REMAINING
MILITARY
STRUCTURES
The remaining military structures in the Wellington Region.
© Darcy
Waters 1999-2004
Content
Group
1 Structures /Pre 1910 Works
Group
2 Structures /Post 1910 Works
Introduction
This
document is an overview of what remains in the way of structures
built or converted for use by military forces in the Wellington
; region. It is not a complete list as some sites (ie.
Bulk stores) have not yet been checked out. As I confirm
the existence of remains I will update this list.
This
list will be revised as more information comes to hand.
Also in progress is a list of military works that have disappeared
in the Wellington region.
The
entries are divided into two groups - Group 1 covers structures
both before about 1910 covering the period of ‘Russophobia’.
Group 2 includes structures built from about 1910 to the present
day. This includes structures built for both our military
forces and the US forces ad well as some EPS associated structures.
Although
the bulk of the structures that have disappeared are not
surprising enough those from last
century but those built during World
War 2 (This is partly due to the
fact that the sites reminded people of
the war and hence loved ones they
had lost during the war. Also from
the end of the war until as recent
as the 1980’s numerous structures
have been removed for safety reasons
- especially those on public land.)
There is still a surprising
amount that does remain.
Darcy
Waters
Group
1 Structures
The
Group 1 structures are built before about 1910 .
The first emplacements were built
to defend the inner harbour and as
both Weapons technology and strategic
thinking changed our coastal
defences crept further away from
the inner harbour.
Pt Halswell
- Halswell Battery
-Gun pit for 8” disappearing
gun and
Underground magazines
and control rooms.
The magazines and control
rooms are largely intact
while the gun pit has
been lined with marble and is
now the resting place
of The Masseys.
Kau Pt
- Kau Pt Battery
-Gun pit for 8” disappearing
gun remains although filled
in with rock and
dirt.
-Underground magazines and
control rooms structurally
intact although
devoid of fittings. Main entrance
partially
filled in.
- OP?
-Semicircular Pit above bank
on the other side of grass
‘road’ above the
Kau Pt Battery. It has a pedestal in
the middle of the
pit
-A room set into the back wall
with signs (badly
deteriorated) for various
sites around the Miramar
headland painted around
its walls.
Mahanga Bay
- Wharf
- Out crop of reclaimed land
opposite the old MAF
building
this outcrop once had a jetty extending off it
Pt Gordon
- Ft Ballance
-2 Nordenfeldt Q.F. Gun emplacements.
-1 7” RML emplacement.
-2 6” Hydro-pneumatic disappearing
gun emplacements
with their respective
magazines and control rooms.
-”See Saw” searchlight emplacement.
-Minefield control rooms.
- Ft Gordon
-Underground magazine connected
to gun pit.
-Gun pit for a 8” HPBL gun
-Associated control rooms
Mt.
Crawford
- Musketry parapet
-Not visited by me.
Kelburn
- Botanic Gardens Battery
-Underground magazine (Now basement
for the old
Dominion Observatory
and still accessible from the
battery).
-Gun pit for a 7” RML gun.
- Battery Caretakers house (now the
Kelburn Scout
groups hall) and
is partly modified and extended.
Kaiwharawhara
- Kaiwarra Magazine
-1 building largely intact
although it has a hole in each
of 3 of its walls
(made when it was used as part of a
factory.
-1 building largely demolished
with only one wall
remaining. (Demolished
to make way for part of the
factory (the factory
has been removed in 1997).
- Fort Buckley
-Overlooking Kaiwharawhara.
-Built 1886.
-Two gun emplacements for 64
pdr’s
-A magazine built of wood and
earth was built
between the two
emplacements. This has long
since collapsed.
-Its ordinance was never upgraded
and its
64 pdr’s were shifted
to the Low Battery at
Pt Gordon. As a
result it is the only 64 pdr
battery in Wellington
unmodified to take other
ordinance.
-During World War 2 the Caretakers
house was
used by the crew of a
Anti-Aircraft gun positioned
above Fort Buckley.
To
top of page
Group
2 Structures
The
structures that are listed as Group 2 have all been built
since about 1910. Most of these
structures have been built during the
period 1935-45. Between 1910
and 1935 there was not much built
with the exception of the growth
of Fort Dorset and the Trentham
military camp as well as the relocation
of staff and related from Mount
Cook due to the construction of the
Dominion Museum and Art Gallery
in Buckle St. And construction
of a Battery and associated works at
Palmer Heads (which was along with
other existing sites expanded or
modified during World War 2).
During World War 2 a massive building program took place
which saw Gun emplacements, Pill
boxes, Observation posts and such
like appear all over the place.
The structures listed are the lucky
ones - many structures built post
1910 have been demolished for
various reasons. This “demolition
spree” continued up until as
recently as the 1970’s.
Shelly Bay
-Magazines
-On the road between Shelly
Bay and the Mt. Crawford
Prison are built
10 reinforced concrete magazines set
into the hillside.
-Wharves
-2 wharves extending south
off a common wharf.
-Workshops built on the landward
end of the wharf
area.
-Slipway and repair facilities
originally built to service
the Fairmile patrol
boats.
-Base buildings
-Original buildings were
built for the Navy. This
consisted accommodation
blocks, mess facilities,
recreation hall
and canteen, small hospital, laundry,
boiler houses,
stores, shipwrights shop, administration
block and officers
quarters
(These buildings
have been added to, modified and
new ones built
over the years with the base being first
a Navy base then
a Air Force base then
accommodation for
Defence Headquarters staff).
Pt Halswell
-Port War Signal Station
-Some remains of foundations
of buildings.
-Signal mast and surrounds
remains
Mt. Crawford
- Anti Aircraft Battery
-4 octagonal shaped emplacements
with ammunition
storage recesses and
wings for magazines/ war shelters.
-A Command Post with control
room, plant “shed”,
observation post and
war shelter/ready room.
-Behind the Command Post is
a toilet with its bowl still
intact (WW2 period?).
-nearby a water tank built
in the hill for the battery.
Scorching Bay
- Pill box foundations near the main road.
-On shore side of road
N end of bay.
Worser Bay
- WAAC Hostel
-Buildings to accommodate WAAC’s.
-Built on land leased from
the WCC (sold by the WCC
in 1997).
Seatoun
- Fort Dorset
(see also the
site profile of Fort Dorset.
-Gap Battery
- 4 emplacements
for 4” MkVII guns for the
Examination Battery.
(2 of the 4" guns
were shifted to Fort Ballance)
- Magazine structure
set into the hill.
- Surface building
(ready room?) with shell
markings
painted inside on the rear wall.
- Beach Battery
emplacements for
12 pdr guns mounted in
1942. Guns removed
after the 6 pdr twin guns at
Fort Ballance were
installed. Only the
emplacements remain.
-3 Observation Posts
- Two by the summit
of the Western mound of
the Southern Ridge
line.
- One on the summit
of the Eastern mound of the
Southern Ridge
line.
All three Observation
Posts are concrete
shells only with
no fittings remaining.
-Structure by the Observation
Post on the Eastern
mound of
the Southern Ridge line
(Command
Post ??).
to
top of page.
Palmer Heads
- Fortress Area
-(as at April 1998) about 75%
of the original
road that ran from
the foreshore below the
fortress area to
the upper camp/battery area.
-Underground works for the
plotting rooms
and wireless rooms
- rooms empty.
- Moa Pt Radar/Observation Post
-Only the concrete shells of
the buildings remain
Hataitai
- Structure
-Either a Observation Post
or a Machine gun
post part way up
the hill overlooking
Wellington Rd
-still existed as at February
1998.
Mt. Albert
- Structure
-Possibly a observation post,
I am unsure
of what it was for.
-There are two of them
Mt. Cook
(see also entry in Wellington's
Disappearing Military Heritage)
- Defence Reserve
-Defence Stores Building
-built of
brick.
-used as
Defence HQ when the
Dominion
and Art Gallery was built -
from
1927 until the Defence HQ was
shifted
to Featherston St in 1938.
-2 storey Creme and green coloured
Building.
-built sometime
between 1934 and 1948
unsure
of what the DoD are using
it
for.
-Modern building built
1980’s on E side
of defence
reserve (technically not a remain).
- Fighter Sector Control
-Two storey Underground Building
authorised
in 1942 located
under 10ths Trust Land
between Wellington
High School and the
old Dominion Museum.
In the 1950’s the Dept
of Lands and Survey
moved in and used it to
store maps until
either the late 1980’s or early
1990’s.
Mt.
Cook (continued)
- EPS Air
Raid shelters
-Army HQ - Tunnel style
shelters
capacity 475 persons.
-Art gallery/Museum site -
Tunnel style shelters
capacity 1650 persons.
Brooklyn
- Pol Hill Anti aircraft Battery
-4 octagonal shaped emplacements
with ammunition
storage recesses
and wings for magazines/ war shelters.
-A Command Post with control
room, plant “shed”,
and observation
post.
-nearby a short water tank
(built for the battery?).
Karori
- Wrights Hill Fortress
-3 underground magazines.
-Underground engine room.
-Underground plotting rooms.
-4 war shelters.
-3 gun emplacements for 9.2”
Counter-Bombardment
guns and their
pump chambers and gun stores.
-2030 Feet (620m) of tunnels
connecting all of the
above
(some of which
is about 60 Ft below the surface).
-Decommissioned in the
late 1950’s and later used as a
ground receiving
station by the Post Office before
being opened up
on April 25th 1989 by the Karori
Lions.
-Now looked after by the Wrights
Hill Fortress
Restoration Society
who periodically open it up for
public open days
and group visits.
Sinclair Head
- Observation post
-2 huts made of reinforced
concrete
-Observation post
-various foundations and other
concrete features.
(Walton, Tony,
(DOC Wgtn conservancy)
“Observation Posts
and Magazine Areas:
Further notes on
Wellington Military Sites.”
Archaeology in
New Zealand Vol 37 No.2 June 1994).
-I have yet to visit this site
myself.
Makara
- Fort Opau
-Emplacements for 2 6” close-defence
guns.
-Command post.
-Remains of a radar post.
-Coast Watching Station - all
its windows and doors are
missing and the
fireplace is damaged.
-In a nearby farm field
is the foundations of the battery
camp buildings.
Ngaio Gorge
- EPS Air-Raid Shelters
-Designed by the City Engineer
so after the war they could be
used for stream
diversion of the Kaiwharrawharra stream.
-2 Shelters along gorge floor
near stream have a pipe
coming out of them
as well as steel pipe and wire gates
preventing access.
Possibly a third one near the Fuel
Tanks on the N
side of Kaiwharrawharra Rd.
Somes Island
- Anti aircraft Battery
-4 octagonal shaped emplacements
with ammunition
storage recesses
and wings for magazines/ war shelters.
-A Command Post with control
room, plant “shed”,
and observation
post.
-Battery personnel were housed
in existing
buildings - some of which
were used as a
internment camp.
Belmont
- Magazine Area
-Built among the hills above
Belmont.
-52 “Type P” magazines
-10 “Macallan” magazines.
Most of the magazines
are not sealed up
and a few have
been modified for current
use to varying
degrees.
-Currently(as at 1998)
the land is owned by LandCorp.
(Walton, Tony,
(DOC Wgtn conservancy)
“Observation Posts
and Magazine Areas:
Further notes on
Wellington Military Sites.”
Archaeology in
New Zealand
Vol 37 No.2 June
1994).
Silverstream
- Military Hospital
-Originally built for the N.Z.
Military
-Construction started September
1941
and when nearly
completed when orders came to
expand the facilities
to accommodate 1,200 patients
-These orders also included
instructions for the hospital
to be handed over
to the US Navy.
-After the war it was handed
over to the local health
board who used
it until the the early 1990’s
-Brought in 1994 by some locals
who are restoring it
and are using it
as the “Silverstream Park Christian
centre”
Trentham
- Military Camp
-Site used as early as 1912
as a Territorial camp
at this stage it
was only tents and a couple of small
buildings.
-1915 Trentham changed
from a tented camp
to a proper camp
of permanent buildings
-Between WW1 and WW2 used as
a Ordinance depot
and a Army school
of instruction
-Just prior to the outbreak
of WW2 the expansion of
Trentham was planned
and was authorised 9 September
1939 and the work
started within 12 hours of war
being declared.
This resulted in a huge increase in
accommodation and
facilities in the camp
-Since WW2 there have been
repairs, renovations and
buildings being
replaced and new ones built as need
arises.
REMAINING MILITARY STRUCTURES
The remaining military structures in the Wellington
Region.
©
Darcy Waters 1999-2004
