Thanks to: John & Shirley Smith, Jan & Peter Herivel Gordon Kelly. It was NOT Fort Scratchely at Newcastle that my dad served. "In 1877-78 two imperial officers on an inspection tour, Col. Jervois and Lt. Col. Scratchely, warned that a more systematic defence posture would have to be taken and that there should be extensive coastal fortifications and an inter-colonial mobile force that could be quickly despatched to meet any threat. Standardising rail gauges would of course be of assistance here. " Clearly Lt. Col Scratchely was instrumental in the planning & construction of a series of 'Forts' along the coast, including Newcastle and South Head, and it was the latter where my dad served. He used to refer to his post as "the fort", but I never heard the word Scratchely until I looked up his discharge ! I think this must be the source of the term ? William Moppett

Hello William, he could have been at South Head for 5 years and then sent to Newcastle for a week for whatever reason, and then discharged and the record would show discharged at Scratchley. Some of relatives have similar rather strange discharge postings. I dont think it makes much sense to say that because Col Scratchley planned the defense scheme in 1877, any fort would be named after him including the Sydney ones. I don't think so. Regards Robert ----- Original Message ----- From: "William MOPPETT" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 10:09 PM Subject: SCRATCHELY > Thanks to: > John & Shirley Smith, > Jan & Peter Herivel > Gordon Kelly. > > It was NOT Fort Scratchely at Newcastle that my dad served. > > "In 1877-78 two imperial officers on an inspection tour, Col. > Jervois and Lt. Col. Scratchely, warned that a more systematic defence > posture would have to > be taken and that there should be extensive coastal fortifications and > an inter-colonial mobile > force that could be quickly despatched to meet any threat. > Standardising rail gauges would of > course be of assistance here. " > > Clearly Lt. Col Scratchely was instrumental in the planning & > construction of a series of 'Forts' along the coast, including > Newcastle and South Head, and it was the latter where my dad served. > He used to refer to his post as "the fort", but I never heard the word > Scratchely until I looked up his discharge ! > I think this must be the source of the term ? > > William Moppett > > > ==== AUS-MILITARY Mailing List ==== > Replies to queries on AUS-MILITARY should generally be sent to the list as well as the sender > Please use the "reply to all" function of your mail program >