The Brooklyn Battery was located in McKell Park , Brooklyn NSW , mainly an anti - aircraft battery , this battery was made to protect the Brookyln river area and the Hawkesbury River railway bridge , artillery was located across the bay at Little Wobby in purpose built fake houses and an anti submarine net was placed from the tunnel mouth to Dangar Island.
This week I located the Brooklyn Battery that I had read about a few times lately , I spotted what I thought was the gun emplacement from Google Earth. There is no map that shows it's position readily available so I thought I would just wing it down to Brooklyn on a day off and have a look myself.
As it didn't look like to much of a hike I decided to take my mutt Chewy with me , he likes an adventure too , as long as we don't go to far or into to much thick bush , once the little bastard has had enough he just parks and waits til I carry him out.
Chewy on our last mission , tail down / tongue out / one ear starting to droop = he's good for another half k then I'm gonna have to carry him !
So I headed to Brooklyn and the marina area in the centre of town , took a right hand turn up the steep road to the headland and into McKell Park.
In what was one of my most easiest treks , Chewy and I meandered across the park and took a trail down to the point , while keeping an eye out for any concrete formations in the bush I noticed there were many hobos and backpackers encamped in the overhanging sandstone cliffs along the headland , in fact every cave had a pair of legs hanging out of it - talk about hobo central geez !
I get to the lookout and feel a bit downhearted as this is the hexagonal shape I saw from Google Earth "Damn it's just a bloody lookout" I think to myself , then I have another look at the raised centre with a iron nub in the middle , I then notice that the concrete part of the lookout is a lot older than the rest , in fact it's the same style of formed concrete I've seen a lot ...
So I sit down on the seat provided and have a think , then I look down and see this ....
Bingo , just a small tad of info left there by someone who knew people like me would visit
... the anti aircraft battery , which consisted of Bofors AA guns on Mckell Park overlooking the river and one AA gun on each side of the first railway bridge. A 3 inch gun was placed on Flat Rock Point - Noel Johnson 1993
A few pics later and my mission is done , the gun positions on the old rail bridge are probably long gone as they built a new bridge in 1940 - 46 and it lies on railway property so entry verbotten !
A 3 inch gun that was used by Coastal Defense units in the USA , Australia had the same guns and the big clue is look at the base - it's hexagonal just like the concrete base of the lookout
A Bofors 40mm AA gun , you will probably find one of these in the gardens of your local RSL Club , every town had one or 2 during the war , there's one in the carpark at West Gosford RSL and I think the little club in Springwood Avenue still has one out the side , also theres a rather nice one at the front of The Entrance RSL Club kept undercover.
Looking downstream from the gun emplacement , the furthest point on the left is Juno Point , home of another gun battery and on my mission list !
Seen this old Navy landing barge moored at Brooklyn , looks like it's the local garbage scow now going by the dozen or so Otto bins on deck , thought I'd post this one for
Spike , who likes a good boat pic and is strangely absent from the blogging scene lately .... hurry back Spike !
