澳大利亚万象电视

悉尼印象(2):海岬上的幻景

WATSONS BAY是一个区域的名称,他的内侧是JACKSON湾,可以远眺歌剧院和大铁桥.

他的外侧则是浩瀚的太平洋.

在欧洲人来到这里之前,曾是土著人的传统居民点,他们在这里生活的历史超过6万年.

Wikipedia:

Watsons Bay was named after Robert Watson (1756-1819), formerly of HMAS Sirius, when he had to beach his three vessels at Camp Cove for many years due to being potentially sold by the Provost Marshall[1]. Watson was appointed harbour pilot and harbourmaster of the port of Sydney in 1811 and the first superintendent of Macquarie Lighthouse in 1816. The first grant of 20 acres (81,000 m2) was made to Edward Laing in 1793 in the Camp Cove Area. Watsons Bay was an isolated fishing village until development began in the 1860s.

On the 20th August 1857, a sailing ship called the Dunbar was shipwrecked against the cliffs below The Gap, with 121 lives lost. The Dunbar had mistaken the bay of The Gap for the harbour entrance. Today, The Gap is known as a notorious suicide spot, with about 50 deaths occurring there each year.

Several defensive fortifications are located on the shores and cliff tops of Watsons Bay, such as the Signal Hill Battery, which was constructed in 1892 and was intended to defend the town of Sydney from bombardment by an enemy vessel standing off the coast. The battery is still intact and is located next to the Signal Hill Lighthouse on Old South Head Road adjacent to the lighthouse.

Also located in Watsons Bay is the Steel Point fortifications in Nielsen Park. Built in 1871, it originally accommodated three 80 pounder rifled muzzle-loaders (RMLs) that were replaced sometime during the 1890s with 5 inch breech-loading guns that were removed in 1910. In the 1950’s the RAN degaussing station was constructed over part of the Steel Point fortification. The degaussing station was a countermeasure against magnetic mines. Shark Island was used for this purpose during WWII, naval ships would pass over cables laid under the harbour and were effectively demagnetized. During WWII the Nielsen Park area was used as an anti-aircraft base with interim wooden barracks that included searchlights and anti-aircraft guns.

In 1942 during the Second World War the Sydney Harbour anti-submarine boom net was constructed on Georges Head and was designed to prevent enemy submarines from entering into Sydney Harbour. The boom net spanned the entire width of Port Jackson and a boom net winch house was located on Liangs Point, Watsons Bay. On the night of 31 May 1942, three Japanese midget submarines attempted to enter Sydney Harbour in what became known as the Attack on Sydney Harbour.[5][6] One of the Japanese midget submarines became entangled in the boom net and after unsuccessful attempts by the crew to free the submarine they detonated charges within the sub, killing themselves and destroying their sub in the process.