Left, the observation post and right, the gun emplacement at Home Point, Bream Head Scenic Reserve |
BREAM HEAD GUN - WELL WORTH A VISIT
Dear Friends of Bream Head,
The account given below is based on notes sent to me by Jonathan Carpenter, Department of Conservation archaeologist:
With the advance of Japanese forces through the Pacific in 1941 the New Zealand Government started constructing a series of defences around the main harbours. Then in 1942 smaller defences were constructed to protect secondary ports from Whangaroa to Bluff. These included gun emplacements, observation posts, radar stations, airfields and mine stations.
By the start of World War II the western end of what is now the Bream Head Scenic Reserve from Home Point to Smugglers Bay had long been cleared for pastoral farming. On 9 January 1942 the War Cabinet authorised the establishment of a single 5 inch (ex United States) Navy battery at Whangarei and part of the land was taken for defence purposes; grazing, however, continued in part to camouflage the military activities.
Construction of the gun emplacement along with a battery observation post, engine room, reservoir, personnel accommodation. and associated services was completed in the second half of 1942. Access was by road or by water. Due to the limited supply of 5 inch ammunition available, the usual magazine was dispensed with and an ammunition shed was built out the back of the emplacement itself. The battery only ever fired three shots, none of them in anger. The longest of these travelled twelve miles over Ocean Beach and the shock wave was enough to knock down the ammunition shed. The Bream Head gun remained in operation until November 1943. After WWII the land became surplus to requirements, became Crown land, and ultimately was gazetted as a Scenic Reserve under the management of the Lands and Survey Department. (See Newsletter 21 September 2005)
Today most of the structures have been removed except for the reinforced concrete gun emplacement, engine room, and observation post. A number of other concrete foundations remain scattered around. The Bream Head Gun Battery has local significance in that it is the only remaining example of WWII defence structures left in the area that is open to the public. In terms of military priorities Whangarei was considered less likely to be attacked and so only required a single gun establishment, and unlike the Bay of Islands, Whangarei did not rate “fortress” defense status.
This battery however has some distinct features, such as the officers quarters as a local cottage and embedding local rock on the observation post roof to break up its outline. The most significant feature of the battery is the spotting mural with compass bearings painted above the slit window in the observation post. (See photo below). It shows the inner harbour and Marsden Point as it was before the oil refinery was constructed. Today this is one of the last remaining military murals left in the country and must be considered nationally significant.
About ten years ago the Urquhart Bay Assn. applied to the Lotteries Grant Board for funds to restore the mural. The application was successful and an artist from the University of Auckland was employed to do the restoration.
Foot note: Behind the gun emplacement (just visible on the sky line) stands the hill known to Maori as Tuta. Terraces and defense ditches show the site of an ancient paa. Mate atu he teetee kura, whakaeke mai he teetee kura - a fern frond dies but another frond rises to take its place. Structures both for the defense of people and land.
David Monro.
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