Stony Batter Coastal Battery

[pjw4118]

After many years of hearing about the area, we finally made the journey. It's a fascinating place
















The area is well sign posted with a great little museum on site. The display included pictures of the guns being cut up for scrap 1960?
the cost of acetylene gas and transport exceeded the scrap value. What a waste.
Google Earth people
36 45 43 96S
175 1027 57E

[ErrolC]

Thanks for sharing, I must get out there!

[Dave Homewood]

Fascinating photos, thanks for posting them.

[flyjoe180]

Very interesting, cheers for posting this.

[pjw4118]

This battery had a sister one covering the northern approaches of the Gulf sited at the end of the Whangaparoa Peninsula. This land still NZDF controlled but does anyone have details or pictures of the sites ?
I seem to recall a book entitled something like "The Coastal Defences of New Zealand ". It may have included some details.
Would appreciate some help in locating a copy.

[adzze]

Nice shots pjw (including the pamphlet)! Thanks for uploading.

For comparison, here is a shot I took of one of the gun emplacements on Matiu / Somes Island in Wellington harbour (IIRC these were AA only).

[Dave Homewood]

There is a couple of books called Defending New Zealand by Peter Cooke too Peter, which should have all the details. A load of islands in the Gulf had emplacements and defence establishments in WWII, and they were manned by Army, Navy, WREN and WAAC personnel. I know a lady who was on the gun emplacements on one of the big islands but I cannot recall, might have been Waiheke but I think it was another one. She said there were about 600 people on the island, and they were there for months on end doing a tour before returning to Auckland.

[pjw4118]

Thanks Dave , I will chase them

[luke6745]

Those guns on Somes Island were dual purpose, they could fire on ships and aircraft. 3.7" guns from memory.

[shorty]

"DEFENDING NEW ZEALAND-Ramparts on the sea, 1840-1950s" by Peter Cooke In 2 volumes, over 1000 pages, 700 black and white photographs $140.00 (in 2002)

ISBN 0-473-08923-8

[Dave Homewood]

There's also a third volume that is all photos too.

[pjw4118]

Thanks Shorty and Dave. A birthday coming up so who knows.

[Luther Moore]

We have a place like this in Sydney,although it's not looked after and it's very run down.

[ErrolC]

Feb 14, 2012 8:36:08 GMT 12 Luther Moore said:

We have a place like this in Sydney,although it's not looked after and it's very run down.

Do you mean the Artillery Museum over Bondi way, with the 9.2"(?) gun pits?

[Luther Moore]

I know there is some more at Camp Cove,Double Bay area?The ones i'm talking about are way bigger in Malabar next to Maroubra.

[ErrolC]

Feb 14, 2012 8:46:51 GMT 12 Luther Moore said:

I know there is some more at Camp Cove,Double Bay area?The ones i'm talking about are way bigger in Malabar next to Maroubra.

Looking at a map this time, I meant Manly way. There was quite a network around Sydney!
When I was at North Head over a decade ago it was OK presentation-wise.

[Luther Moore]

Feb 14, 2012 9:01:28 GMT 12 ErrolC said:

Feb 14, 2012 8:46:51 GMT 12 Luther Moore said:

I know there is some more at Camp Cove,Double Bay area?The ones i'm talking about are way bigger in Malabar next to Maroubra.

Looking at a map this time, I meant Manly way. There was quite a network around Sydney! When I was at North Head over a decade ago it was OK presentation-wise.

Yea,Sydney still has all it's bunkers from WWII, it gives you a good idea of how close war came to Syndey.

Camp cove is across the bridge from Manly on the point,so I take it they were to stop the Japs from getting into Sydney harbour.Once a place to save lifes has turned into the biggest suicide place in Australia,at least one person jumps off the point there a week,also known as the ''Gap''.

The Malabar ones are all fenced up and very dangerous.but everyone still goes there to check it out.We used to go at night time to scare the girls but we would end up being just as scared,it's very freaky at night.

There is also the Quarantine station at Manly from 200 years ago that is great, did you check that out?

[flyinkiwi]

Feb 13, 2012 20:06:06 GMT 12 shorty said:

"DEFENDING NEW ZEALAND-Ramparts on the sea, 1840-1950s" by Peter Cooke In 2 volumes, over 1000 pages, 700 black and white photographs $140.00 (in 2002)

ISBN 0-473-08923-8

Great book, you get a real sense of how under defended NZ was during the war. The chapter that deals with the country's defensive strategy in case of beach invasion by the Japanese is a real eye opener. The lack of defense expenditure in the country is systemic and goes back much further than one would think.

[No longer identifiable]

Feb 13, 2012 20:43:20 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

There's also a third volume that is all photos too.

Dave, are you sure about a third volume? The reason I ask is that earlier today I ordered volumes 1 and 2 from the Auckland library system, and they show no record of a third volume. If there is a third volume, then I'll have to try and hunt it down.

MOTUTAPU ISLAND UNDERGROUND COMMAND CENTRE

On the subject of Stony Batter and Whangapararoa, there is a third set of gun emplacements as well as an underground command centre on Motutapu Island (the one joined to Rangitoto Island) that I was told was the main command centre for all the Hauraki Gulf gun emplacements during WW2. This complex is not as well known, and DOC at that time didn’t seem to regard it as a particularly big deal (or perhaps they just didn’t have the funds to maintain it).

I only found out about it when the last Americas cup was on in Auckland, in 2003, when I installed a SODAR at Billy Goat point on the island for one of the American teams. We stayed on Motutapu and would drive past the gun emplacements each day. One night two of us explored the area, which was very overgrown, and down in a valley we found the underground centre as well as the old concrete building that housed the plotting room and gun directing gear for the whole Hauraki gulf. Apparently the gun-directing equipment was hydraulically powered from this room (but I’m sure others on this forum will know the full monty on this).

The underground section could be accessed by a tunnel at each end, with the lower tunnel being about knee-deep in water because it ended in what had, over the years, become a swamp. Entering from the higher end we found the guard room that still had the old Pinex insulation panels attached to the ceiling and walls. The next two rooms were quite large, and they once housed the generators that powered the complex plus a workshop and fuel tanks. All equipment in these rooms had long been removed apart from rusting pipework and exhaust ducts. Deeper underground the complex split into two sections, one of which (I was told) contained a small emergency hospital and operating room, and the other section contained a switchboard room and other small rooms. Some of the timber switchboard still remained, and a few old steel chairs, but otherwise most of the gear had already been removed.

In addition to the two gun emplacements on the ridge above the underground complex there was a radar complex that comprised several concrete buildings, and at least one pill-box for a machine gun that overlooked a small gulley where access from a beach far below was possible. You can imagine that since we were exploring at night with only torches, it was all very exciting and rather mysterious.

Fast forward 10 years to today, and the whole complex has now gotten the recognition it deserves. I’ve just discovered, for example, that:

“Most people are unaware that this is the only remaining battery of its type in the southern hemisphere. There was a similar battery built at Palmer Head in Wellington but no evidence remains. The Motutapu Gun Emplacements are also rare because of the large area that the battery encompasses and also because of the remarkable collection of military structures that you can still see around the area.” (source – Motutapu restoration trust)

This photo by Rob Suisted shows the Gun directing /plotting building (the smaller of the two large concrete buildings, I think), which was full of sheep-shit when I visited on that overcast, windy night. The upper entrance to the underground complex may be the concrete structure that is just visible down the hill below it (it’s about the right place), and the radar complex buildings are at top right.


The website for the Motutapu restoration trust here:
www.motutapu.org.nz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=92:gun-emplacements-&catid=92:military&Itemid=167

has plenty of information and photos, but none taken underground which is a bit of a bugger. I guess it’s possible that DOC have closed this complex up, which would be a pity if they have. The reason, I think, that this complex was still in relatively good nick was that it was only accessible by walking a very long way from the nearest ferry wharf on Rangitoto Island, and it was never advertised as an interesting destination, if at all.

[Dave Homewood]

The Waikato University Library has a Volume III