Bart Bear's Blog

This is the historic South Head Signal Station in Sydney. Way back in 1790, just over a year after the first settlers arrived in Australia, a lookout post was set up here to report on vessels arriving in Sydney. It was manned by the crew of HMS Sirius, the flagship of the First Fleet. You can see more about the Sirius in my earlier post about its wrecking at Norfolk Island. To show the way to the harbour, a tall white post was put up for daytime and a fire basket was hung out at night. Later on, in 1818, Australia's first lighthouse was built nearby (you can see that on an earlier post too). Flags were used to signal the ships and the settlement. In 1840 this stone tower and attached buildings were built on the site. Today the old station is headquarters for the Volunteer Coast Guard. They don't need to use signal flags now to talk to ships, just radio. They do fly signal flags occasionally at festival times. You can see an old gun emplacement near the signal station. It was put there during the Crimean War in case the Russian fleet tried to enter the harbour. It is easy to visit the signal station and the lighthouse. If you are feeling like an energetic walk you can follow a path along the clifftops from Watson's Bay, or if you are like the Oldies you can get a bus right to the front of the buildings.

Labels: boats, New South Wales, Sydney