Fort Buckley
Coordinates: 41 ° 15 ′ 38.5 ″ S , 174 ° 47 ′ 16.4 ″ E
Fort Buckley is a fortification on Barnard Street in the district of Wadestown above the ferry terminal of the Interislander in the New Zealand city of Wellington . The property is owned by Wellington City Council and registered as a Category 1 Historic Place by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust under number 7544.
The fort was built out of fear of a supposed Russian invasion of New Zealand ( Russian scare ) in the 1870s and 1880s and was built from earth in a hurry in 1885. The ammunition store was a beam structure protected with earth and gravel. The system accommodated two pulled 64-pounder muzzle-loaders with a range of about 3 km, which had been ordered by the government in 1878 in the first phase of the "Russian Scare". Just a year after construction, the gun emplacements were reinforced with concrete.
From 1893 the battery was only used for training purposes, as the cannons were now out of date. In 1904 the fort was officially decommissioned, five years later the cannons were dismantled and exhibited in Palmerston North Park .
An anti-aircraft gun was installed on the site during World War II . After the war, the facility fell into disrepair. The two gun emplacements are well preserved, the flak position can hardly be seen.
In 1989 there were disputes between the City of Wellington and Land Information New Zealand over ownership and management of the property. These went out in 2001 in favor of the city, the site has since been a recreation area administered by the Highland Park Progressive Association .
The complex is one of 21 of the most historically significant coastal fortifications in New Zealand and one of the best preserved in its original state from the early phase of fortification construction during the Russian Scare . It was the first installation to protect the port of the capital and the first operational coastal fortification in the country. In doing so, she also demonstrated New Zealand's military independence from Great Britain.