1830: Population of Hobart was 20,000 and the British Empire was enjoying relative peace except for conflicts in India.
1835: A commander of the Royal Engineers Captain Roger Kelsall arrived in Hobart. He said the colony was virtually undefended. He wrote a plan to defend Hobart with a series of forts including one below the present Cenotaph.
1838: Building of the battery began. A series of guns was placed below the present cenotaph. The battery was built erratically depending on the perceived threat which varied.
1855: It was named the Queens Battery.
1864: Construction was completed. It consisted of seven guns and Martin’s hot shot oven. It was never fired in anger.
The hot shot oven was designed to be fired at wooden ships and ignite their gunpowder. The oven heated the shot before they went into the guns. One of only two hot shot ovens in the world and unique in Australia.
1901: The Queens Battery was considered obsolete. It never fired a shot in anger.
1922: Excavation revealed the hot shot oven. It and the trenches were then buried. The Queens battery was used for ceremonial purposes until 1923. It was demolished to make way for the cenotaph. The hot shot oven was retained until it was covered over during post World War II landscaping of the Cenotaph.
1990: The hot shot oven and Queens Battery was re-discovered and then recovered because there was no inclination to turn it into a tourist attraction.
The hot shot oven remains as ruins below the ground. It lies about twenty meters from the cenotaph towards the river.
1835: A commander of the Royal Engineers Captain Roger Kelsall arrived in Hobart. He said the colony was virtually undefended. He wrote a plan to defend Hobart with a series of forts including one below the present Cenotaph.
1838: Building of the battery began. A series of guns was placed below the present cenotaph. The battery was built erratically depending on the perceived threat which varied.
1855: It was named the Queens Battery.
1864: Construction was completed. It consisted of seven guns and Martin’s hot shot oven. It was never fired in anger.
The hot shot oven was designed to be fired at wooden ships and ignite their gunpowder. The oven heated the shot before they went into the guns. One of only two hot shot ovens in the world and unique in Australia.
1901: The Queens Battery was considered obsolete. It never fired a shot in anger.
1922: Excavation revealed the hot shot oven. It and the trenches were then buried. The Queens battery was used for ceremonial purposes until 1923. It was demolished to make way for the cenotaph. The hot shot oven was retained until it was covered over during post World War II landscaping of the Cenotaph.
1990: The hot shot oven and Queens Battery was re-discovered and then recovered because there was no inclination to turn it into a tourist attraction.
The hot shot oven remains as ruins below the ground. It lies about twenty meters from the cenotaph towards the river.