FOR about 100 years, colonial authorities feared the former prison outpost of Coal River (later Newcastle) could be wide open to invasion.
The threat could have come from the French, especially, during the long, drawn-out Napoleonic wars, or from the Spanish or, later, even the Russians.
None of this ever came to reality, of course, prompted in part by the governments of the day being prepared to at least make a token effort to stiffen our harbour defences to act as a deterrent to any would-be invader.
Sadly, though, the first attempt to fortify the mouth of the Hunter River channel must have been laughable. Well-intentioned, but flimsy at best, was the site - better known today as Fort Scratchley off Parnell Place in Newcastle's East End - derisively called "Fort Fiddlesticks".
Things then finally improved dramatically in the 1870s when a serious attempt was made to make the harbour vantage point a true military stronghold. But it had taken decades to reach this point.
Rather surprisingly, the strategic importance of the Hunter River entrance had been realised as far back as 1801 when the first attempt was made to set up a remote penal outpost here.
It failed, but the area's isolation from Old Sydney Town to re-house some of the colony's worst convict rebels, while gaining much-needed income from coal exports, proved irresistible.
The prison settlement was then re-established, successfully this time, in 1804. The rest is history, with the Hunter Valley still heavily reliant on mining black diamonds from deep below the earth.
So, it came as a surprise to me (but probably not to serious military buffs) to discover recently that plenty of hard evidence survives from the 1801 British mania for building defensive structures.
But the heavy fortifications aren't in the Hunter Valley, but on the doorstep of Sydney Harbour itself. And it all seems remarkably untouched to the casual observer.
Sydney's North Head and other sites, such as the lone island tower of Fort Denison ("Pinchgut"), may be better known, but this site is a real historic gem. It has long underground passages, big gun pits, "disappearing gun" sites and some serious solid blocks of masonry. All very impressive and imposing, and presumably relatively unknown except to the most avid bushwalkers.
Today the remnants amid bushland near suburban Mosman comprise what is called the Middle Head military complex. Originally about 20 substantial buildings stood here. Only about five buildings remain, including one of the army barracks, some restored officers quarters for visitors, and a guardhouse.
The first buildings were erected in 1876, but a major re-fortification effort to bolster Sydney harbour defences began 22 years earlier in response to the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854.
But the crucial Middle Head defensive works had begun way back in 1801, although later they were abandoned. Officially called the Georges Head 1801 battery, it seems amazing that it has survived relatively intact today.
It may take a few moments to find a signposted bush track at the back of a car park near the popular Chowder Bay Road turnoff, but the detour is well worth the effort.
Here, hidden in bush and hugging the coast overlooking the majesty of the wide blue expanse of the Sydney Heads, is a huge curved wall, now partly overgrown.
About 44 convicts wielding picks, crowbars, wedges and sledgehammers hewed the structure out of solid sandstone, and a magazine was then constructed on the northern side with a ramp for access.
It must have been hazardous, back-breaking work. The curved parapet is about 17metres above sea level on the cliff-top site.
The soldiers stationed to operate the guns were paid a special allowance in recognition of the site's isolation from the fleshpots of old Sydney town.
The tactical importance of the site back in 1801 cannot be underestimated.
Six muzzle-loading cannons were placed behind the parapet to give a wide range of fire in any emergency. The fort was declared fully operational on October 23, 1803.
Further work continued, but the site remained very remote. Labour had to be transported by boat, and the heavy guns hauled through the bush from Georges Beach (or Obelisk Beach).
It all, however, just got too difficult. By 1806, the fort's four 12-pounder guns were unserviceable, and the fort was abandoned a few years later due to continuing difficult access.
At least two of the guns were still present on the site as late as 1867. Today no trace remains except for the curved stone wall. Tool marks left by convicts on the wall are reminders of this area's former role in Sydney's colonial history.
Of particular interest to Novocastrians, perhaps, on a winding track nearby is a strange, white-painted brick obelisk - a past pointer to mariners trying to locate Obelisk Beach in days past to unload cargo. It seems almost identical to the one above King Edward Park today.
Meanwhile, the neglected, historic 1801 fort site is just one of the attractions on the Middle Head parkland site.
In many ways, the Sydney site resembles an expanded Fort Scratchley, with military ruins everywhere.
But the Hunter site has one major advantage. It still has its big twin naval guns, which regularly fire salvos for departing cruise ships.
One of the more intriguing facets of the Middle Head site is supposed to be the existence of so-called "tiger cages", which were said to have been used to prepare army officers if ever they were captured by the enemy during the Vietnam War.
If such cages existed, I didn't find them.
However, items that do catch the eye are restored cannons marked 1861. They remind the visitor of two similar 60 pound cannons each weighing about five tons and now decorating Silo Hill at Stroud. Built in 1855-56, they were once sent to defend Fort Scratchley, but were declared obsolete in 1909 and instead sent up the Karuah river for static display.
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