and harness for hire. ..."
William Bayliss, Gunpowder Lighterman and Stevedore
"From this time forward it was generally acknowledged that arriving explosives cargoes should be unloaded before the ship passed west of Garden Island. Rose Bay, being sheltered, close to the harbour entrance and lightly developed, was a logical spot for a powder ground."
Royal Australian Navy Armament Depots
The information about RAN Armament Depots has now been transferred to a separate section of this website.
Acknowledgements
Permission given by MAPCO : Map And Plan Collection to reproduce portion of an 1836 Plan Of Sydney With Pyrmont is gratefully acknowledged, as is the use of material derived from the National Library of Australia's Trove database, and the National Archives of Australia. Thanks also to Peter Dean, for services rendered. Other individual acknowledgements are given on the page where the material appears.
Archiving
This website has been selected by the Australian War Memorial to be archived in perpetuity in the National Library of Australia's Pandora archive. It is also archived by the Internet Archive (use the Wayback Machine to search for URL http://users.tpg.com.au/borclaud/index.html).
Note: Due to a change in the URL for this site the Internet Archive record will end in May 2023. A new record will hopefully commence using the URL https://borclaud.au/
