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all continents and countries with access
to the sea have always had naval
fortresses being both a country and a
continent Australia is no exception
here at 4:20 National Park I'm passing
through the entry into the
fortifications themselves the
fortifications are pentagonal shape
series of earthworks
which were built between 1880s primarily
to protect the New Port of Brisbane and
new city
Australia's had obviously an isolated
continent and it was part of the British
Empire so it always felt I guess there
was a British squadron was in Sydney
Royal Navy but that wasn't much
protection for the entire continent in
1878 relations between Russia and
England sharply deteriorated because
England supported turkey in the
russo-turkish war as a result Australia
began to fear that the Russian fleet
would show up at its coast the key
threat was not that the potential
adversary would capture Australian
territories but that it may conduct
raids on the country's major ports
Maryborough Rockhampton and Brisbane
this is what people feared here they
feared a raid not an invasion so each of
the little colonies that were scattered
along the coast felt that need for
protection to be able to defend
themselves if the British couldn't get
here to help them
to build a system of coastal defenses
the colonial administration invited
British Royal Engineers Fort Leaton
was designed by Lieutenant Colonel Peter
scratch Lee its construction began in
1880 and continued for two years
and it's a rare fort in that this is
inside the river and all the other
sports around Australia ride on the edge
of the coast so this one has the East
has a moat around it which is quite
different to the other places Fort
Leaton was constructed at the mouth of
the Brisbane River about 20 kilometers
from the Port of Brisbane the fort was
to protect the city from enemy ships if
they attempted to break through to
Brisbane along the river
the fault covers an area of about 900
square yards and is surrounded by a moat
initially Fort Leaton had four gun
positions with sixty four pounder muzzle
loaders
by the early 1890s the first two
positions were equipped with new 6-inch
breech-loading Jung's
and the muzzleloaders were placed on a
newly built positions five and six
the fort's artillery could engage enemy
ships at a range of four miles
protecting the mouth of the river and
the underwater minefield the mines were
detonated by electric cables laid along
the bottom of the river
a timber bridge across the moat led to
the fort's entrance protected by gates
that were reinforced with iron sheets
inside the fortress there were casemates
for gun pits one and two and a gun
powder magazine the magazine and gun
positions were connected by a corridor
with brick passages various prickly
plants were growing around the battery
providing additional concealment and
serving as lobster go
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was operational by about 1882 with
muzzleloading guns in all the positions
and a minefield out in the river
these two guns are the original 64 pound
of muzzle loaders for the fourth though
the original heavy guns position in gum
fits three and four now replaced by more
modern breech loaders and they were
relocated here both the training
purposes and also to help protect the
minefield which is directly in front of
us here in the Brisbane River training
was provided to local volunteer units
which were called up and prepared for
service by lefthand internal scratch Lee
they formed the core of the garrison
drills were constantly held in the fort
gun crews were prepared for warfare
number six gun loaded we run up number
six count on target prepare to fire
an advanced solution for the time was a
minefield remotely activated with
electricity which was installed in Fort
Leaton shortly after the first
incandescent lamp was invented so that
the minefields here during the 19th
century were connected up to the port on
electrical connections and they could be
exploded by electricity but there were
no ones that were actually submerged to
the bottom of the river and they were
held down there are big chains and
weights on the bottom in a certain
pattern so vessels could actually sail
over the top it was just a case of just
watching well that was the idea
you watched you waited someone was
sitting up that tunnel and if a ship was
trying to get through they'd wait until
it was over the top of the minefield and
then explode the mind
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ruin gun pit one of Fort Leaton National
Park in gampy one who's cited the major
artillery piece which was the six-inch
disappearing Armstrong guns the guns got
their name because they were loaded
undercover in this lower position and
then they were raised on a hydro
pneumatic cylinder Ram which lifted the
6-ton barrel above the parapet firing if
there was a lack of pressure in the RAM
itself and then these mechanisms could
be pushed backwards and forwards to help
prime and pump up the air pressure to
assist in the raising the barrel once
the firing happened then the recoil and
the energy generated from the recall
would swing these big arms back down and
then use that energy to pump back up the
cylinder again and be ready for its next
loading and firing
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the magazines were near the gun
positions strict safety measures were
taken here there was always the risk of
an explosion when storing gunpowder
charges and preparing rounds this is the
black patterns of the fort this have on
the earliest parts the construction of
the fortifications this is where the
Gunpowder was stored originally and the
shells now the projectiles were made up
before they'll passed through the
loading galleries to the guns dump it's
one and two
being black powder there was very strict
provisions to ensure that there wasn't
any explosions so people entering this
room had to wear felt boots and
overcoats to minimize sparks the
lanterns that were held in these
recesses which were opened the lanterns
were then lit behind he's a solid window
which meant that there was no chance of
a spark going through or a draft and
then they were closed again and that
allowed the illumination into where the
black powder barrels were stored in the
rooms behind us
World War 1 battles were fought far away
from Fort Leaton
in those years its key mission was to
contain German merchant ships that
happen to be in the harbour and to be
ready to open fire if an enemy attempted
to enter the mouth of the river but by
the early 1940s thought Litton regained
its importance in the Pacific region
maybe a million Americans went through
during the Second World War through here
All American submarine fleet for the
Pacific came out of here and at
Fremantle Australian submarines British
all the airfields that were being set up
along the Queensland Coast and all the
way up towards New Guinea all the
supplies and everything came through
here into Brisbane so is a major
garrison during that time facing a new
enemy and new warfare tactics Fort
Leaton had to upgrade its armaments new
guns were installed there this is a
reproduction of a quick-firing twin 6
pounder gun which was installed here
during the Second World War by that time
the war the tide of the war had changed
a little and Australians were less
concerned about invasion and more about
raids from either Japanese submarines or
chemical Z style fast moving motor
torpedo boat this gun was not only very
accurate but it was also highly
effective because it could fire up to 80
rounds per minute
this is gun paid for of Fort Leaton
National Park income paid for originally
was the sixty four pounder muscle
loading guns and then it was replaced by
the Hotchkiss guns in the early 1890s
when the second world war broke out the
war against Japan in 1941 they rearmed
this site by putting in this 4.7 inch X
naval gun which was a gun that
originally came from one of the warships
the Australian warships in the First
World War
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the fort while it was small was the only
way you could get up the river you know
you had to come past it so I guess they
thought that if push came to shove that
this is where they would stand and this
may be where they would fall as well but
they would do their duty so I guess it
pretty provided a lot of morale boost
for the local population
however Fort Leaton came out of World
War two untouched - in 1946 it was
decommissioned as a coastal
fortification the military stayed here
until 1950 then the land was sold to an
oil refining company everything changed
in the early 1990s
Portland was declared as a national park
for its historical and cultural values
to the Australian people in 1989 it's a
very significant site for Australians it
not only is part of our military history
but it's also a place of remembrance for
the thousands of men and women who
trained here before going off to major
campaigns such as a Baal Warrior the
First World War and the Second World War
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you
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