Drummond Battery

The site of the fort, Mount Drummond was part of an estate believed to have been owned by J Drummond. The 300 acres owned by Drummond extended to Tom Thumb's lagoon. The Illawarra Mercury reported in 1923 that "Mt Drummond, or South Wollongong or Coniston which of these names will settle permanently on this locality is not definite." One objection to the name Mount Drummond was that there was already a mountain of that name in the County of Hardinge near Armidale. Mount St Thomas was believed to have been named for miss Jemina Thomas, wife of Captain Charles Waldron of Spring Hill.[1]

Elliot's farm on Mount St Thomas was subdivided by Giddings & Co as the Mount St. Thomas Garden Suburb during the mid 1930s.[1]

With the entry of Japan into the war, defence preparations accelerated. On 256 December 1941 a secret telegram was sent ordering the installation of additional coastal defences in the Newcastle-Sydney-Port Kembla area. NSW Command was to select the sites. Occupation of land around Mt Drummond was underway by 11 February 1942. Land was taken over for weapon pits, defensive wiring and the erection of tents. Occupation would last about 5 weeks.[1]

Mount Drummond consisted of two hills with a saddle between them. The BOP was established on the higher hill to the north. The southern hill about 250 feet high became the location of the battery. The site was densely vegetated on some sides. However the ridge to the south-west was clear of timber and was recognised as vital ground for defence. At the top of the hill, where the battery was built, there were only a few houses and a dairy farm. A defensive line around the whole perimeter was set up to defend the battery against ground attacks. A two-storey brick house, No 6 Robertson Street, was taken over officially on 10 February 1942 for use as the Company headquarters and billet for B Company, 13 Garrison Battalion. Its kitchen was used to prepare food for up to 90 men. The army vacated the property on 11 August 1942.[1]

A rapid decision was made to divert two 9.2" coastal guns intended for Darwin to the defence of Port Kembla on 13 March 1942. Mount Drummond was selected as the site for them in late March 1942 and a contour survey was under way to aid the siting of the guns. The guns were expected to arrive from Britain in early May and a party of 1 officer and 24 other ranks were assigned to Mount Drummond to prepare the ground. In mid-April 1942, a sum of 60,000 pounds was set aside to install the guns.[2] On April 15 the Works Director of NSW reported that it would take 12 to 16 weeks to fully install the battery but that they could be ready for action within 4 weeks. Excavation could be commenced rapidly, and temporary protected platforms could be set up with temporary travelling gantry cranes to load shells and cartridges. A shell store was dispensed with initially since it was found that ammunition could be in recesses in the gun battery. Urgency was the overriding consideration. Concrete pours were delayed by the lack of plans and there was a furious exchange of telegrams, letters, correspondence in late April to expedite the production and dispatch of plans.[1]

By August 1942, arrangements had been made to hire transporters from Yellow Express Carriers Ltd to shift the 9.2" guns from Melbourne to Port Kembla for the Mount Drummond battery. However the guns were so heavy that the transporters broke axles and universal joints on two occasions.[1]

By mid-December 1942, the Mount Drummond battery had made extensive progress. The NSW Public Works Department had undertaken the excavation work over 24 hours. The concrete needed time to cure. Both guns were mounted, and in an emergency gun No. 1 could be fired. Both guns were proof fired on 15 March 1943, with concrete work halted for a time beforehand to ensure that no green concrete was damaged. By 12 July 1943, work on the Drummond Battery was largely complete except for a few minor items.[1]

By February 9, 1943, the war situation had become less acute then previously thought so the garrison at Port Kembla was instructed to concentrate on anti-sabotage protection of fixed defences and to be positioned for mobilisation if the enemy commenced any action. The garrison consisted of the 2nd Australian Garrison Battalion and the 12th Battalion VDC.[1]

A detailed map showing the defences of Fort Drummond including wire, weapon pits, machine guns and so on was drawn on 9 February 1943. On 6 May 1943, a specification was issued for two sets of two reinforced concrete buildings at what is now the WIN TV Station in Wollongong. This may have been for the Fort Drummond site.[1]

A layout plan of 5 July 1943 showed the Battery Observation Post for Mount Drummond, at the end of Norman Street, near the Reservoir. Similarly a layout plan of Mount Drummond showing the position of buildings, including the two batteries, command post, armament store, command post, mess buildings, igloos etc between Robertson Street and The Avenue was prepared on 13 July 1943. Photographs of the site taken in 1962 now held in Wollongong Library show a series of buildings above the northernmost gun emplacement. These buildings have been demolished.[1]

On September 1943, it was minuted that AWC had advised that the works at Illowra were nearly complete. The work at Mount Drummond was also done but no Board of Survey inspection had been made. It was recommended that none be undertaken and this was accepted on 4 October 1943.[1]

The Commonwealth did not formally acquire the site of the Fort Drummond Battery at Mount St Thomas until 6 July 1944 and 12 October 1944.[1]

As threat receded the level of alert was downgraded. By 12 November 1944, mariners had been informed that Port Kembla was no longer a defended port.[1]

Drummond Battery's guns were test fired on three occasions between March 1943 and September 1946. Four houses in the direct line of fire of the guns were demolished before the first test, with their owners being granted compensation. As of May 1947, another 44 householders were seeking compensation for damage caused to their homes by the gunnery exercises.[3]

In 1946 the Mount Saint Thomas Progress Association removed a guard shed from Drummond Battery and installed it at a bus stop. It later transpired that this had been done without the necessary authorisation from the Army.[4] In October 1951 the Army donated the structure to the Mount Saint Thomas Progress Association following representations from the local member of parliament.[5]

Drummond Battery continued to be used by the Army in the years after World War II. For instance, the Citizen Military Forces 16th Coastal Artillery Battery undertook training there in September 1953.[6] A Mount Drummond Auxiliary Battery existed in 1954.[7]

A Dutch migrant Frank Smith Jnr who had previously worked at the AIS Steel plant (now BHP) established a mushroom farm at Fort Drummond in 1966. His farm operated until 1972. The Smith family arrived in Melbourne in 1952 and originally settled in Wauchope. By 1954 Frank Smith Jnr had moved to Port Kembla. The farm was known as Fort Drummond Mushrooms. This is the only known NSW example of a fort being used to farm mushrooms.[1]

Part of the site of the Fort is occupied by WIN. This land was acquired in the early 1960s by Television Wollongong Transmission Ltd and their studios were constructed on part of the site of Fort Drummond. The station at the time was owned by Rupert Murdoch who later sold it to Bruce Gordon of Paramount International Television. Television Avenue, leading to the battery reflects this phase of use of the site.[1]

These facilities are still in use today.[1]

Guns removed, in 1962 other equipment was also removed.[1]

• McDonald McPhee Rogers Conacher Fullarton (1991). City of Wollongong Heritage Study.
• Popovic, Zoran (2013). Review of heritage items in Wollongong LGA.

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This Wikipedia article was originally based on Fort Drummond, entry number 2700709 in the New South Wales Heritage Database published by the State of New South Wales and Office of Environment and Heritage 2021 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 9 January 2021.