demolishingwgtn2

Point Gordon

Demolition first occurred sometime in the late 1950s, with the removal of the barrack buildings, and the construction of housing for defence personnel. This lead to the demolition of most of the northern loop holed musketry wall, as well as the quickfire gun store of Fort Ballance. The next major incident of demolition occurred in November 1959, with the removal of the control tower of the twin six-pounder emplacement. In this case, the demolition was carried out by Army Engineers as part of an training exercise. An Evening Post article of the time records that 25 15lb charges of TNT were used to blow the tower up. The same article also notes that the tower had been considered an eyesore for many years by the surrounding residents. Of course this single incident of demolition did not end the criticism of the remaining fortifications. Finally investigations were carried out in 1969 regarding demolition of what remained. As if to encourage the authorities in their demolition efforts, critical articles appeared in the papers, urging the removal of these �eye sores�.

A demolition plan was drawn up for Point Gordon, and demolition started in June 1970. It was to occur in two stages. Stage one covered all facilities on the foreshore, and the supporting facilities for the 4-inch battery (curiously not the emplacements themselves). Stage two was to cover Fort Ballance and Fort Gordon.

With demolition of the shore facilities almost complete by the 7th of July, it was decided it was more economical to include the 4-inch battery in stage two, so this was delayed for a short period. Ultimately, however, the buildings were demolished and only the emplacements themselves now remain, though buried. The estimates given for the Stage 1 demolitions came to $12,500.

The reasons for Fort Ballance being spared from this demolition plan are interesting. It was noted by MOW that complete removal of the fort �would entail earthworks as well as demolition�, this would be very costly. The other option available to them (and incidentally the one they took) entailed �Temporary closure by filling in entrances, removing fabricated roofs and filling gun mounting areas�. It was reasoned that the latter of the two options would cost less, make the area safe for children, and though the fort would still be visible to residents of the area �as most of the old walls are relatively attractive, this should not matter unduly.�

Thus Fort Ballance was spared. What is unclear is exactly what happened to the Fort Gordon emplacement. It was initially included in stage two, that much is certain. Unfortunately there is no evidence to say whether or not the emplacement was excluded from demolition with Fort Ballance, with only basic remedial work being carried out. Site inspections have failed to shed any light on this matter, and further searches through Archival material have failed to turn up anything either.

As a slight aside, it is interesting to note that during the demolition, many of the original guns that were in the emplacements on Point Gordon were found to have been buried down the side of the hill. There is one particularly good photo of the 8-inch from Fort Gordon being held up by a bulldozer in an Evening Post Article. What happened to the guns once they had been exhumed is not so clear. An ex-pupil of old Saint Patrick�s College remembers seeing various large guns stacked at the defence area in Buckle Street around this time, so these may well be the guns in question. Assuming these are the guns, they would have undoubtably been scrapped after that.