Fort Lytton

At the time the fort was built, Brisbane had fewer than 100,000 people, with an annual trade worth more than four million pounds.

[2] Based on the recommendations of the illustrious British soldiers and military tacticians Colonel Sir William Jervois and Scratchley, Queensland opted to rely heavily on Fort Lytton as a fixed defence position for its capital and wealthiest port, Brisbane.

The fort is a typical nineteenth century garrison - a pentagonal fortress concealed behind grassy embankments - surrounded for greater protection by a water-filled moat.

A small marine defence force was also developed, consisting of the two gunboats Gayundah and Paluma, the torpedo boat Mosquito and a number of armed barges.

In the mid-1880s a redoubt (mini-fort) was constructed on the hill to serve as a lookout and as a base for the infantry and field artillery units that were needed to protect Fort Lytton from an attack by land.

The redoubt was connected to Fort Lytton by telegraph, no doubt backed up by more traditional signalling means such as semaphore.

At various times Lytton Hill was also used for civilian applications such as for semaphore communications with the prison located on St Helena Island, to temporarily accommodate a boys reformatory school, and as a radar station for the Brisbane Pilot Service.

During the First World War, Fort Lytton was mainly a training facility for troops preparing to go overseas.

The Fort's artillery was used operationally on two occasions, firing warning shots near two ships (a Dutch steamer and a local fishing vessel) that were failing to follow wartime procedures.

Also, the navy operated indicator loops and remote-controlled minefields in the deep water channels of Moreton Bay, giving them the potential to detect and destroy enemy vessels including submerged submarines.

Warning of vessels approaching the boom was provided by indicator loop and photo-electric beam systems across the river mouth downstream of the fort.

Fort Lytton's signal station provided essential communications between Australian and its forces in Korea.

The fort's last significant defence operation was in October 1965 when the signals station was used to gather intelligence on the "Indonesian coup" which resulted in rise to power of General Suharto who would later be appointed as president.

Whilst most of the site was transformed into oil refining and storage facilities, three parcels of land were left intact.