Georges Heights & Middle Head

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Route: Marham Close, Rawson Oval, Georges Heights, Middle Head Road, 1801 Fort, Middle Head Fort, Old Fort Road, Governors Road, Middle Head Road

Date: 04/07/2021
From: Georges Heights

Parking: Middle Head Road
Start Point: Rawson Oval
Finish Point: Middle Head Road
Region: Sydney Harbour National park

Route length: 5.8km
Time taken: 02:02
Average speed: 3.6km/h
Ascent: 127m
Descent: 113m

Points of Interest: Georges Heights, 1801 Fort, Middle Head Fort

With Sydney back in lockdown, our hiking has been temporarily restricted to the limits of the Greater Sydney area. Fortunately, Sydney's extensive coastline is a superb place to explore and well within our range. We chose to return to some familiar ground on the north side of the harbour, specifically Georges Heights and Middle Head.

After parking on Middle Head Road, we made our way along Markam Close into Rawson Park where there are several tracks that lead to the fringes of the Georges Heights barracks complex. The outermost track is dotted with lookouts that have good views of the harbour and it leads to the main artillery emplacement at Georges Heights.

Accessing the track at Rawson Park

Heading along the track towards Georges Heights

A view of Shark Island with Rose Bay beyond

The heights are home to the historic fortifications that formed the 'outer line' of defence for Sydney Harbour. The outer line consisted of a series of gun batteries designed so that soldiers could fire upon enemy ships trying to enter the harbour. The Georges Head Battery formed part of this 'outer line' with construction taking place in 1871.

Heading for Georges Heights

Bush track at Georges Heights

Rose Bay

Shark Beach and Steele Point

Georges Heights

Now, the current lookout is located at the former site of the A84 Battery. It originally housed six guns in open circular pits connected to an underground magazine by zig-zag passages and tunnels. Views across the harbour are stunning and there is a bronze plaque on the floor that provides a fascinating look at the various Sydney harbour defences.

The map of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) defences

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 heritage building today serves as the headquarters of the Sydney Harbour Trust but was occupied by the Australian Army until 2002.

There is a track that links Georges Heights to Middle Head Road, sandwiched between Headland Park and Sydney Harbour National Park. It is dotted with fine viewpoints looking over Middle Head before it reaches HMAS Penguin, the current Royal Australian Navy training establishment (unsurprisingly, there is no public access here).

Chowder Bay

Chowder Head and Bradleys Head

The entrance to Sydney Harbour

Obelisk Bay and Middle Head

Avoiding Middle Head Road, we stayed on the track in the national park that leads to the old 1801 fort. The emplacement here is the oldest colonial fortification in Australia. It was hewn by hand out of solid rock using a work gang of 44 convicts, leaving a curved parapet along the cliff edge. It's worth a visit on your way to Middle Head.

The 1801 fort

Camp Cove

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

Grotto Point lighthouse

Middle Head

A view of North Head

The 1801 fort was the first defence built at Middle Head and the last batteries were constructed in 1942 though the majority of the fortifications were built between 1870 and 1910. 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 - the outer arms of Sydney Harbour.

Middle Head fort

Middle Head fort

The Sydney headlands

Rooms located below ground were used to train some of Australia's first troops who were sent to Vietnam in 'Code of Conduct' courses, which were lessons in how to withstand torture and interrogation, by simulating prisoner of war conditions.

The tiger cages

On the second day of each two-week intelligence course, fifteen soldiers would burst into the lecture room firing blanks and throwing thunder-flashes to create noise, smoke and confusion. They would blindfold the students with pillowcases, frogmarch them to covered vehicles, drive them around erratically for a while, and then herd them into one of the underground chambers of the old gun emplacements.

Middle Head fort

Middle Head fort

They were exposed to 80 hours of unnerving experiences intended to simulate what it was through might happen if captured by the Chinese or Koreans. This included solitary confinement in total darkness, the playing of loud Asian music and periodic interrogation. The prisoners were held in the tiger cages at least once during their ordeal. The tiger cages are still there, a reminder of the bizarre military conduct that once took place there.

We wandered around the remnants of the fort before retracing our steps back to HMAS Penguin and Middle Head Road and a short, uphill hike back to the car.

Middle Harbour

The path back towards Georges Heights

Sydney red gums