formed rifle corps, a three-gun battery was established on the northern side of Flagstaff Hill facing the harbour approaches. The three guns were surplus 1861 vintage 68-pounder smooth bore muzzle loaders. A 12-pounder gun that was placed adjacent to the 3 guns was used as the 1 o'clock gun. In 1983, these guns were restored and placed in their present position on reconstructed carriages. An interpretive sign is located near the three guns. By the mid 1880s, calls were again renewed for the construction of permanent gun emplacements. Colonel Scratchley and Commander Howard RN reported that enemy cruisers could steam off the coast out of range of obsolete weapons and demand bunker coal from ports such as Newcastle and Wollongong in return for not bombarding them. Taking on board this advice, the government accepted that it was vital new defence plans be made. The Royal Commissions in the 1880s led to a Report on Defence in NSW being submitted to Parliament in 1887. The defence system that was agreed upon proposed fixed fortifications with adequate protection for the defenders to be built to defend the Colony's vital ports at Newcastle, Sydney Harbour and Wollongong. In the case of Wollongong, the report recommended that a defence system comprising a concealed emplacement at Flagstaff Hill and two smaller emplacements to the north and south be built. The gun at Flagstaff Hill was to be a very large gun to be placed under cover near the summit of Flagstaff Hill and capable of being traversed so it could fire in any direction. The gun was to be powerful enough to sink any ship from Port Kembla in the south, the Five Islands seaward and Bulli to the north. In 1887 the Department of Public Works Military Works Branch called tenders for emplacements to be built at Cliff Road Smiths Hill and at Signal Hill. The Signal Hill emplacement was built in 1890 and had a battery of one Vickers Armstrong Mark V 6 inch breech loading hydro-pneumatic disappearing gun that was located in a deep circular pit. The pit was connected by tunnels to the magazine and shell stores, casemate, flanking depression range finder and observation posts, two machine gun posts and the entrance to the Battery from the Battery yard. To save costs, the Smith's Hill emplacement had a battery of two 80 pound rifled muzzle loader guns from the Royal Gun