Sydney Heads
Encyclopedia
Sydney Heads is the entrance to Port Jackson
(Sydney Harbour) in Sydney
, New South Wales
, Australia
.
North Head and Quarantine Head are to the north, South Head and Dunbar Head are to the south. Middle Head, Georges Head and Chowder Head are to the west and within the bay. The Hornby Lighthouse
is located on South Head and is Australia's third oldest lighthouse. Macquarie Lighthouse
, Australia's first lighthouse, is a few kilometres to the south on Dunbar Head.
North Head is a headland south-east of the suburb of Manly
. It is part of Sydney Harbour National Park
. The headland is a promontory of sandstone
and is 3.85 square kilometres in area.
The Sydney Quarantine station is located on North Head and is one of the few facilities still in existence which once operated in each state of Australia until the 1980s. From 1828 Spring Cove, on the western side of North Head, was used to quarantine
new arrivals to Sydney to minimise the spread of communicable diseases
such as smallpox
and whooping cough. In 1832, the whole area of North Head was set aside for a quarantine station. A permanent quarantine facility was set up in 1837 and continued to operate until 1984. Vietnamese refugees
were housed there in 1975 and Cyclone Tracy
victims from Darwin, Northern Territory
in 1975-6. The Station was finally closed in 1984 and the 'management' of the site passed to the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service.
From 1934, defence facilities were installed on the headland but were wound down in 1945. From 1953 there was a School of Artillery
and it used the former defence facilities. The harbour reserve was established in 1979. The School of Artillery relocated to Puckapunyal
army base in Victoria in 1998, but there remained an artillery museum on the headland. In 2001 the site was passed to the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust
for management. In 2010 the artillery collection was moved to the Army Museum Bandiana in Victoria; the Trust plans to establish an exhibition on the defence of Sydney on the site. Also located on North Head is the Australian Institute of Police Management, housed in a secure compound which formerly was the 'Seamen's Quarters' of the Quarantine Station; a place where sailors with acquired STDs were treated and securely confined behind high sandstone walls (prior to the development of modern antibiotics).
, to the north of the suburb of Watsons Bay
.
A twenty-minute foreshore walk on the South Head Heritage Trail offers dramatic views of Middle Head, Manly, North Head and the Pacific Ocean. Starting at the delightful Camp Cove Beach, an 1870s cobblestone path leads first to Lady Bay (also known as Lady Jane) Beach, one of three in Sydney where nude bathing is lawful. It then loops around the headland, passing Hornby Lighthouse, its lightkeepers' cottages, and several gun emplacements from the end of the 19th century.
HMAS Watson
, the Royal Australian Navy training base, is also located at South Head.
. It is part of Sydney Harbour National Park
.
Middle Head is home to an extensive network of defence fortifications and tunnels, including the Middle Head Fortifications
, the Georges Head Battery
and the Lower Georges Heights Commanding Position
and other forts located around Sydney Harbour. The fortifications feature 'Tiger Cages' where the military trained soldiers by simulating prisoner of war conditions in Vietnam.
HMAS Penguin
is located at Middle Harbour.
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...
(Sydney Harbour) in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, 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...
.
North Head and Quarantine Head are to the north, South Head and Dunbar Head are to the south. Middle Head, Georges Head and Chowder Head are to the west and within the bay. The Hornby Lighthouse
Hornby Lighthouse
Hornby Lighthouse, also known as South Head Lower Light, is an active lighthouse located on the tip of South Head, New South Wales, Australia, a headland to the north of the suburb Watsons Bay. It marks the southern entrance to Port Jackson and Sydney Harbour, as well as lighting the South Reef, a...
is located on South Head and is Australia's third oldest lighthouse. Macquarie Lighthouse
Macquarie Lighthouse
The Macquarie Lighthouse, also known as South Head Upper Light, was the first, and is the longest serving, lighthouse site in Australia. It is located on Dunbar Head, Vaucluse near the entrance to Sydney Harbour. There has been a navigational aid in this vicinity since 1791 and a lighthouse near...
, Australia's first lighthouse, is a few kilometres to the south on Dunbar Head.
North Head
Manly, New South Wales
Manly is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Manly is located 17 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of Manly Council, in the Northern Beaches region.-History:Manly was named...
. It is part of Sydney Harbour National Park
Sydney Harbour National Park
thumb|right|250px|[[Nielsen Park]]Sydney Harbour National Park is a national park comprising parts of Sydney Harbour, its foreshores and various islands. The park lies within the Sydney metropolitan area and was created in piecemeal fashion during the 20th century...
. The headland is a promontory of sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
and is 3.85 square kilometres in area.
The Sydney Quarantine station is located on North Head and is one of the few facilities still in existence which once operated in each state of Australia until the 1980s. From 1828 Spring Cove, on the western side of North Head, was used to quarantine
Quarantine
Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....
new arrivals to Sydney to minimise the spread of communicable diseases
Infectious disease
Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...
such as smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
and whooping cough. In 1832, the whole area of North Head was set aside for a quarantine station. A permanent quarantine facility was set up in 1837 and continued to operate until 1984. Vietnamese refugees
Vietnamese Australian
A Vietnamese Australian is an Australian either born in Vietnam or is an Australian descendant of the former. Communities of Overseas Vietnamese are referred to as Việt Kiều or người Việt hải ngoại.-History in Australia:...
were housed there in 1975 and Cyclone Tracy
Cyclone Tracy
Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, 1974...
victims from Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
in 1975-6. The Station was finally closed in 1984 and the 'management' of the site passed to the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service.
From 1934, defence facilities were installed on the headland but were wound down in 1945. From 1953 there was a School of Artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
and it used the former defence facilities. The harbour reserve was established in 1979. The School of Artillery relocated to Puckapunyal
Puckapunyal
Puckapunyal is an Australian Army training facility and base 10 km west of Seymour, in central Victoria, south-eastern Australia.-Description:Puckapunyal is a small restricted-access town inhabited mainly by about 280...
army base in Victoria in 1998, but there remained an artillery museum on the headland. In 2001 the site was passed to the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust
Sydney Harbour Federation Trust
The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust is an Australian Government agency established in 2001 to preserve and rehabilitate a number of defence and other Commonwealth lands in and around Sydney Harbour. These lands were off limits to the public, some for over 100 years...
for management. In 2010 the artillery collection was moved to the Army Museum Bandiana in Victoria; the Trust plans to establish an exhibition on the defence of Sydney on the site. Also located on North Head is the Australian Institute of Police Management, housed in a secure compound which formerly was the 'Seamen's Quarters' of the Quarantine Station; a place where sailors with acquired STDs were treated and securely confined behind high sandstone walls (prior to the development of modern antibiotics).
South Head
South Head is a headland, part of Sydney Harbour National ParkSydney Harbour National Park
thumb|right|250px|[[Nielsen Park]]Sydney Harbour National Park is a national park comprising parts of Sydney Harbour, its foreshores and various islands. The park lies within the Sydney metropolitan area and was created in piecemeal fashion during the 20th century...
, to the north of the suburb of Watsons Bay
Watsons Bay, New South Wales
Watsons Bay is a harbourside, eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Watsons Bay is located 11 km north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Woollahra....
.
A twenty-minute foreshore walk on the South Head Heritage Trail offers dramatic views of Middle Head, Manly, North Head and the Pacific Ocean. Starting at the delightful Camp Cove Beach, an 1870s cobblestone path leads first to Lady Bay (also known as Lady Jane) Beach, one of three in Sydney where nude bathing is lawful. It then loops around the headland, passing Hornby Lighthouse, its lightkeepers' cottages, and several gun emplacements from the end of the 19th century.
HMAS Watson
HMAS Watson
HMAS Watson is a Royal Australian Navy base located on Sydney Harbour at South Head, near Watsons Bay, New South Wales. Commissioned in 1945 , the base served as the RAN's radar training school...
, the Royal Australian Navy training base, is also located at South Head.
Middle Head
Middle Head is a headland between North Head and South Head, beside Middle HarbourMiddle Harbour
Middle Harbour is the northern arm of Port Jackson in Sydney, Australia.Middle Harbour extends about to the northwest, from where it joins the main harbour near the Heads. Its shore is nearly everywhere rugged, barren and forested and for this reason Middle Harbour was almost entirely neglected...
. It is part of Sydney Harbour National Park
Sydney Harbour National Park
thumb|right|250px|[[Nielsen Park]]Sydney Harbour National Park is a national park comprising parts of Sydney Harbour, its foreshores and various islands. The park lies within the Sydney metropolitan area and was created in piecemeal fashion during the 20th century...
.
Middle Head is home to an extensive network of defence fortifications and tunnels, including the Middle Head Fortifications
Middle Head Fortifications
The Middle Head Fortification is located at the end of Old Fort Road, Middle Head, Mosman, New South Wales. The fortifications at Middle Head formed part of Sydney Harbour's defences.-History:The fortifications were built between 1870 and 1911....
, the Georges Head Battery
Georges Head Battery
The Georges Head Battery is located on Georges Head, in the suburb of Mosman in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Georges Head battery is one of three forts in the area that were built for the purpose of defending the outer harbour...
and the Lower Georges Heights Commanding Position
Lower Georges Heights Commanding Position
The Lower Georges Heights Commanding Position is located in the urban locality of Georges Heights, New South Wales in the suburb of Mosman, on the shores of Port Jackson, Sydney, Australia...
and other forts located around Sydney Harbour. The fortifications feature 'Tiger Cages' where the military trained soldiers by simulating prisoner of war conditions in Vietnam.
HMAS Penguin
HMAS Penguin (naval base)
HMAS Penguin is a shore establishment of the Royal Australian Navy located at Balmoral on the shore of Sydney Harbour in the suburb of Mosman, New South Wales...
is located at Middle Harbour.
See also
- Bradleys Head
- Clark Island (Australia)
- Dobroyd HeadDobroyd HeadDobroyd Head is a locality in the most southerly part of the Manly local government area, in the suburb of Balgowlah Heights. It is a part of the Sydney Harbour National Park, which contains examples of ecosystems at risk such as coastal heath. Tania Park is located to the immediate north-east, and...
- Goat IslandGoat Island (Port Jackson)Goat Island is a rocky island in Sydney Harbour, in New South Wales, Australia. The island is some 400 m by 200 m in size and is located north-west of the Sydney central business district....
- Rodd Island
- Shark IslandShark Island-Places:*, off the coast of costa Rica, National Park, *Shark Island, Namibia, off the coast of Namibia*Shark Island Concentration Camp, an early 20th century concentration camp on Shark Island, Namibia*Shark Island , in Sydney Harbour, Australia...
- Sydney Harbour National ParkSydney Harbour National Parkthumb|right|250px|[[Nielsen Park]]Sydney Harbour National Park is a national park comprising parts of Sydney Harbour, its foreshores and various islands. The park lies within the Sydney metropolitan area and was created in piecemeal fashion during the 20th century...
- Cockatoo IslandCockatoo IslandCockatoo Island may refer to the following places in Australia:*Cockatoo Island, New South Wales in Sydney Harbour, New South Wales...