IN WELLINGTON

Period 3.7" Anti-Aircraft Gun photos

  Wellington has seen two periods of large scale defence construction. The first was in the 1880's and 1890's when the British Empire was at war with Russia. The primary perceived threat at the time was seaborne. The second period was during the Second World War. With the Japanese involved the threat of attach again loomed. This time however the threat was not only seaborne but also airborne.

        In 1942 Construction of defence works was at it's peak. Early that year the Japanese were still advancing in the pacific (although the tide was to turn against them before the year's end).         In Wellington existing Coastal batteries were strengthened and new batteries constructed. This was to defend against the seaward threat. To defend against the airborne threat a ring of batteries was built equipped with 3.7" calibre Anti-Aircraft guns. These were built during this period of defence construction.

        In March of 1942 plans were received for constructing anti-aircraft batteries using British 3.7" guns. As soon as these plans arrived construction was started on them. The Heavy AA (Anti-Aircraft) Batteries built around Wellington Consisted of the following:

        In Wellington six of these batteries were built. They were at Somes Island, Mt. Crawford, Mt. Victoria, Brooklyn, Tinakori Hill and Johnsonvile. All of them were 4 gun batteries except for the one at Johnsonvile.

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        Of these 6 batteries built three have been demolished. Mt. Victoria and the Tinakori Hills batteries were demolished as they were on public reserve land and were a safety hazard. Mt. Victoria -about May 1970 demolished by the Ministry of Works Tinakori Hills - Demolished 1969 also by Ministry of works. Johnsonville - Demolished - when?

        The remaining three while by no means safe from demolition are not under imminent threat. Their emplacements and command/observation posts remain although stripped out of fittings and ordinance.
        The Mt. Crawford battery is on land owned by the Defence Dept. which has been deemed as surplus to requirements. They are currently in the process of disposing of this land however the disposal process may take some time yet. The Mt. Crawford battery's Command Post still has a toilet behind it - with a improvised flush-box and a porcelain bowl (not working).
        The Brooklyn battery is within the new Panorama Heights subdivision and the land it sits on has been allocated as reserve land. It had in 1997 been cleaned up by a contractor on hire from the Wellington City Council. This site backs on to the firebreak running around the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary.
        The Somes Island battery is relatively secure as the whole island is administered by the Dept. of Conservation and the heritage significance of the battery in relation to the history of the island is known to them. This battery used emplacements of a different design to the other remaining emplacements in Wellington. You can still see where the cables running between the Command/Observation Post and the emplacements were buried

        These Anti-Aircraft Battery sites represent obsolete technology. AA defence now days tends to be predominantly SAM's (Surface to Air Missiles) with guns being used for some close- in defence roles. They when combined with the other remaining works such as our coastal defences are a valuable resource that could be used as an educational resource for looking at an aspect of our nations heritage which unfortunately many people tend to overlook.

     Darcy Waters
     June 2000