THE
CAPITAL DEFENCE WEBSITE
AND RELATED PROJECTS.
About the Capital Defence website and
photographic records.
© Darcy
Waters 1999
Since 1995 I have been quietly compiling a photographic record
of the remains of military works around Wellington.
I became
interested in military structures after visiting the Wrights Hill
Fortress. After having a look in the photographic
section of the Alexander Turnbull library I realised that
there was not a huge amount of photos of military works publicly
accessible. So I quietly started to compile my photographic record
of the military works that do remain. Back then I didn't
realised just how much does remain around Wellington.
Almost
all of our gun emplacements built between about 1885 and 1910
still remain. Unfortunately Fort Kelburn was demolished
during construction of Wellingtons motor way system. Also
almost half of our coastal defence emplacements still remain as
does half of our heavy Anti-Aircraft batteries emplacements.
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As a result of compiling this photographic record I have compiled
a list of what I know remains (1.) and has gone (2.). This
is a result of me visiting sites to check to see if anything remains
and if so to photographic it. This may be during one visit
or over several. So by now I have checked out and photographed
most of the gun emplacements as well as some of the other sites
where structures were built for the military use. This varies
from a hospital in Silverstream to a underground ‘Fighter Sector
Control' to a army base - Fort Dorset.
The sites so far
covered within this record are mostly within Wellington and its
suburbs. I have photographed a few sites outside this area
but I have not finished filing them. They are included because
they are within the Wellington Province.
To help me understand what did exist I undertake some background
research to find out details about what existed. This involves
looking at archival material, newspaper libraries and numerous other
sources. As a result I now have a file on each site with the
material obtained during research filed within. Also notes
from the photographic ‘shoot' of a site are filed in the relevant
reference file. Material from my reference files were used
during preparing the pages of this site.
The website that
this page resides on is another result of this project. The
purpose of this website is to add to the public awareness of an
aspect of our built heritage that is often overlooked by many people.
The compilation of this comprehensive photographic record
and related activities are ongoing although not as fast as I'd like
due to my job and computers taking up much of my time.
However I will endeavour to
keep this web site up to date relative to my main photographic record
project.
Please feel free to e-mail
me at capdef@orcon.net.nz with any comments regarding material
on this website or on it's layout.
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(1)
Disappeared Military Structures
Wellington's Vanishing Defence Heritage.
by Waters, Darcy R.
(2)
Remaining Military Structures
The remaining military structures in the Wellington
Region.
by Waters, Darcy R.
To Site map (text based)
©
Darcy Waters 1999
E-mail me on capdef@orcon.net.nz
