Fort Ballance

• 1886 - 1892
• Construction
• 1886
• Construction begins on emplacement for) Armstrong Vickers disappearing gun
• 1891
• Low Battery constructed
• 1892
• Installation of two Nordenfelt quick-firing 6-pounder guns
• 1924
• Removal of disappearing guns, gunpits roofed and converted to magazine storage
• 1941
• Reoccupied for coastal defence, installation of two 4-inchMkVII guns
• 1942
• Installation of two 75mm guns

• unknown
• New Zealand Army/ Ministry of Defence

Not assessed

Fort Ballance itself is located at the eastern edge of the flattened ridge while the extended battery structures run for some distance down the slope towards the sea to the north, east, and south. A large flat area is all that remains of the army houses that previously stood on the site – a rough track runs down from this level to the lower battery on the south western slope.

At the rear of the fort is a high cavalier incorporating what were the battery observation post, command post, and communications post. There is a bomb proof casement below for the engine room, along with rooms for accommodating personnel. There is a rear trace formed by a wall of loop holed casement and continued by freestanding, corrugated iron framed walls filled with rudimentary concrete also with loopholes.

The fort walls are generally constructed of brick or concrete (of varying quality) and rendered with cement plaster. No ordnance remains on site but there are three emplacements for heavy for 6 pounder guns, quick firing guns on either side. The magazine, sited between one of the BL guns and the RML gun, is sunken and there is an artillery store above it.    

• Brick

• Concrete  

• Rendered with cement plaster.

Fort Ballance is the largest of the military installations located on the spur between Mahanga Bay and Scorching Bay. The fort has a dramatic setting atop a flattened ridge at Point Gordon on the Miramar Peninsula. The elevated position gives it sweeping views out to sea past the South Wairarapa coast, around Wellington, and to the Hutt Valley and beyond. Much of this peninsula is reserve land (most for military purposes) and the Fort sits at the centre of a substantial area of open space that protects views from and to it from land and sea.    

• Architectural

  Does the item have architectural or artistic value for characteristics that may include its design, style, era, form, scale, materials, colour, texture, patina of age, quality of space, craftsmanship, smells, and sounds?

  Fort Ballance has architectural value as an example of the types of coastal defences that were constructed in the 1880s in Wellington. The remains of this fort are the most significant of any built in and around Wellington at this time. 

• Group

  Is the item part of a group of buildings, structures, or sites that taken together have coherence because of their age, history, style, scale, materials, or use?

  Fort Ballance is one of a group of forts constructed in the 1880s as part of a coastal defence network. . By 1898 Wellington boasted four fortresses, Ballance, Buckley, Gordon, and Kelburne, as well as batteries at the Botanic Gardens, Halswell, and Kau Point. 

• Association

  Is the item associated with an important historic event, theme, pattern, phase, or activity?

  Fort Ballance, and the associated positions on Point Gordon, has historic significance resulting from their role in coastal defence. It was the city’s principal coastal defence in the period between 1885 and 1911. It was built in a time of rapid change in armaments and coastal artillery, and remained in use through World War One and saw ‘active’ duty again in World War Two.  

• Association

  Is the item associated with an important person, group, or organisation?

  Fort Ballance is primarily associated with the New Zealand Government, the early Defence forces, and its designers Major Henry Cautley and Lieutenant Colonel Tudor-Boddam. 

• Archaeological

  Does the item have archaeological value for its ability to provide scientific information about past human activity?

  Fort Ballance has archaeological value as it is known to have been associated with pre-European occupation and was constructed pre-1900. 

• Educational

  Does the item have educational value for what it can demonstrate about aspects of the past?

  Fort Ballance has immense educational value as a rare illustration of New Zealand’s response to wartime threats, and the responses that were made to the developments in military technology that characterised the first half of the twentieth century.   

• Technological

  Does the item have technological value for its innovative or important construction methods or use of materials?

  Fort Ballance has technical value for its structural integrity; many of its key features remain and it offers a comprehensive guide to the typical 19^th century New Zealand fort. The emplacements and mountings are still in place and remain in good order. 

• Public Esteem

  Is the item held in high public esteem?

  The fort is held in high public esteem and the uncovering of the gun pits and tunnels which had previously been filled in by the army have greatly raised the fort’s profile. Retired soldiers led efforts to have the earth removed and the fort’s importance recognised in the 1990s. 

• Identity - Sense of Place - Continuity

  Is the item a focus of community, regional, or national identity? Does the item contribute to sense of place or continuity?

  Fort Ballance is a focus of community, regional, and national identity and is a highly significant site. Constructed by the New Zealand Government in response to the ‘Russian Scare’ and as an acknowledgement that the British could not be relied upon for protection, it is the among the first movement towards a more independent New Zealand.

• Rare

  Is the item rare, unique, unusual, seminal, influential, or outstanding?

  Fort Ballance has some rarity value as the principal coastal defence work in the period 1885-1911 and for its intact state, and the ‘see-saw’ light emplacement is the only one still existing in New Zealand. 

• Representative

  Is the item a good example of the class it represents?

  Fort Ballance is the largest of the military installations and is an excellent representative of the coastal fortifications that were constructed in the 1880s.

• Authentic

  Does the item have authenticity or integrity because it retains significant fabric from the time of its construction or from later periods when important additions or modifications were carried out?

  Fort Ballance retains a high level of authenticity and integrity and is the largest example of a coastal fortification found in Wellington. It has authenticity of materials, design, craftsmanship, and setting. 

• Importance

  Is the item important at a local, regional, national, or international level?

  This site has national significance. Fort Ballance is Wellington’s most historic coastal fortification and marks the beginning of a period of rapid change in armaments and coastal artillery. It was designed to address the threat of war and as a response to the realisation that acknowledgement that the British could not be relied upon for protection, so is associated with early nation building in New Zealand. It has high levels of architectural, group, historic, archaeological, educational, technical, and social values, as well as being associated with the military for over 100 years. The majority of the site is intact and retains some now rare features.     

Not assessed

• Historic Places Trust. ‘Henry Cautley.’ Professional Biographies, accessed 22 November 2013,
• Murray, Russell. Fort Ballance – Point Gordon. Wellington City Council: Unpublished report, prepared for Plan Change 53, 2005.
• O’Brien, Rebecca.‘Fort Ballance (including associated positions at Fort Gordon).’ New Zealand Historic Places Trust: Unpublished registration report, 2002, accessed 22 November 2013

• Inventory report

Not available