Bradleys Head, Middle Head & Georges Heights

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Route: Taronga Zoo, Bradleys Head, Taylors bay, Chowder Bay, Chowder Bay Road, Middle Head, HMAS Penguin, Georges Head, Georges Heights Oval, Rawson Oval, Cross Street, Bradleys Head Road, Taronga Zoo

Date: 01/12/2019
From: Taronga Zoo

Parking: N/A
Start Point: Taronga Zoo
Finish Point: Taronga Zoo
Region: Sydney CBD

Route length: 7.1 miles (11.4km)
Time taken: 03:49
Average speed: 1.9mph
Ascent: 228m
Descent: 184m

Points of Interest: Bradleys Head, Chowder Bay, Middle Head, Georges Head

Bradley's Head, a long finger of land which stretches into Sydney Harbour, has always struck me as a fine place to take in the views of the city and an ideal basis for a hike. It's easily accessible from the CBD thanks to the Taronga Zoo ferry service and offers a small slice of nature in the heart of the city. The foreshore also tells the long story of Sydney's military past.

We set out from Circular Quay late in the morning. Though it was quite cloudy, it was warm and the weather was forecast to become sunnier as the day wore on - as seems fairly typical at the moment. The ferry crossing from Circular Quay only takes a few minutes and is a great way to see some of the sights of the harbour, including a 'revolving' view of Sydney Opera House as the ferry passes.

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House

Sydney

Fort Denison

We hopped off the ferry at the Taronga Zoo wharf, walking the short distance uphill the main entrance to find the Bradley's Head Track. Taronga is the largest zoo in Australia and is over 100 years old having opened its doors in 1916. It has succeeded in breeding critically endangered animals such as the Sumatran tiger, with 21 cubs having been born at the zoo since 1980.

Athol Bay

Taronga Zoo

The track starts opposite the zoo entrance and follows the west side of the peninsula in a southerly direction, passing Athol Beach and heading through some well-preserved bush. Bradley's Head forms part of the Sydney Harbour National Park which helps to protect several islands and large stretches of the foreshore around Sydney.

The Bradleys Head Walking Track

Sydney Red Gums line the path

Water Dragon

The track leads to the end of the peninsula and the Bradley's Head Amphitheatre, a stepped bowl built in 2000 for the filming of a Hollywood movie. The area's history goes back much further, however.  Its present name is after Lieutenant William Bradley of HMS Sirius, the First Fleet flagship. Prior to this, the original Aboriginal inhabitants called it Borogegy, Booraghee, Booragy or Burrogy. The prominent headland has a sweeping view of the Sydney city skyline, among the best of any locations in the harbour.

Bradleys Head amphitheatre

Sydney harbour

The amphitheatre

Sydney skyline

View from Bradleys Head

At the tip of headland resides the tripod foremast and fire control tower of HMAS Sydney, an Australian warship that sank a German warship, Emden, in 1914. The Emden was tasked with a raid on the Cocos Islands, in an attempt to destroy British facilities. Emden was attacked by HMAS Sydney with the more powerful Australian ship quickly inflicting serious damage. The whole area around the mast now serves as a memorial to all RNAS sailors.

The tower from HMAS Sydney

Standing out from the waters in front of the tower is a curious stone column. The column originated from the first Sydney General Post Office façade, which was demolished in 1863. It was erected near the Bradley's Head jetty to mark a nautical mile from Fort Denison to provide accurate sea trial measurements, allowing the speed of newly constructed ships to be checked.

The old post office column

Bradleys Head lighthouse

The sun was starting to poke through the clouds as we left Bradley's Head, following another trail through the bush around Taylors Bay. Views were limited by the trees until we reached the opposite side of the bay where some clearings allowed a few glimpses of the idyllic turquoise waters.

Taylors Bay Track

Taylors Bay

The path took us to Chowder Bay which, like many of the bays around Sydney, has a strong military connection. After the withdrawal of British troops in the 1870s, Sydney had to devise its own defensive strategy to protect itself from attack. A base was built at Chowder Bay for the Submarine Mining Corps. Mines were attached to underwater cables that stretched across the harbour from Chowder Bay and were designed to detonate if an enemy ship entered the harbour.

Chowder Bay

Chowder Bay

Part of the old military buildings at Chowder Bay

Eventually, technology rendered the underwater mines and cables obsolete, and the Submarine Mining Corps closed in 1922. After that, Chowder Bay became a depot and barracks for Army engineers, and in the 1980s, it was the site of the Army Maritime until 1997. It wasn't until 2000 that the area was opened up to the public, looked after by the Harbour Trust.

Coastline below Georges Heights

After passing Chowder Bay, we followed the bay road to the lower flanks of Georges Head and further remnants of the extensive defences which protected Sydney Harbour from attack. The most impressive (and most well-hidden) is the Beehive Casemate, a series of underground gun chambers carved out of the sandstone bedrock. Only the access trenches are visible from the surface.

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The top of the Beehive Casemate

Chowder Bay Road hugs the coastline and leads to the main entrance to HMAS Penguin, the current Royal Australian Navy training establishment (unsurprisingly, no public access here). A short detour to the east took us along Middle Head Road to the old fort on Middle Head.

Officers building at Middle Head

Middle Head is one of the seven Sydney headlands which surround the bay and is an outstanding vantage point, looking directly between the north and south heads to the Pacific Ocean. No wonder there is a significant number of historic gun emplacements located here.

Middle Head fort

Middle Head fort

Middle Head fort

The first fort at Middle Head was built in 1801 and the last batteries were constructed in 1942 though the majority of the fortifications were built between 1870 and 1911. The site contains the works of several periods and technologies, which remain in place today. Historically, it dates from the time when the defence was first moved away from Sydney Cove and towards The Heads.

Middle Head fort

The view across the harbour entrance

Manly

The famed Manly ferries

Manly

We wandered around the remnants of the fort before retracing our steps back to HMAS Penguin. Here, another path leaves the road, heading back into the bush which lines the headland. Without any real effort, the path climbs towards Georges Heights and provides some sensational views across the harbour.

Climbing towards Georges Heights

Looking along Middle Head

Sydney harbour

Middle Head

Like Middle Head, the heights are also home to some historic fortifications. The current lookout is the former site of the A84 Battery, which was set up at to protect Sydney Harbour from naval threats. It originally housed six guns in open circular pits connected by zig-zag passages and tunnels that lead to an underground magazine.

Georges Head

A view of Sydney through the trees of Georges Head

Georges Head

Shark Island and Rose Bay

Between 1916 and 1921, a large military hospital operated at Georges Heights, providing care to soldiers injured on the Western Front during the Great War. Known as the Hospital on the Hill, this important heritage building today serves as the headquarters of the Sydney Harbour Trust.

We left the lofty position of Georges Head, heading west through one of the many grassy ovals that are dotted around Sydney where we found the Scotland-Australia Cairn.

Georges Heights Oval

The cairn was a Bi-Centennial gift from Scotland to Australia, and it commemorates the landing of Captain Arthur Phillip in 1788. The cairn's stones were gathered by the ministers of each parish from all over Scotland, collected together and bought to Australia. Among them are stones from Scottish cathedrals. The final stone came from the Island of Ulva, off Mull, which was the birthplace of Lachlan Macquarie, the fifth governor of New South Wales, who is often described as `The Father of Australia'.

The Scotland-Australian cairn

The cairn in detail

Stone from Glasgow Cathedral

We returned to the Sydney suburbs, this time the affluent residential area of Clifton Gardens. Following Bradley's Head Road, we made our way south back towards Taronga Zoo. After a quick circuit around the perimeter of the zoo, we ended up back at the zoo wharf, in time to board a waiting ferry without breaking stride.

Rawson Oval

Bradleys Head Road

The boardwalk above Curlew Camp

View from Whiting Beach