10 heritage facts you may not know about the Sydney Harbour
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Smoke, coal, gas and steam - familiar elements of maritime industry on Sydney Harbour from the early-1800s. Visit these remnants of industry on foot - but to slowly pass by from the water in a boat (see below) presents them in a very different perspective and with deeper relevance.
Here's 10 quick industry heritage facts that you may not know....
- Australia's oldest industrial site evolved along Sussex Street in Darling Harbour with Pyrmont to become Sydney’s first industrial suburb. Wharves, shipbuilding yards, flour mills and rope makers hugged the waterside, served by deepwater anchorages for unloading coal and timber.
- The first Pyrmont Bridge was built across Darling Harbour in 1857. Constructed of timber, it was a swing bridge which allowed commercial shipping to move in and out of Cockle Bay. This was replaced by the second Pyrmont Bridge which was constructed between 1899 and 1902 and still stands.
Darling Harbour, from the Pyrmont Bridge, c.1886. Historic view of Sydney’s working waterfront, with steamships, wharves and bustling harbour activity.
Originally published c.1886 in the Picturesque Atlas of Australasia. Illustration by Fred B. Schell, Darling Harbour, from the Pyrmont Bridge.
- Barangaroo is the site of the discovery of what is believed to be the earliest remains of a colonial-built boat from the 1820s used as a trading vessel and now in the process of being conserved ahead of display at the museum. It was unearthed as the area was excavated for the new Barangaroo Metro station as one form of transport gives way to another.
Excavated colonial boat with ceiling planking removed, revealing the vessel's internal timber structure during archaeological investigations at the Sydney Metro site, 2018.
Image courtesy of Benjamin Wharton for Sydney Metro, 2018.
- The same year as Pyrmont Bridge opened in 1858 saw the construction of the Sydney Observatory which played a seminal role in the history of timekeeping, meteorology, and astronomy in Australia, all of which benefitted the shipping industry. The Observatory’s time ball was dropped for the first time at noon on 5 June 1858 by Church of England priest Reverend William Scott, then colonial astronomer for New South Wales.
Billy Blue by John Barton East. Portrait of the well-known Sydney ferryman and former convict, shown beside the harbour that became closely associated with his life and work.
John Barton East, Billy Blue. Courtesy State Library of New South Wales.
- Blues Point was named after Billy Blue. Thought to be of Jamaican origin, Billy was convicted at Maidstone in Kent of stealing raw sugar and sentenced to seven years' transportation. After completing his sentence he became a respected boatman offering the first services to take people across Sydney Harbour and was also made a water bailiff. Blue made the acquaintance of Governor Lachlan Macquarie who travelled in his boat on several occasions. In recognition of his work, Macquarie granted Billy Blue 80 acres of land at what is now Blues Point.
- Woolwich Dry Dock was carved from 85,000 cubic metres of excavated sandstone, and originally measuring 188metres long and 27 metres wide, Woolwich Dock was once the largest dry dock in Australia. After its completion in 1901, there was steady maritime activity in the area for 50+ years. The site was later occupied by the Army, who used it as a base for their marine transport operations until 1997.
The remains of a historic barge wreck on the shore of Sydney Harbour, viewed against the backdrop of the harbour and city skyline.
Barge Wreck, Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM). Photograph by Nerida Wyatt-Spratt.
- A slowly rusting and rotting Marine Service Board hopper barge at Sawmillers Reserve has been afforded the status of a heritage listed wreck. The barge broke its moorings in the 1960s, before grounding in Berry’s Bay. It was used to carry dredged material out to the spoil dumping grounds off Sydney.
- The North Shore Gas Co formed in 1875 at Oyster Cove Waverton supplied gas to illuminate the new street lighting on Sydney’s North Shore. The remaining structures on site include the boiler house and the chimney. These have been included in the recent landscaping of a recreation area for the Wondakiah residential development.
- From the early 1920s to the early 1990s, the Balls Head Coal Loader functioned primarily as a transfer depot where coal from bulk carriers was distributes to smaller coal-fired vessels, with coal distributed to the local market by road transport. Extremely advanced for its time, it broke records by delivering nearly 2500 tons of coal in under 20 hours. The site operated for over 70 years before being decommissioned. It was dedicated as public open space in 1997 and formally transferred to North Sydney Council in 2003.
- Cockatoo Island was a one-time prison island which became impractical as the city grew and was reinvented as a naval dockyard. One of it more notorious detainees was Frederick Ward born around 1835 in Windsor. Ward was found guilty of attempting to drive forty-five stolen horses. He four years imprisoned at Cockatoo Island before being released on a ticket of leave. He was soon arrested again for horse stealing and returned to Cockatoo Island from which he escaped with another prisoner in September 1863 by swimming to shore. The name most people will know him by - Captain Thunderbolt.
These sites can be visited on Working Harbour - early industrial heritage from the water, a series of cruises offered by the Australian National Maritime Museum in collaboration with the Sydney Heritage Fleet on MV Harman.