Torrens Island is located in the Port River

Port River

The Port River is the western branch of the largest tidal estuary on the eastern side of Gulf St Vincent. It extends inland through the historic Inner Harbour of Port Adelaide, to the constructed salt-water West Lakes in the north-western suburbs of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia...

 Estuary between the Lefevre Peninsula and Barker Inlet

Barker Inlet

The Barker Inlet is a tidal inlet of the Gulf St Vincent in Adelaide, South Australia, named after Captain Collet Barker who first sighted it in 1831. It contains one of the southernmost mangrove forests in the world, a dolphin sanctuary, seagrass meadows and is an important fish and shellfish...

, about 15 km northwest of the Adelaide city centre

Adelaide city centre

The Adelaide city centre is the innermost locality of Greater Adelaide, known by locals simply as "The City" or "Town". The locality is split into two key geographical distinctions: the city "square mile", bordered by North, East, South and West Terraces; and that part of the Adelaide Parklands...

 in South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

. Since European settlement of Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

 in 1836, it has been used for a number of purposes.

Quarantine Station

Being uninhabited, an island, adjacent to Port Adelaide

Port Adelaide

Port Adelaide is a suburb of Adelaide lying about 14 kilometres northwest of the City of Adelaide. It lies within the City of Port Adelaide Enfield and is the main port for the city of Adelaide...

, and near Outer Harbor, Torrens Island was initially used as the site of a Quarantine Station for new arrivals (by sea) to South Australia. One example of its use was during the so-called "Boonah crisis

Boonah crisis

The HMAT Boonah was the last Australian troop ship to leave Fremantle, Western Australia bound for the Middle East in October 1918, near the end of the World War I. Carrying about 1200 AIF soldiers, she arrived in Durban, South Africa just three days after the armistice was signed and on hearing...

".

Internment Camp

The Torrens Island Internment Camp was a World War I detention camp which held up to 400 men of German or Austro-Hungarian background between 9 October 1914 and 16 August 1915.

Power Stations

There are numerous power stations on, and in the vicinity of Torrens Island. (See List of active power stations in South Australia.) They include:

Pelican Point

• Pelican Point Power Station
• Pelican Point, Adelaide
• Pelican Point Power Station, International Power plc Australia, 2007.
• Pelican Point Power Station, yorkcivil.com.au

Osborne