Bare Island Fort is a small, rocky island off La Perouse headland- the northern peninsular of Botany Bay. Botany Bay is the first place white man landed in search for Terra Nullius ( AKA: Great Southern Land AKA: Australia) in 1788. Captain Arthur Phillip anchored The First Fleet to the east of Bare Island and then moved on to Port Jackson, in search for warmer and more suitable waters.
Captain Cook referred to the island as ‘a small, bare island’ while exploring in 1770 and saw it as an excellent location for fortress construction.
British military advisers labelled Botany Bay as ‘the back door to Sydney’, a sly way for enemies to get to precious Sydney Harbour, which was just 14 kilometers away from La Perouse. A plan for the construction of Bare Island Fort minimized this.
Construction of Bare Island Fort was completed in 1885, at a cost of 34,000 pounds. But it became apparent that it was very poorly made, even neglected. In 1890 a Royal Commission found that the construction of the fort was dodgy. The concrete walls were said to have started falling down before construction was even completed. The Colonial Architect James Barnet was blamed for neglecting his duties by failing to oversee the construction and was shamefully banned from future government works and had to pay additional funds to the contractor.
The fort was barely used (pun intended) due to no military attack and quickly advancing technology. Just one year after federation, Bare Island was no longer part of the eastern coastline defences. In 1912 the barracks were converted into a nursing home for returned servicemen from wars in the China, Crimea and Sudan campaigns. A nice view if you ask me, but a long boardwalk to walk down if you wanted to get anywhere. It continued to be a nursing home up until 1963. The fort is currently a museum as well as being declared a historic site owned by the National Parks and Wildlife Authority. You may have also recognised this long standing boardwalk in the movie Mission Impossible 2 during the final scene were the famous motorcycle duel plays out, when Tom and Baddy tackle each other mid air as their bikes collide.
If you'd like to know more about the island or see it yourself, additional information can be found here:
http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/whats-on/sydney/bare-island-tours
Photo courtesy of Environment New South Wales
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