Glebe Island was a major port facility in Sydney Harbour and, in association with the adjacent White Bay facility, was the primary receiving venue for imported cars and dry bulk goods in the region until 2008. [1] It is surrounded by White, Johnstons, and Rozelle Bays. Whilst retaining its original title as an "island", it has long been infilled to the shoreline of the suburb of Rozelle and connected by the Glebe Island Bridge (and its replacement the Anzac Bridge) to Pyrmont.
The rocky outcrop known as Glebe Island was originally accessible from the Balmain shoreline only at low tide, until a causeway was laid in the 1840s. Surveyor William Wells created a subdivision for the Balmain end of the island in 1841, with four intended streets and six sections containing a total of 86 lots. [2] The subdivision did not eventuate.
In 1850–1854, Colonial Architect Edmund Blacket designed stone buildings for a public abattoir on the island. According to Joan Kerr, Blacket's chosen architecture was Norman in inspiration – round-headed openings and simple decoration. Kerr states that the abattoir was almost certainly based on an American design. [3]
On 7 September 1860, Balmain Council resolved to approach the owners of the unsold parts of the Balmain Estate for a grant of land to build a road to the island. [4] The Pyrmont Bridge Company built a low-level timber-framed bridge that connected the island to Pyrmont, and thus to the city, in 1862. [5]
The abattoirs featured prominently in the 1882 Royal Commission into noxious and offensive trades, instigated by complaints from Balmain and Glebe Point residents. [6] The commission found that in 1882, 524,415 sheep, 69,991 cattle, 31,269 pigs and 8,348 calves were slaughtered there.
On 28 June 1903 the new bridge to Pyrmont, designed by Percy Allan, Assistant Engineer for Bridges in the NSW Department of Public Works, opened. [7] Like the ground-breaking Pyrmont Bridge being built at the same time, the second Glebe Island Bridge was a swing bridge swivelling on a massive central stone pivot-pier with timber-trussed side spans. The two bridges "are among the structures standing as monuments" to Allan's skill. [8] Under the Local Government Act 1906, the 14-hectare (34-acre) Glebe Island was added to the Municipality of Balmain. [9]
From 1912, the Sydney Harbour Trust (later Maritime Services Board) planned broadside wharfage at Balmain East and along the southern shore of Balmain, including Glebe Island. [10] Also in 1912 the Metropolitan Meat Industry Board resolved to abolish the abattoirs and build a new facility at Homebush Bay. [11] By 1915 Robert Saunders, the Pyrmont quarry master, had been commissioned to level the island to make it suitable for wharves. Saunders's firm dumped a great quantity of excavated ballast at the eastern end of the island for wharfage. Many cubic feet of quality dimension stone, however, were carefully cut away and almost certainly used for construction projects. Some 250 of Saunders's men were still working on the island in 1920. [11]
Glebe Island was an early success for the Harbour trust. Wharves were built on three sides of the levelled rocky outcrop from 1912. [12] The reconstructed fourth side was attached to the Rozelle shoreline as part of the extensive reclamation of Rozelle Bay and White Bay which had begun in the 1890s. [13]
Glebe Island became the site of a grain elevator and tall concrete silos, operated from 1921 by the Grain Elevators Board of NSW. [14] The 1958 Australian Encyclopaedia records that the bulk wheat terminal had a capacity of 7,500,000 bushels (202,500 tonnes). [15] During World War II much of the island was commandeered for the main United States Army depot in Sydney.
Bulk handling of grain continued until 1990 when the wheat terminal was transferred to Port Kembla and the wharfage remodelled for containerised cargo. [14] [16] Some silos were demolished, while from 1991 Australian Cement (now Cement Australia) used 16 of them as a bulk cement terminal. These are now heritage-listed. In the 1990s a high-level, cable-stayed, reinforced concrete six-lane bridge spanning 345 metres between two 120-metre towers was built above the older Allan-designed Glebe Island Bridge. The new bridge opened on 3 December 1995, and was also named Glebe Island Bridge. It was renamed Anzac Bridge in 1998. Until November 2008, the island was the Australian Amalgamated Terminals (AAT) facility for imported motor vehicles.
Discussions for rejuvenation of the now disused site are ongoing. In 2008 it was suggested by the Government of New South Wales that a tennis centre could be created to host the Australian Open tournament after Melbourne's existing contract expired in 2016. [17] This plan was short-lived and in 2009 it was announced that White Bay Cruise Terminal would be renovated at the same time as the Barangaroo development to become a cruise ship terminal to alleviate pressure on the existing facilities at Darling Harbour and Circular Quay. This is a controversial decision with the local community due to largely to traffic concerns [18] and has been called a "good short term solution" by industry groups as most cruise ships currently being constructed would not be able to fit underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge in order to reach the facility. [19] On New Year's Eve 2011–12, the large empty space, conveniently located with a good view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge fireworks, was used for a major televised concert with headliners Jamiroquai, Culture Club and Pet Shop Boys. [20] The old Glebe Island Bridge was included on the list in 2013, [21] lending more weight to calls for its retention as an active transport link.
In August 2013, construction began on an interim exhibition facility Sydney Exhibition Centre @ Glebe Island, which opened on 15 February 2014. The venue offered 20,000 square metres of space for large trade and consumer exhibitions and operated throughout the redevelopment of the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre. The site was cleared in 2017. [22] In February 2018 Sydney Ports Authority announced plans for a major building materials handling complex. [23]
The area forms part of the New South Wales Government's Bays Precinct urban renewal program.
Darling Harbour is a harbour adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district.
Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea. It is the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. The location of the first European settlement and colony on the Australian mainland, Port Jackson has continued to play a key role in the history and development of Sydney.
The Anzac Bridge is an eight-lane cable-stayed bridge that carries the Western Distributor (A4) across Johnstons Bay between Pyrmont and Glebe Island, on the western fringe of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. The bridge forms part of the road network leading from the central business district, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and Cross City Tunnel to the Inner West and Northern Suburbs.
Glebe is an inner-western suburb of Sydney in New South Wales. Glebe is located 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) southwest of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney, in the Inner West region.
Pyrmont is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 2 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney. It is also part of the Darling Harbour region. As of 2011, it is Australia's most densely populated suburb.
Rozelle is a suburb in the inner west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 4 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Inner West Council.
The Glebe Island Bridge is a heritage-listed disused swing Allan truss road bridge that carried Victoria Road across Rozelle Bay, located in the inner city Sydney suburb of Pyrmont in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. The bridge, that connected Rozelle to Pyrmont by road, is one of the last remaining swing bridges of its type in Australia and in the world. It was designed by Percy Allan and built from 1899 to 1903 by Bridges Branch of NSW Public Works Department. It is also known as RMS Bridge No. 61. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 29 November 2013 and was listed on the Register of the National Estate on 19 April 1989.
White Bay is a bay on Sydney Harbour with a surrounding locality near the suburbs of Balmain and Rozelle in the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
The Sydney Freight Network is a network of dedicated railway lines for freight in Sydney, Australia, linking the state's rural and interstate rail network with the city's main yard at Enfield and Port Botany. Its primary components are the Southern Sydney Freight Line (SSFL) and a line from Sefton to Enfield and Port Botany. The Network has been managed by the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) since 2012. Prior to the completion of the SSFL, it was managed by RailCorp as the Metropolitan Freight Network.
Balmain is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly of the Australian state of New South Wales in Sydney's Inner West. It is currently represented by Kobi Shetty of the Greens.
Johnstons Creek, formerly Johnston's Creek, is an urban gully, located in Sydney, Australia and situated in the Inner West and Sydney local government areas. The creek flows from Petersham, past Annandale, Camperdown, Forest Lodge and Harold Park, before spilling into Rozelle Bay, within Sydney Harbour.
The White Bay Hotel was a pub that operated between 1860 and 1992. The land has been acquired by the New South Wales Government after being destroyed by fire and demolished.
Blackwattle Bay is a bay located to the south–east of Glebe Island and east of Rozelle Bay on Sydney Harbour, in New South Wales, Australia. The bay was named in 1788 after the black wattle tree found at the bay, which was used for housing construction.
The Inner West Light Rail is a 12.8-kilometre (8.0 mi) light rail line in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, running from Central railway station through the Inner West to Dulwich Hill and serving 23 stops. It is the original line of the Sydney light rail network, and was originally known as Sydney Light Rail. Light rail services on the line are now branded as the L1 Dulwich Hill Line.
The Pyrmont Bay ferry service, officially known as F4 Pyrmont Bay, is a commuter ferry service in Sydney, New South Wales. Part of the Sydney Ferries network, it is operated by Transdev Sydney Ferries and services the Lavender Bay and Darling Harbour areas. It began operation on 25 October 2020, and replaced the western half of the F4 Cross Harbour ferry service. Emerald-class ferries and SuperCat ferries operate the service.
The Bays Precinct is a proposed urban renewal project in Sydney, Australia. It will involve the redevelopment of 95 hectares of land adjoining Sydney Harbour formerly used by industry. Among the sites to be redeveloped are the Rozelle railway yards, White Bay Power Station, Glebe Island port, the Sydney Fish Market and Wentworth Park.
Rozelle Yard was a goods railway yard in Rozelle, New South Wales, Australia. It was one of two major yards on the Metropolitan Goods line, the other being in Darling Harbour. Since heavy rail traffic ceased, part of the site has been redeveloped into a light rail depot and maintenance facility. The site of the former yard was redeveloped into Rozelle Interchange.
Darling Harbour Yard was a goods railway yard in Darling Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. The yard was once the origin of all outgoing goods traffic from Sydney. It was one of two major yards on the former Metropolitan Goods line, the other being in Rozelle. After closing to heavy rail in 1993, the alignment of the Metropolitan Goods line which passed through it was reutilised by light rail. The precinct around the yard was significantly redeveloped in the decades following its closure.
Johnstons Bay is a bay of Port Jackson, between Pyrmont and Balmain, New South Wales, connecting White Bay, Rozelle Bay, Blackwattle Bay, Jones Bay, and Darling Harbour.
