Buried beneath grass and sand at Ben Buckler lies the remains of one of only three disappearing gun batteries built in Sydney. The fortifications were the final link in Sydney’s outer defence ring, the development of a naval defence system that had begun in the first days of the new colony. Designed to protect the colony from naval bombardment by enemy ships, the BL 9.2 inch Mk VI British-made breech loading guns were the largest guns installed in New South Wales. 

The North Bondi coastal defence fortifications were built in 1892, with the gun being placed in the pit in 1893, after a team of 36 horses took three weeks to transport it from Victoria Barracks.