FILTER
COAL BINS:
SEA-SWAMP
MIASMIC DISEASES - HEALTHY CHARACTER - LUSCIOUS - UTTERLY DESTORYED - SWAMP
“Away to the back (of George Street) is an extensive reclamation made by the City Corporation from Blackwattle Swamp, once a fertile source of miasmic diseases but now gradually assuming a healthy character.
[...]
At the head of RozelleBay lies Toxteth Park...the south-east arm is Black Wattle Cove once famed for its luscious drift oysters, which civilization has utterly destroyed. A large portion of swamp land beyond the bridge embankment has been reclaimed.”
EXTENSIVE - DRIVING PILES
“The Company was granted another site at Blackwattle Bay and the Trusti erected a wharf (252 feet x 130 feet), with a monier trestle sea-wall, for the Company's use.
Extensive coal-bins were erected by the Company on the wharf at the new premises, and, as the Company had not the necessary facilities, the Commissioners undertook the driving of the requisite piles in connection with these bins at the cost of the Company.”
“it’s the people volunteering and doing the hard yakka you know, at places like Blackwattle Bay [...] that get my vote.
Those familiar with the toxic soup of Blackwattle Bay from just a couple of years back can only admire the restoration effort and fish species present today.”
- Barry McRoberts in ‘Righteous Recreational Fisherman’
SEA-SWAMP - SLUGGISHLY - BEFOULED - GOOD SOIL - NUISSANCE - GROWING LUXURIANTLY
"... originally a sea-swamp over which the high tide sluggishly flowed; it had become greatly befouled by the drainage from the early abattoirs, from the sugar refinery on the Blackfriar's Estate and from the houses on the slopes of the surrounding hills. It was reclaimed by deposits of silt raised by the harbour dredges, and this silt was covered with good soil. Instead of a nuisance it is now a promising park of about twenty acres lying between the suburbs of Pyrmont and Glebe; young trees are growing luxuriantly; a cricket oval has been formed in the centre and a local bowling club has made an excellent ground in one corner."
- WENDY THORP, ‘WENTWORTH PARK: HISTORICAL CONTEXT REPORT’ 1900
COAL-TRADE - CARRYING COAL - LARGEST VESSEL - COAL REMOVED BY GRABS - TRANSPORTED TO VARIOUS BINS - QUALITY OF COAL - 1200 TONS
“Particulars of a now steamer which has been ordered by Howard Smith, Ltd., for the coal trade were received yesterday by Mr. R. R. Murdoch, manager for the company in New South Wales. The new steamer will be engaged in carrying coal from Newcastle to Howard Smith depot at Blackwattle Bay, and will be easily the largest vessel of the company's fleet running between these two ports. In order to facilitate the handling of coal the steamer has been specially designed. At the company's depot the coal is removed by grabs, which are transported to various bins according to the quality of coal being unloaded.
At present Howard Smith, Ltd., has five steamers in the trade. These are the Malachite, Wallsend, Yuloo. Ready, and Kintore. The Malachite is capable of carrying about 600 tons whereas the new steamer will carry 1200 tons.”
- NEWCASTLE TO SYDNEY: NEW STEAMER ORDERED in The Sydney Morning Herald 21st July 1926.
ballast was frequently used by transport ships to match the weight of coal they would receive in Newcastle for transportation back to Sydney. Nearby quarries in Pyrmont were recorded as mainly producing ballast alongside their more renowned sandstone.
It is difficult to prove, but interesting to consider that parts of Pyrmont were moved by R. R. Murdoch’s steamers and deposited within the Ballast Jetties (see the map within)