As each passing year threatens to turn Newcastle military history into a distant memory, Bob Harper was hoping to keep the stories alive for the next generation of Novocastrians.
"We get so many school children through here and we are not just teaching them by telling them, we are showing them the guns," Mr Harper said.
"We aren't promoting it or encouraging it, but we are explaining history to people ... we need to learn from what's happened," he said.
The president of the Fort Scratchley Historical Society was getting ready to commemorate the 84th anniversary of the shelling of Newcastle by the I-21 Japanese submarine.
Coinciding with the King's Birthday public holiday this year on June 8, the fort will fire six guns at three timeslots throughout the day alongside a military reenactment group and the RSL Pipe Band.
At 3pm, Newcastle lord mayor Gavin Morris will fire one of the two Mark VII guns used on the Japanese submarine.
"For Australia, it's the only land-based facility that's ever fired, war came very close," Mr Harper said.
About 2am on June 8 1942, the Japanese submarine surfaced northeast of Newcastle, and fired 34 projectiles at the city, eight star shells and the remaining high explosives, Mr Harper said.
"While they were firing the guns, crews could only see the flashes of light and back then they didn't have all the fancy aiming gear they've got now," he said.
In response, four rounds were fired from Fort Scratchley.
"History tells us that two shells went over and two shells went under, so in other words, we bracketed the submarine," Mr Harper said.
Most shells did not explode but there was some damage to buildings and houses near Parnell Place.
"Only three of the shells exploded, one on Macquarie Pier, one on the rock platform near the ocean baths and one near some townhouses," Mr Harper said.
The fort's museum was now home to artefacts from the incident including a shell found at the BHP site, a piece of shrapnel from Parnell Place and the canister and burn-speckled parachute of a star shell.
"If we really learnt all the right things about going to war, maybe we wouldn't be having the problems we are having now where countries think they can just walk in and take over," Mr Harper said.
Each open day at the fort tends to draw a large crowd and Mr Harper was hoping Monday would be no different.
He said about 1500 people stopped by on Anzac Day this year.
The historical society is also in the process of trying to find people with historical links to the site, with the number tallying about 1000 so far in the project.
Mr Harper was urging anyone with a connection to let the society know as he recalled he only discovered his grandfather's connection by stumbling upon a photograph.
"My grandfather was one of the gun crews at BHP and they had trained them at Fort Scratchley," he said.
To continue to keep Newcastle's history alive, however, the society was looking for some new blood, Mr Harper said.
"All of our guides are getting older, I'm 72 and I'm one of the younger guides and we are all volunteers," he said.
"When they leave, that leaves a big gap for us ... we need to start training new people up."
