Australian Army Artillery Museum

The Australian Army Artillery Museum was an artillery museum located in North Fort, on the northern head of the entrance to Sydney Harbour, in Sydney, Australia.

Australian Army Artillery Museum
Australian Army Artillery Museum in Locator Map
Dissolved19 December 2010 (2010-12-19)
LocationSydney, Australia
Coordinates33.8178°S 151.2958°E / -33.8178; 151.2958

It was formerly called the "National Artillery Museum", and had a large collection of the heritage and history of the Royal Australian Artillery. It was administered by the Army History Unit[1] (AHU) with the assistance of volunteer members of the Royal Australian Artillery Historical Company[2](RAAHC).

Collections

The museum displayed more than 50 guns and mortars and associated equipment, numerous paintings, displays, memorials, and medals. The Library has over 2,500 photographs, about 4,000 technical and historical books, and unique research material.

The collections covered the period from the first European Settlement (1788) to very recent operations.

Facilities

The museum grounds included shaded picnic areas with barbequeues, a Harbour Lookout Area (the Observation Platform), World War II fortifications and tunnels (listed in the Australian Commonwealth National Heritage list),[3] and a Café that had extraordinary views of the entrance to Sydney Harbour and the channels to Bradley's Head, and Sydney CBD.

Closure

On 19 December 2010 the museum closed and the collection moved into storage at Bandiana pending creation of a new army artillery museum at Puckapunyal army base in Victoria, the base the Artillery School had moved to in 1997, leaving the museum behind at North Head.

The move resulted from incompatible objectives of the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust as owner of the site and the Army History Unit who were responsible for the collection.[4] The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust wanted the historic North Fort area to be open to the public seven days a week, in line with their objectives to maximise public access to the former defence lands around Sydney Harbour. They further insisted that if the area was not opened seven days a week then the army would have to pay rent to the trust. The Army refused, claiming that their funding levels only permitted the opening of the museum and North Fort area on weekends. The army also gave as a reason for the move that the purpose of their unit museums was to assist in the training of junior soldiers and that the artillery museum had been unable to serve this purpose at North Head, being nearly 1000 km away from the school at Puckapunyal.[5]

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References
  1. "Australian Army History Unit". Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  2. The Royal Australian Artillery Historical Company
  3. Commonwealth National Heritage List
  4. Major General Tim Ford, AO (Retd), Representative Colonel Commandant and Chairman RAAHC : A Letter from the Chairman RAAHC on the Immediate Future of North Fort "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. Last rounds for artillery museum at North Head
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