Newington Armory

The RAN Armament Depot Newington was a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) armament depot at Newington, New South Wales, Australia.

The Armory is located as part of the original land grant to John Blaxland and his family, located on the shores of Parramatta River

The Sydney Morning Herald in October 1875 reported the recommendations of a Board appointed by the Government of the Colony of New South Wales into the removal of the Goat Island magazine. The second recommendation was "That a separate and distinct magazine for merchant's gunpowder, capable of storing about 300 tons, be established on the right bank of the Parramatta River...". In May 1876, the Herald reported that the Government had set aside 3,700 pounds to purchase land on the Parramatta River at Newington.

It was not until 1882, after Newington College had left Newington House for Stanmore, New South Wales, that land at Newington was acquired for "certain works for and in connection with the erection of a magazine for the storage of gunpowder and other explosives and certain buildings in connection therewith".

In the event, construction at the site did not commence until 1897, and it was for a military magazine rather than the magazine for merchant's gunpowder as envisaged in 1875. A notice appearing in the Sydney Morning Herald in March 1897 calling for tenders for the erection of a "Magazine, Laboratory, Gun Cotton Store and other buildings" at the "Military Reserve at Newington" is in the name of the "New South Wales Military Forces".

An article in The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers’ Advocate in September 1897, reporting on the ongoing construction of the Magazine, says that: "...the Government Powder Magazine at Newington... is intended to store all the powder required for military purposes in the colony..." .

In June 1895 the Sydney Morning Herald, quoting the Government Gazette of 18 June 1895 recorded the formation of:

"Ordnance Store Corps: "C" (Ordnance) Branch of the Military Secretary's Department, now a civil branch, to be converted into an Ordnance Store Corps."

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