Beehive Casemate is a historical fortification located on the banks of Obelisk Bay, in

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a ria, natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove River, Lane ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is part of the

Sydney Harbour National Park The Sydney Harbour National Park is an List of national parks of Australia, Australian national park comprising parts of Port Jackson, Sydney and its foreshores and various islands. The national park lies in New South Wales and was created progr ...

Description and history

Construction of the casement began in 1871 and was completed in 1874. The fort was constructed under the supervision of colonial architect

James Barnet James Johnstone Barnet, (1827 in Almericlose, Arbroath, Scotland – 16 December 1904 in Forest Lodge, Sydney, New South Wales) was the Colonial Architect for Colonial New South Wales, serving from 1862 to 1890. Early life Barnet was born ...

. The underground casemate was one of the first to be locally designed and built after the withdrawal of British troops in 1870 and the

Cardwell Reforms The Cardwell Reforms were a series of reforms of the British Army undertaken by Secretary of State for War Edward Cardwell between 1868 and 1874 with the support of Liberal prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. Gladstone paid little attentio ...

. The fortification contains three domed chambers that were used as gun emplacements. Each chamber had a small opening or window for the gun to fire through with each window looking out towards the

Sydney Heads The Sydney Heads (also simply known as the Heads) are a series of headlands that form the wide entrance to Sydney Harbour in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. North Head and Quarantine Head are to the north; South Head and Dunbar Head are to ...

. The underground chambers were made of brick and mortar and were built into the excavated cavities in the sandstone bedrock. They were intended to fire on enemy ships as they navigated the passages around Sow and Pigs Reef, within the entrance to Sydney Harbour.{{cite web, url=http://www.arup.com/australasia/project.cfm?pageid=8430, title=Beehive Casemates, Sydney Harbour National Park, author=, website=Arup, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071122113254/http://www.arup.com/australasia/project.cfm?pageid=8430, archivedate=22 November 2007 Beehive casemate obelisk bay

References

{{reflist {{Barracks Batteries Bunkers and Forts in Sydney {{coord, 33, 49, 39, S, 151, 16, 5, E, display=title Former Barracks in Australia Buildings and structures in Sydney Bunkers in Oceania Forts in New South Wales History of Sydney James Barnet buildings in Sydney