| Historical notes: | Aboriginal Sydney:
When Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet landed, first in Botany Bay and then in Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), in January 1788, he was met by people who had lived on this land for many thousands of years. At least 1,500 people lived in the area between Botany Bay and Broken Bay and the intermediate coast (Attenbrow, n.d.)
There were two main languages spoken in the Sydney region - Darug and Tharawal. The Darug language had two main dialects - one spoken along the coast and the other in the hinterland (west of present-day Parramatta). Tharawal was spoken to the south of Botany Bay and as far west as the Georges River and possibly Camden (ibid, n.d.)
People belonged to small groups (territorial clans) through which they were spiritually related to specific tracts of land - these clans included the Gadigal, Wanngal, Gamaragal, Wallumedegal and Boromedegal. The suffix 'gal' denotes 'people of', thus, for example, the Gadigal were the people of Gadi (also spelled Cadigal and Cadi respectively) (ibid, n.d.).
The 'district of Gadi' was reported to have stretched from South Head west to 'the cove adjoining this settlement' (Darling Harbour) - an area that would have included Centennial, Moore and Queens Parks. Watkin Tench referred to the Gadigal as 'those who reside in the bay of Cadi'. The 'bay of Cadi' is probably Kutti, the Aboriginal place name recorded for present-day Watsons Bay, and the present name of a small beach in the bay (ibid, n.d.).
The Centennial Parklands Conservation Management Plan contains the following report that provides in depth detail of the pre-colonial history of the lands that are present day Centennial Parklands, which is where the text on this page comes from: Pre-colonial Aboriginal land and resource use in Centennial, Moore and Queens Parks - assessment of historical and archaeological evidence for Centennial Parklands Conservation Management Plan (ibid, n.d.).
South Head Signal Station site:
In 1790, Captain Phillip directed erection of a flagstaff 'on a high bluff...at the entrance to the harbour...' in order to communicate the arrival of ships into Sydney Cove. The first signal from here was displayed in February of that year. It is believed that the present Signal Station is the site of the 1790 flagstaff.
On 20 January 1790, Captain John Hunter with a party of eight men erected a flagstaff at Outer South Head and a small hut (WHHS, n.d.). The 'Lookout Post' was established here by Hunter ...with the object of establishing a meaningful presence to visiting ships and to provide a signal to the Governor in Sydney Town that a ship was in the offing (WHHS, 2001; Melocco, 2013). The first signal was displayed at the flagstaff on 10/2/1790, which was for the Armed Tender 'Supply', that was returning from Norfolk Island. The first ship of the Second Fleet to arrive in Australia, the 'Lady Juliana' was signalled at the Lookout Post on 3/6/1790. Since then the site has almost permanently been manned by various organisations (WHHS, n.d.).
This was the first navigational structure in Australia. Two years into the new Sydney settlement, with the colonists near starvation, their hopes rested on the arrival of supplies from England. On June 3 a signal was raised from the station, but the excitement collapsed when the ship proved to be the 'Lady Juliana', carrying starving women convicts and bringing the news that the accompanying supply ship, 'Guardian', had been wrecked. Three more convict ships arrived the same month - more than a quarter of the 1,000 convicts aboard having died en route while the ships' masters hoarded food to sell at inflated prices in Sydney. Economic rationalism had made its entrance into Australia (Spindler, 2011, 4-5).
Later in September 1790, Phillip commanded a column be erected near the flagstaff '... of a height sufficient to be seen from some distance at sea (ibid, n.d.) and stonemasons were sent to quarry stone upon the spot for it...' The column was on a raised base measuring 16-foot square and had its own base of 4-foot square. The column was destroyed in 9/1792 by a storm. It was reportedly re-erected using bricks from Bennelong's disused hut on Bennelong Point (WHHS, n.d.).
A fishery was established at South Head in 1792, exclusively for the use of the sick people at Sydney. It was under the direction of one Barton, who had been a pilot, and who, in addition to that duty, was instructed to board all ships entering the harbour and pilot them into safe anchorage (Herman, 1960, 4).
The first recorded light navigation in Australia occurred here on 16 January 1793. Convict transport ship 'Bellona' was sighted at dusk and lookout post staff lit a fire to guide it throughout the night. Between 1792 and June 1807 the Lookout Post signalled the arrival of the first ships to come to Port Jackson from the United States of America, Spain, France and Russia (WHHS, n.d.).
In March 1809 Thomas Reiby was appointed as pilot. He was succeeded by Robert Watson, after whom Watson's Bay is named. Watson had been quartermaster of the Sirius from 1786-90, became a signalman at South Head in 1791. In 1811 he was appointed pilot and harbour-master, and in 1814 he resigned his pilot's position. When the Macquarie Lighthouse was built he took charge of it in 1816. Watson died on 1/11/1819 and was buried in the old Devonshire Street Cemetery (Herman, 1960, 4).
The continued importance of the station was indicated by the establishment in the 1820s of a line of semaphore signalling stations which stretched from here to Parramatta (ibid, 2011, 4-5). Harbour Master John Nicholson devised a code which would be used on the flagstaff in 1832. It allowed them to signal what type of ships were coming into the harbour (WHHS, n.d.).
The present Signal Station itself, with its octagonal tower and watchman's quarters, was built about 1842 and designed by Colonial Architect, Mortimer Lewis. The coastal views here (are) spectacular but it is the expansive view down harbour which reveals the reason for the Station's location - it has a direct line of sight back to Sydney Cove. In maritime Sydney, the station had enormous importance. The permanent building came in the 1840s and in 1858, NSW's first electric telegraph line was installed to link the station with central Sydney (ibid, 2011, 4-5). This was to mark the 70th anniversary of (European) settlement, and it went from the Signal Station to the Royal Exchange in Bridge Street, Sydney (WHHS, n.d.).
Fortifications on and around South Head:
Fortification works began at South Head c.1841. South Head was a key location in the harbour defences from the 1870s until the end of World War II. . In 1874 there was artillery in place comprosing three 10", two 9" and five 80-pounder guns. They were supplemented in 1878 by a torpedo firing station at Green Point, south of Camp Cove. A 'Government Road to the battery' existed from the 1850s, from Watsons Bay to Inner South Head. Around 1880 a cobblestone road was constructed from Camp Cove to take equuipment up to the fortifications above. This road is part of the walking track today (NPWS, n.d.).
A breech-loading 'disappearing' gun was installed at South Head in the early 1890s (ibid, n.d.).
These fortifications were originally built in 1893 to accommodate the 9.3" breech loading 'disappearing gun' as part of Sydney's coastal defences - two others were installed, one at Bondi North (still in position but buried in sand) and the other at Shark Point, Clovelly. It was housed in the turret in the centre of the group which had a steel canopy (still in situ) with a slot through which the barrel protruded in the firing position. It was hydraulically jacked up to the firing position with the recoil pushing it down under the canopy for loading. The barrel of this gun is now at the Artillery Museum at North Head (WHHS, 2001, 4).
By 1927, of ten guns mounted to defend Sydney Harbour, half were on South Head. Sydney's World War II defences maintained artillery both at Inner South Head (the Hornby Batteries) near the Signal Station and at Green Point at Camp Cove. The School of Artilery was located at South Head from c.1895 until it moved to North Head in 1945 (NPWS, n.d.).
Signal Station: later development
During a violent storm in August 1875, the stone column put up five years earlier was destroyed. It was rebuilt using bricks from Woollooware Bennelong's hut, which had stood in Sydney Cove, near the site of the present Sydney Opera House (WHHS, n.d.).
The Signal Station's octagonal tower was (raised to its present height around the 1890s: WHHS, 2001). The Station ceased being government-manned in March 1992 (WHHS, 2001).
On February 10, 1990 a plaque was unveiled to commemorate the bicentenary of the first raising of the flag to signal that a ship had been sighted - the ship was HM Armed Tender 'Supply' returning from Norfolk Island (WHHS, 2001).
The station is now used by the volunteer Coast Guard (Spindler, 2011, 5).
After coming onto the real estate market for the first time, the two-bedroom Cottage One of the Signal Station has been leased on the first inspection, by a young family. The cottage has its own 1795 cannon in the yard, a new kitchen and bathroom and was most recently used as housing for NSW Maritime Services personnel (Melocco, 2013).
In 2018, community concern was expressed about the state of the flagstaffs at North Head Quarantine Station and the (South Head) Signal Station. Reports were provided to the authorities responsible (Woollahra History & Heritage Society, Annual Report, 9/2018).
In 2019 the Assistant Keeper's Quarters (aka 'Keeper's Cottage'), a four bedroom residence has been placed on the real estate market, through private treaty (CBRE Residential, 8/2019, 36).
In 2021 $1m in funding was announced for restroration works. Vaucluse MP Gabrielle Upton made the announcement with Planning Minister, Rob Stokes...'to allow for upgrades of the Signal Station tower and its two cottages' said Gabrielle Upton MP for Vaucluse. 'The tower will have repairs made to its roof, windows, doors, handrails, walkways and kitchen while the cottages will have maintenance work completed' (MacDonald, 2021). |