Getting into Victoria Barracks isn’t as simple as showing up. Members of the Probus Club of the Hills found that out when their bus trip to the Paddington site turned into a small round of paperwork first, with each traveller needing an advance security clearance before they could set foot inside. Club organisers had billed the outing as a mystery trip, but there was nothing mysterious about Victoria Barracks itself once the details went in.
The barracks began life under the British Army, built mostly by convict labour between 1841 and 1849 from sandstone quarried nearby. What’s left standing is remarkable: a heritage site where many of the original buildings and features are still in excellent condition more than a century and a half later.
Today the grounds are shared by Defence Command and Health personnel, a museum, live-in accommodation and Cadet training, though the Commonwealth Government is weighing up whether to sell the site while keeping its heritage elements intact.
Walking the grounds, the group came across a cannon salvaged from the First Fleet ship Sirius and an enormous underground silo originally built for grain storage. It later became a water tank, after mice made the original purpose untenable. Much of the barracks’ 1800s architecture is the work of Lieutenant-Colonel George Barney, the same military engineer behind Fort Denison and the rebuilding of Circular Quay, so the visit doubled as a tour through one man’s mark on colonial Sydney.
Light rain followed the group through the outdoor part of the tour, and they made for the Army Museum, set inside what was once a 25-cell military prison built in 1847. Inside are uniforms, medals including Victoria Crosses, and a run of historical weapons. Charlie the Redcoat, the prison’s reputed ghost, stayed out of sight.
He’s said to have hanged himself while locked up for shooting his sergeant, and the museum’s staff seem happy to let his story do the haunting rather than the ghost itself.
The bus trip wrapped up with lunch at Souths Juniors Club and a run through La Perouse, which is where the “mystery” label finally earned its keep.
The Probus Club of the Hills meets on the second Wednesday of most months at the Galston Club and runs several other activities through the month. Anyone interested in joining can reach Bob Heyward on 0427 360 389.
