Kooragang Island is located in the Hunter River of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and is the site of a deep water port for the export of coal. In 2007, 84.8 million metric tons of coal were exported from the port, making it one of the busiest in the world. The infrastructure is being improved, for example with the Sandgate Flyover

Sandgate Flyover

The Sandgate Flyover is a grade separated railway flyover located in Sandgate, New South Wales. Its purpose is to allow coal trains to and from the Port of Kooragang to proceed without obstructing intersecting traffic to and from Sydney, as well as local Newcastle –-Maitland, etc., trains.With the...

, this will allow the port to export 140 million tons of coal a year after 2010.

The port first opened in about 1984.

Other industry

There are other industries based on Kooragang Island such as Mountain Industries, which operates a bitumen plant, Blue Circle Southern Cement

Blue Circle Industries

Blue Circle Industries was a British public company manufacturing cement. It was founded in 1900, and was bought out by the French company Lafarge in 2001.-History:...

, SimsMetal recyclers and Orica Kooragang, which manufactures agricultural fertilizer and explosives for the mining industry.

Cycling

Kooragang Island is home to three Hunter cycling clubs being Kooragang Open Cycle Club, Hunter District Cycling Club and Hunter Valley Veterans Cycling Club.

Regular races are hosted on Saturday and Sunday with Friday night races during daylight saving.

Wind Turbine

A single 600 kW wind turbine

Wind turbine

A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...

 is located between Cormorant Road and the Hunter River.

Protest

In 2008 a Camp for Climate Action

Camp for Climate Action

The Camps for Climate Action are campaign gatherings that take place to draw attention to, and act as a base for direct action against, major carbon emitters, as well as to develop ways to create a zero-carbon society...

 was held on the island by people protesting against the use of coal and its role in increasing global warming

Global warming

Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...

. Around 1000 protesters attended, chaining themselves to wagons and resulting in the delayed delivery of 20,000 tons of coal to the port.