Captain Francis Light first built a wooden fort here in 1786, establishing the free port where trade would, he hoped, be lured from Britain’s Dutch rivals. Between 1808 and 1810, convict labour built the current stone fort, with the star-profile shape of the walls allowing for overlapping fields of fire against enemies. For all its size, Fort Cornwallis today isn’t particularly impressive; only the outer walls stand, enclosing a rather empty park and the magazine which once stored the fort's ammunition.
Light named the fort after Charles Cornwallis, perhaps best known for surrendering at the Battle of Yorktown to George Washington, effectively ending the American Revolutionary War.