Fort Philip (Sydney)
Encyclopedia
Fort Philip was a citadel style fort constructed as part of the first defensive works of the penal settlement of Sydney
, Australia
.
ordered a fort to be built on the site of Windmill Hill to defend the colony from rebellious convicts and possible French
attack in 1803. The fort was never fully completed and never fired a single shot in anger.
A flagstaff was built in 1825 on the eastern wall of the fort, which sent messages to ships in the harbour and the signal station at Fort Denison and South Head.
In 1840 a new signal station, designed by the colonial architect Mortimer Lewis, was built to replace the flagstaff. The fort was subsequently demolished leaving the eastern rampart as the only remaining evidence of the fort's existence.
Sydney Observatory
was built on the site in 1858 to provide accurate time readings for the colony and to observe stars in the southern sky.
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
History
Governor HunterJohn Hunter (New South Wales)
Vice-Admiral John Hunter, RN was a British naval officer, explorer, naturalist and colonial administrator who succeeded Arthur Phillip as the second governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1795 to 1800.-Overview:...
ordered a fort to be built on the site of Windmill Hill to defend the colony from rebellious convicts and possible French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
attack in 1803. The fort was never fully completed and never fired a single shot in anger.
A flagstaff was built in 1825 on the eastern wall of the fort, which sent messages to ships in the harbour and the signal station at Fort Denison and South Head.
In 1840 a new signal station, designed by the colonial architect Mortimer Lewis, was built to replace the flagstaff. The fort was subsequently demolished leaving the eastern rampart as the only remaining evidence of the fort's existence.
Sydney Observatory
Sydney Observatory
Sydney Observatory is located on a hill now known as 'Observatory Hill' in an area in the centre of Sydney. The site evolved from a fort built on 'Windmill Hill' in the early 19th century to an astronomical observatory during the nineteenth century...
was built on the site in 1858 to provide accurate time readings for the colony and to observe stars in the southern sky.