On the trail of Middle Head's impressive fortified remains

The historic, overlooked 1801 Georges Head battery, at Sydney's Middle Head reserve, is an intact colonial ruin.

FOR about 100 years, colonial authorities feared the former prison outpost of Coal River (later Newcastle) could be wide open to invasion.

The threat could have come from the French, especially, during the long, drawn-out Napoleonic wars, or from the Spanish or, later, even the Russians.