Category: Queensland State Archives’ Photostream About Fortitude Valley

Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

Will “Enemy” Raider Be Foiled?
12 Mile Search Beam at Fort Lytton

A searchlight which throws a beam of light 12 miles in length over the waters of the bay is one of the features of an elaborate plan for the protection of Brisbane evolved by the authorities at the militia artillery-men’s camp at Fort Lytton.
The defenders will be on the qui vive tonight, when an enemy “raider” will endeavour to dodge the powerful beam, and enter the mouth of the river.
The searchlight apparatus, which has been housed in a concrete “cubbyhole” for more than 30 years, was dismantled on Thursday by the engineers, and reassembled on a special trolly, mounted on a light tramline in the fort area. The complete plant weighs more than half a ton.

Description source:
The Courier-Mail, 11 April 1936

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Item ID 2692229

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Invading Army And Navy Get Hot Reception
Realistic “Battle” at Enoggera While Fort Lytton Guns Boom

The rat-tat-tat of machine-gun fire echoing through the hills and ranges of Enoggera and Ashgrove yesterday showed that the soldiers in the making at the Enoggera camp were having a taste of actual battle practice while the boom of big guns down the bay indicated that the artillery-men camped at Fort Lytton were making things warm for hostile naval craft.

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The Courtier-Mail, 14 April 1936

View the original record at the Queensland State Archives:
Item ID 2692229

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Fort Lytton began closing down as soon as the Second World War ended. However, the signal station remained operational until late 1965. The fort’s last significant defence operation was in October 1964 when the signals station was used to gather intelligence on the “Indonesian coup”. Shortly after this incident, the Fort Lytton site was handed over to the AMPOL oil company to build an oil refinery.

Whilst most of the site was transformed into oil refining and storage facilities, three parcels of land were left intact. They were the site of the colonial fort and its associated structures, Lytton Hill and its associated structures, and the site of the heavy anti-aircraft battery, containing four protected guns pits and a command post. The oil company transferred the site of the colonial fort and its associated structure to the Queensland Government in 1988, and this became Fort

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The BL 6 inch gun Mark VII (and the related Mk VIII) was a British naval gun dating from 1899, which was mounted on a heavy travelling carriage in 1915 for British Army service to become one of the main heavy field guns in the First World War, and also served as one of the main coast defence guns throughout the British Empire until the 1950s.

The 6-inch MkVII gun, together with the 9.2-inch Mk X gun, provided the main coast defence throughout the British Empire, from the early 1900s until the abolition of coast artillery in the 1950s. Many guns were specially built for army coast defence use, and following the decommissioning of many obsolete cruisers and battleships after World War I, their 6-inch Mk VII guns were also recycled for coast defence.

During World War I, 103 of these guns were in service in coastal

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Firing at Fort Lytton

Firing practice was carried out this morning at Fort Lytton by the 11th Howitzer Battery, R.A.F.A., under the command of Captain Long, and by the 6-inch guns in the fort. The latter were manned by the 22nd Coast Battery, under the command of Lieutenant Reville.
The 111th Battery first fired a series of 12 rounds, followed by a second series of 16 rounds at a target anchored out in the bay at a range of 3,200 yards. Fort Lytton and its environs were wreathed in rain and mist, and visibility was poor. Nevertheless, excellent results were obtained.
The battery fired from a concealed position behind a hill, range taking observations and fire control being effected from the summit.

Description source:
The Telegraph, 1 April 1927

View the original record at the Queensland State Archives:
Item ID 2692229

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Lytton Fort.
Improvements and Repairs.

The Federal Government have decided to carry out certain alterations, improvements, and repairs at Lytton Fort. The Minister for Home Affairs has approved of the work being undertaken, and it will be done as usual under the supervision of the State Works Department, who will call tenders. The work will include the clearing the land of prickly pear and other undergrowth, the repairing and painting of the two main gates of the enclosure, and the repairing of the fences round the wells, and the filling up and repairing of the approach to the wharf. It is probable that when this contract is being carried out, some old buildings at the fort, including the quarters of the officer commanding the Royal Australian Engineers, which it was first proposed to renovate, will be sold for removal as being beyond repair.

Description source:
The Telegraph, 15 March

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Military Note

The local infantrymen will leave for garrison duty at Fort Lytton on Sunday night. The 4th (Wide Bay) Regiment will be passing through Gympie by the 11.30 p.m. train on Sunday, and they will be joined by the members of “B” and “H” companies. The regiment, which consists of eight companies, brass band, signallers, and regimental staff, will then be complete, and will proceed by train to Wynnum, from whence they will march to Fort Lytton, about three miles distant. At the fort they will take over the equipment of the 11th (Darling Downs) Regiment, whom they are relieving. The regiment will be on duty for a fortnight.

Description source:
Gympie Times and Mary River Mining Gazette, 10 October 1914

View the original record at the Queensland State Archives:
Item ID 2692229

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Easter Manoeuvres.
Troops Going to Lytton.

The Easter encampment at Lytton will commence as from Saturday next, but most of the troops will by that time have reached their quarters. Already on the ground and in the forts are the Australian Garrison Artillery, under Major Larsen, Australian Engineers, and Australian Field Artillery.
The main body of troops, numbering over 1,000, will go into camp tomorrow. These will include the 9th Moreton Regiment, the Queensland Rifles, Army Service and Army Medical Corps, and Brisbane Grammar School and State school cadets.
The Moreton Regiment will march to camp, but the Cadets and the Army Service and Medical Corps will go down by the Lucinda, which leaves the Queen’s wharf on Friday morning.
Colonel Plomer, the Commandant, left Brisbane this morning for the Tiaro camp. Owing to the illness of Lieutenant-colonel Fortou, Colonel Flewell-Smith will take command of the camp at Lytton. Major

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Garrison Artillery.
Training at Lytton.

The No. 1 Company Queensland Garrison Artillery proceeded to Lytton on Saturday last and carried out their annual competitive practice at two Hongkong targets towed across the river between Luggage Point and Fisherman Island. The practice was under the supervision of Majors Clark, S.O.A. (umpire), and Antill (range officer); the other officers present were Major Larsen and Lieutenants Groom and O’Mears.
The first series was fired from the 6-inch disappearing guns at a range varying from 2,500 to 3,000 yards, and was only fairly satisfactory, the shooting being slow owing to the guns not recoiling far enough, and having to be pumped down into the loading position, thus causing a delay of from 40 to 50 seconds after each round.
The targets were then brought in to about 1,800 yards from the fort, and the second series fired from the 6-pounder Hotchkiss quick-firing

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Queensland State Archives posted a photo:

New Fort At Lytton.
Plans Being Prepared

Brisbane, Saturday.
An important project in connection with the defences of the port of Brisbane is that for the construction of new fortifications at Lytton, by means of which it will be possible to completely command the entrance to the river. Some time ago the rough outlines of a scheme of this nature came before the Government, and after thorough consideration it was decided to have plans prepared for a new fort on what is known as Reformatory Hill, at Lytton. Ground plans of the proposed site were accordingly drafted, and these have been sent to London, in order that complete plans of the fort may be prepared by British military experts. The idea is to obtain two or three big guns having a long range, by means of which the approach of an enemy’s ship to the shores of Moreton

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