Sydney Olympic Park

The Newington Armory  - 10 July, 2017    (throwback memory)

This is a throwback memory to 10 July, 2017,  which I did not write about at that time, when Ken and I did a bus tour with Anglican Churches, Springwood to the Newington Armory in Sydney Olympic Park.  

Here is Trish marking off passengers' names as we entered the bus outside Christ Church on the Great Western Highway, Springwood.

Newington Armory is a heritage-listed former Royal Australian Navy armament depot, set in a riverside landscape, now a tourist attraction in Sydney Olympic Park.  It was built in 1897 by the Royal Australian Navy.  Situated beside the Parramatta River, the area was originally chosen for its relative isolation.  It is on the traditional land of the Wann-gal indigenous people.

 Most of the 248 acres resumed at that time was described as mud flats, swamp and mangroves or salt marsh.  Its isolated location, away from urban areas, made it suitable for the storage of explosives.  During the Second World War Newington played an essential role in providing supplies for the Allied ships for the war in the Pacific.  

The site now spans approx. 100 hectares.  It contains 100 buildings, 6.7 kls. of narrow-gauge railway, 7 battery-powered locomotives, 30 rail wagons, 3 cranes and various items of moveable heritage left behind after the Depot closed.  There is also 48 hectares of Nature Reserve.  The Southern part of the Depot was developed as the athletes village for the 2000 Olympic Games and is now the suburb of Newington.

There are many interesting buildings, doorways, cranes and tanks on the site and other items of moveable heritage left behind from the armament days.

There is a 2ft. narrow gauge electric railway which we boarded and it is a great way to get to know the Newington Armory.  See link

It was formerly used to transport missiles, torpedoes and other WW2 munitions.  The train ride takes 75 minutes.

Building 155 Inspection workshop

A tour guide provided an on-board commentary while we rode around the site, passing heritage buildings dating back to the 1890's including explosive storehouses, workshops and cottages.  We stopped at Building 39 to alight and view an armament exhibition.  The exhibition features an array of ammunition, bombs and missile replicas.  It is fascinating and the highlight of the train trip, only accessible via a tour on the rail.

Olympic Park Station

We enjoyed our time spent at Newington Armory.  We were originally meant to have lunch in a canteen on the site, but due to a mix-up in arrangements, our booking had been overlooked.  So we were then driven up to the shops at Olympic Park where we had a fabulous complimentary lunch in the Coffee Club Restaurant before boarding the bus again for our trip home.