The Harbour
Page 56
Scott Bevan
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SCOTT BEVAN is a writer, journalist, broadcaster and playwright based in Sydney and Lake Macquarie. He is the author of four critically acclaimed books: The Hunter, Battle Lines: Australian Artists at War, Water From The Moon: A Biography of John Fawcett and Bill: The Life of William Dobell. His documentary work includes Oll: The Life and Art of Margaret Olley and Arthur Phillip: Governor, Sailor, Spy.
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Also by Scott Bevan
Bill: The Life of William Dobell
The Hunter
Battle Lines: Australian Artists at War
Water from the Moon: A Biography of John Fawcett
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ENDNOTES
INTRODUCTION
‘abreast of a Bay … which I call’d Port Jackson’: Cook, James, The Journals of Captain Cook, selected and edited by Philip Edwards, Penguin Books, 1999, p130.
‘the finest and most extensive harbour in the universe …’: White, John, Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales, a Project Gutenberg of Australia ebook, accessed at www.gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301531h.html on 13 January, 2017.
unequalled in its ‘Spaciousness and Safety’: Worgan, George, ‘Journal Kept on a Voyage to New South Wales with the First Fleet’, http://www2.sl.nsw.gov.au/archive/discover_collections/history_nation/terra_australis/journals/worgan/, accessed 13 January, 2017, from Collection 10: George Bouchier Worgan – letter written to his brother Richard Worgan, 12–18 June 1788. Includes journal fragment kept by George on a voyage to New South Wales with the First Fleet on board HMS Sirius, 20 January 1788–11 July 1788: Courtesy of Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales [Safe 1/114].
‘satisfaction of finding the finest harbour in the world’: Phillip, Arthur to Lord Sydney, 15 May, 1788, quoted in Barton, G.B., History of New South Wales from the Records. Vol 1 – Governor Phillip, 1783-1789, Charles Potter, Government Printer, Sydney, 1889, p268.
‘Here a Thousand Sail of the Line may ride in the most perfect Security’: The letter can be read at http://www2.sl.nsw.gov.au/archive/discover_collections/history_nation/terra_australis/letters/phillip/
‘compares it to the Bay of Naples or the entrance to Rio Janiero [sic]’: Dr Talmage, ‘Cosmos’, The Kiama Independent and Shoalhaven Advertiser, Thursday, 4 October, 1894, p4, accessed on trove.nla.gov.au on 21 July, 2016.
‘You gotta love this city for its body and not its brain’: Words from ‘You Gotta Love this City’ by Tim Freedman, used with permission of Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
‘No one in Sydney ever wastes time debating the meaning of life …’: Williamson, David, Emerald City, Currency Press, Paddington, 1987, p2, reproduced with permission of Currency Press.
Kenneth Slessor verse: from ‘Captain Dobbin’, Selected Poems, HarperCollins Publishers Australia, Sydney, 2014, reproduced with permission.
I decided to take my time exploring the 316 kilometres or so of the harbour’s shoreline: Dimensions of Sydney Harbour taken from ‘Operational Brief and Profile, Maritime Environmental Services’, Roads and Maritime Services, 2017.
‘many lobed’: Lawrence, D.H., Kangaroo, Angus & Robertson (reprint), Sydney, 1991, p5.
‘So much has been said and written about Sydney Harbour …’: ‘Sydney Harbour’, Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday, 7 November, 1903, p4, accessed on www.trove.nla.gov.au on 21 July, 2016.
1
Australians ruled the sculling world title: Figures from Bennett, Scott, The Clarence Comet: The Career of Henry Searle 1886-89, Sydney University Press, 1973. I’m indebted to this book for the information I’ve used about the life and career of Henry Searle.
gripped with ‘fear travelling by sea’: Quoted in Bennett, p51.
‘expressions of unfeigned sorrow …’: Sydney Morning Herald, 11 December, 1889, p7, accessed Mitchell Library archives.
‘he did us honour, for he was of us …’: Sydney Morning Herald, 11 December, 1889, p6.
‘the best samples of wool ever exported’: Sydney Morning Herald, 11 December, 1889, p7.
‘a monument be erected on the Brothers rocks …’: ‘A Memorial to the Late Champion’, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 December, 1889, p5.
‘one of the most imposing and remarkable events’: Sydney Morning Herald, 16 December, 1889, p7, accessed via trove.nla.gov.au
‘covered by wreaths from every one of the Australian colonies’: Sydney Morning Herald, 16 December, 1889, p8.
‘the development of biceps, not brains, is most desirable … ’: in Bennett, Scott, The Clarence Comet, p89.
verse, written by ‘O.S.W: ‘Henry E. Searle’, The Sydney Mail, 14 December, 1889, p1337.
would ‘derive eternal benefit’ from the views: ‘Minutes of Evidence Taken Before the Select Committee on Lunatic Asylums’, 1863, reproduced in Johnson, Beverley & Rosen, Sue, ‘History of Gladesville Hospital’ report, Sue Rosen Pty Ltd, 1994 (Collection of Peter Colthorpe, Friends of Gladesville Hospital).
‘a splendid piece of perfect drainage in itself’: Dr Francis Campbell, 1863, quoted on National Parks and Wildlife Service information board, Bedlam Point.
‘We stoped [sic] at a Neck of land to Breakfast’: Bradley, William. ‘A Voyage to New South Wales’, December 1786–May 1792; journal, compiled 1802, Friday, 15 February, 1788, p82, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, accessed at http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/_transcript/2015/D02131/a138.html, 14 February, 2017.
‘The Governor gave this Man a hatchet & a looking glass …’: Bradley, William, ‘A Voyage to New South Wales …’ journal, p83.
‘causing great delays and much strong language and worry …’: Campbell, W.S. ‘Parramatta River and its vicinity, 1848-1861’, Royal Australian Historical Society Journal, Vol. v, Part vi, 1919, p254.
‘the man who’s born a bushman, he gets mighty sick of town’: Paterson, A.B., line from ‘An Answer to Various Bards’ (1892), reproduced in The Penguin Banjo Paterson Collected Verse, selected and introduced by Clement Semmler, Penguin Books Australia, 1993, p45.
The song of the river/That sings as it passes/For ever and ever: Paterson, A.B., ‘The Daylight is Dying’, reproduced in The Penguin Banjo Paterson Collected Verse, p58.
Information about Harold Meggitt Limited and the campaign to save Rockend: from ‘Rockend Cottage, 38-40 Punt Road, Gladesville Conservation Management Plan’, prepared for NSW Department of Urban Affairs & Planning, Land Management Branch, by Clive Lucas, Stapleton and Partners Pty Ltd, Kings Cross, 2001.
Rockend had become … a burnt and ragged wreck: ‘Rockend Cottage … in 1984’ information pamphlet, Banjo Paterson Park Committee (Collection of Ross Pitts).
The organisation warned it would make rowing more dangerous: ‘We’re on a collision course’: NSW Rowing takes on state government’, Melanie Kembrey, smh.com.au, 12 February, 2016, retrieved 13 February, 2016.
‘there were few mangroves … and the rocky outcrops encrusted with oysters’: This information is from a plaque on the Wulaba Track.
the pressure on river ferries increased: Details on the history of ferries on Parramatta River from the first chapter of Graeme Andrews’ book, The Ferries of Sydney, A.H. & A.W. Reed, Sydney, 1975.
a sailor was ‘easing himself’ … when he fell overboard and drowned: The story recounted in a footnote in Karskens, Grace, The Rocks: Life in Early Sydney, Melbourne University Press, 1997, Footnote 27 in ‘Many
Laybouring People’, p155.
Buried in the bed … is the keel of HMAS Stuart: www.navyhistory.org.au/3-april-1947, accessed 29 April, 2016.
Errol Flynn had another Sirocco built: Svensen, Randi, Wooden Boats, Iron Men: The Halvorsen Story, Halstead Press, in association with the Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney, 2007, p47. I’m indebted to Randi and her book for many of the details on this section about the Halvorsens.
pioneered the concept of mass production: Svensen, Wooden Boats, Iron Men, p83.
became known as ‘the Hollywood Fleet’: Svensen, Wooden Boats, Iron Men, p82.
The Ryde yard ‘was ahead of its time …’: Email interview with Randi Svensen by the author, 3 May, 2016, reproduced with permission.
‘I will make it felony to drink small beer’: The character of Jack Cade in Shakespeare, William, Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2, 75-76.
one of the wealthiest men in the colony: Some of the details here from Glenda Miskelly, www.fellowshipfirstfleeters.org.au/james_squire, www.jamessquire.com.au/about, G. P. Walsh, ‘Squire, James (1755–1822)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/squire-james-2688/text3759, published first in hardcopy 1967, accessed online April 27, 2016.
‘Not me go to England no more. I am at home now’: Bennelong to ‘Mr Phillips’, 29 August, 1796, reproduced in Flannery, Tim (edited and introduced by), The Birth of Sydney, Text, Melbourne, 1999, pp146-147.
The … oranges became so popular they would be transported by water: Stephensen, P.R., The History and Description of Sydney Harbour, Rigby Ltd, Adelaide, 1966, p316.
Some common fruits are grown out here/Where once were fields of waving beer!: McKee Wright, David, ‘Night Thoughts at Ryde’, reproduced in Langford, Martin (editor), Harbour City Poems, Puncher and Wattmann, Glebe, 2009, p42.
‘he would bring it ashore at Meadowbank’: Blaxell, Gregory, The River, p169, Halstead Press, Ultimo, 2009.
‘What greatness had not floated on the ebb of that river …’: Conrad, Joseph, Heart of Darkness, Penguin, 1983 (reprint), p7.
‘the tide ceased to flow; and all further progress … was stopped …’: White, John, Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales, first published 1790, reproduced as an e-book by Project Gutenburg of Australia. gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301531.txt, accessed 9 May, 2016.
Phillip sent Henry Dodd upriver: Pembroke, Michael, Arthur Phillip: Sailor, Mercenary, Governor, Spy, Hardie Grant, Melbourne, 2013, p204.
Marketing for Royal Shores development: www.royalshores.com.au, accessed February, 2016.
Barges carried the crude oil upriver: Stephensen, P.R., Sydney Harbour, Rigby, Adelaide, 1966, p307.
One sign prohibits fishing: Sign read at Silverwater boat ramp on 18 February, 2016.
A terminal was built near … Parramatta and Duck rivers: Stephensen, Sydney Harbour, p292.
2
‘felled trees for logs … for building materials’: Gregory, The River, pp206-207.
‘the largest “household” in the district’: Coupe, Sheena, Concord, A Centenary History, Council of the Municipality of Concord, NSW, 1983, p100.
in 150 years … there was never an explosion: Andrews, Graeme, The Watermen of Sydney: Memories of a Working Harbour, Turton & Armstrong, Wahroonga, 2004, p77.
A regional environmental plan was made: Toon, John & Falk, Jonathan, Sydney, Planning or Politics, Planning Research Centre, University of Sydney, 2003, p159.
nine million cubic metres of waste and contaminated earth: www.sopa.nsw.gov.au, accessed 12 February, 2017.
creating a new suburb … was a developer’s dream: Introduction, Newington: a New Suburb for a New Century, Mirvac Lend Lease Village Consortium, North Sydney, 2000, p9.
a tangle of scrub in the early days of the colony: Keneally, Tom, Homebush Bay: A Memoir, Minerva Books, Melbourne, 1995, p1.
not a native tree, not even a stump, was visible: Meredith, Louisa Anne, Notes and Sketches of NSW, 1844. Accessed via gutenberg.net.au
The Australian Jockey Club held its first meetings at the course: Stephensen, P.R., Sydney Harbour, pp286-287.
Just ten metres from the shore … sits the wreck of SS Ayrfield: For the sites and some of the history of the shipwrecks in Homebush Bay, I’m indebted to Gregory Blaxell’s The River, pp197-200, and his article ‘The Wrecks of Homebush Bay’ in Afloat magazine, May 2008, accessed at www.alfoat.com.au on 23 May, 2016.
one of the remarkable aspects … was its diverse birdlife: ‘A Bicentennial Park for Sydney’, Macquarie University Centre for Environmental Studies, 1978, in Coupe, Sheena, Concord, p290.
more than 200 native bird species have been recorded: Figure from www.sydneyolympicpark.com.au, accessed on 18 May, 2016.
dioxins were detected more than 10 kilometres upriver: Davies, Anne, ‘The poison that got away’, Sydney Morning Herald, 30 October, 2010, accessed at www.smh.com.au on 18 May, 2016.
Any fish caught west of Sydney Harbour Bridge should not be eaten …: www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/closures/location-closures/sydney-harbour-port-jackson, accessed 18 May, 2016.
Levy repeated the process … his house collapsed: Coupe, Sheena, Concord, p163.
‘a veritable Paradise’: Beautiful Sydney, 1896, in Coupe, Sheena, Concord, p76.
‘the most magnificent charity …’: Review of Reviews, 1894, in Coupe, Sheena, Concord, p78.
Among those who sought refuge …was the poet Henry Lawson: Roderick, Colin, Henry Lawson: A Life, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1991, p272.
The Walkers … would often have a band playing on a pontoon: For many of the historical details about Yaralla and the lives of the Walkers, I’m indebted to Sheena Coupe’s book, Concord.
Yaralla … was a self-contained estate: Coupe, Sheena, Concord, p84.
‘free from any humidity injurious to the constitution’: Sydney Morning Herald, 14 September, 1840, reproduced in Coupe, Sheena, Concord, p72.
Tyrrell joined the ‘swarms’ making ‘the pilgrimage’: Tyrrell, James R., Old Books, Old Friends, Old Sydney, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1952 (reprinted 1987), p10.
Cabarita is … believed to mean ‘by the water’: Coupe, Sheena, Concord, p113.
a large rock was like a hen, and a group of smaller ones like chickens: Variations of the name story appear in Coupe, Blaxell and Stephensen’s books. P.R. Stephensen also raises the possibility of the crew seeing the emu and chicks.
wearing skis … based on a magazine photograph: www.skirace.net/water-skiing-in-australia, accessed 1 June, 2016
‘miserable wretches’ harnessed to carts: Ducharme, Leon, Journal of a Political Exile in Australia (Australian Historical Monographs, vol.2), Review Publications, Dubbo, 1976, p31, reproduced in Coupe, Sheena, Concord, p49.
‘but he dismissed them with threats …’: King, Philip Gidley, Remarks & Journal Kept on the Expedition to form a Colony on His Majestys Territory in New South Wales … (vol. 1) 27 January-1 February 1788, Manuscript ML Safe 1/16, p88-89, accessed from www.sl.nsw.gov.au/archive/discover_collections/society_art/french/perouse/botanybay.html, on 29 May, 2016.
the shoreline was used in filming … For the Term of His Natural Life: Information from www.canadabayconnections.wordpress.com, accessed 30 May, 2016.
Two of the coves remain: Information from a plaque at the headland, Drummoyne Municipal Council and Drummoyne & Districts Historical Society, 1978.
3
Les Murray verse: from ‘The Sydney Highrise Variations. 1. Fuel stoppage on Gladesville Road Bridge in the Year 1980 and 2. View of Sydney, Australia, from Gladesville Road Bridge’, from Murray, Les, Collected Poems, William Heinemann Australia, Melbourne, 1994, pp171-172, reproduced with permission.
a large arch that spans the creek: Information on the bridge from http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/projects/sydney-north/tarban-creek-bridge/index.html, accessed 16 June, 2016.
waiting at the wharf with a wheelbarrow: Story reproduced in Brod
sky, Isadore, Hunters Hill, New South Wales, 1861-1961, John D. Jukes for the Council of the Municipality of Hunters Hill, 1961, p39.
‘vines are coming along very well …’: Quoted in Maguire, Roslyn & Drake, Diana, The Priory at Hunters Hill, N.S.W., Hunters Hill Trust, 1992, p3, accessed from www.huntershilltrust.org.au on 15 June, 2016.
‘the very worst characters find an undisturbed place of abode’: ‘Kissing Point Common’, Sydney Morning Herald, 14 February, 1851, p3, accessed via trove.nla.gov.au.
expect to sell the house … for about $6 million: According to www.realestate.com.au, the house sold on June 25, 2016, for $6,500,000, accessed 15 February, 2006.
‘all other harbours dwindled down to almost insignificance’: Joubert, Jules, Shavings and Scrapes from Many Parts (1890), quoted in Sherry, Beverley, Hunter’s Hill: Australia’s Oldest Garden Suburb, David Ell Press, Balmain, 1989, p18.
the service provided … was so haphazard …’: Andrews, Graeme, The Ferries of Sydney, p27.
‘the face of the district will change considerably’: R.D. Stuckey, in Brodsky, Isadore, Hunters Hill, New South Wales, 1861-1961, p69.
more than 220 places listed on the Register of the National Estate: www.huntershilltrust.org.au/about, accessed 21 June, 2016.
the slag … was dumped around the site: Ewald, Connie, The Industrial Village of Woolwich, The Hunters Hill Trust, 2000, p60.
‘The unborn Australian will … be handed a piece of concrete’: Quoted in Oppenheimer, Melanie, Volunteering, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2008, pp130-131. Details about the Kelly’s Bush campaign were learnt from Melanie’s book.
‘the finest views of any known spot in the Colony’: Sydney Gazette, 23 November, 1841, reproduced in Hall, Richard (editor), Sydney: An Oxford Anthology, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2000, pp32-33.
‘had the appearance … of the Abomination of Desolation’: Stephenson, P.R., The History and Description of Sydney Harbour, p344.