GALLERY
Peter Ogden
West Head Battery, Sydney.
The West Head Army Track in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, NSW traverses a more or less vertical path (steel ladders as well as gnarly sandstone steps and scrub) and leads down to several historic army gun emplacements from the Second World War.
The gun battery, built to protect Pittwater and the Hawkesbury Railway Bridge, housed two 4.7-inch naval guns, an observation post, an ammunition magazine (mined into the cliff), searchlights and a complement of troops.
To move all that heavy equipment and building materials the Australian Army constructed the only inclined railway track used for defensive purposes during the conflict.
If you walk the track, you’ll understand why they needed that railway…
Explore further:
- History and Heritage Hunter to Hawkesbury research project
- West Head Battery remembered
- Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park – West Head army track