Fort Denison
Good to know
- Best time to go
- September–May
- Budget
- $$
- Accessibility
- limited
- Coordinates
- Open in maps
This small fortified island sits in the middle of Sydney Harbour, a short ferry ride from Circular Quay. Once a rocky outcrop used to isolate convicts, it was built up in the 1850s with a Martello tower and gun battery amid fears of foreign attack, making it one of the last such towers constructed in the British Empire. A time-ball and tide gauge on the island have recorded harbour conditions for generations. Visitors reach it by boat to explore the tower, the barracks and the cannon.
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