Monday, July 20, 2009

Exploring our local area: Fort Scratchley

Last week we caught the train down to Newcastle with some friends, and went to Fort Scratchley. Fort Scratchley was originally built as a defense for Newcastle's harbour in 1881. It actually saw some action in World War II when it fired on a Japanese submarine that tried to attack Newcastle!

After falling into disrepair for many years, and being the home of squatters and vandalised, it's recently been reopened. We wandered around the top of the facility ourselves and then took a guided tour of the underground tunnels. The tour lasted for about an hour and was really interesting.





I'd like to go back again when Billy's a bit older and has more of an understanding of WWII so we could get even more out of the tour. Hopefully they'll continue repairing and restoring over the years as funds permit..

4 comments:

Louise said...

What a great day out- I love taking my boys to real history sites- and they get so much out of it as well. It bring history to life for them.

Tracy said...

looks like a great feildtrip. What a way to study history! Last year we went to Gettysburg battle feilds and museum in PA. We intend to go back. So much to learn.

katepickle said...

that looks like a really interesting place... you just learn so much from actually being immersed in history don't you!

Kez said...

It brings history to life for me too! It really is a great way to study it.