Parramatta River Ferry Travel Guide Ferry Travel Guide (2023)

One of Governor Phillip's first actions after the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 was to fortify the entrance to Sydney Cove. He did this both to provide defense in the event of a convict uprising and to meet enemy ships that might approach the city in a hostile manner. He gave the task to Lieutenant William Dawes, an engineer and ordnance officer on the staff of Major Robert Ross of the Marine detachment. In addition to building the fort, Dawes established an observatory there. Remains of more recent fortifications survive at the point below the approaches to the Harbor Bridge.

Hailed as one of the world's most significant bridge engineering achievements at the time it was built, the Sydney Harbor Bridge was until recently the longest single-span steel arch bridge in the world and remains, overall, the longest. Since its completion in 1932, it has been an internationally recognized icon and symbol of the city of Sydney.

The first turf was ceremoniously laid on 28 July 1923 in the grounds of North Sydney Railway Station. On July 28, 1924, the purchase and demolition of buildings in the path of the new bridge and the North and South Bank access roads began.

The bridge was opened to road, rail and pedestrian traffic by the then Premier of New South Wales, Mr JT Lang, on Saturday 19 March 1932. The time taken to complete all the work, including the bridge and approaches, was eight years. The contract for the construction of the bridge provided for six months of maintenance by contractors from the date of opening, after which maintenance became the responsibility of the state.

Built at a cost of $20 million, it was not paid for until 1988, with much of the cost raised by tolls on vehicles using the bridge. Tolls collected after paying for the bridge went towards the cost of building the harbor tunnel.

Milsons Point, the ferry's first stop, is opposite Sydney Cove. The point itself is dominated by the northern piers of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, the approaches to which mark the boundary between Kirribilli on the west side and Milsons Point on the east side. Stroll from Milsons Point Wharf to Alfred Street South, crossing the Harbor Bridge and you'll soon find yourself in the North Sydney business district, now the second largest concentration of office buildings in New South Wales.

Sydney North Pole

Milsons Point, one of Sydney's smaller suburbs, is located 3 kilometers north of the Sydney CBD, close to North Sydney. Named after the geographic feature that juts into Sydney Harbor on the north side. It is home to many Sydney icons, including Luna Park, North Sydney Pool, scenic Lavender Bay and the northern piers of the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

North Sydney is a suburb and business district on Sydney's Lower North Shore. It is located across Sydney Harbour, opposite Millers Point, 3km north of the Sydney CBD. Although dominated by commercial office towers, parts of Sydney's old north still exist and the search for 19th-century mansions in the back streets can be quite rewarding, especially for those interested in the past.

There is also plenty to do along the harbor shore. Numerous areas of bushland in and around North Sydney that have been saved from development now contain walking trails that bring the peace and tranquility of the Australian bush right into the city centre.

McMahons Point, the first peninsula east of Milsons Point and the Sydney Harbor Bridge, is named after Maurice McMahon, an Irish brush and comb maker who built his home on the headland in 1864. The suburb of McMahons Point is bordered by Berrys Bay to the west and Lavender Bay to the east.

From MacMahons Point, the ferry crosses the harbor past Goat Island to Barangaroo Reserve, located on the east coast of Cockle Bay. The first bay immediately west of the city, north of the Darling Harbor complex, was a major redevelopment project that opened to the public in July 2015. The site was formerly occupied by jetties that ran from Pyrmont Bridge south to the tip of Millers Punt. During the major rebuilding of the pier in the early 1900s, the east side of Millers Point was severely scarred by extensive quarrying to make room for the piers and Hickson Road, which was built around the point.

Live shelter

Darling Harbor is a short drive from Barangaroo. It was one of Sydney's busiest industrial areas in the 19th and early 20th centuries, during which it largely developed into Australia's busiest port. Container shipping changed everything and by the early 1970s it had become an industrial wasteland like so many docks around the world. The harbor area of ​​Darling Harbour, along with the neighboring suburbs of Ultimo and Pyrmont, was completely redeveloped in time for Australia's Bicentenary (1988) into an area known for its leisure facilities and museums.

Since its European settlement, Goat Island has played an important and exciting role in the development of Sydney's urban landscape. In the 19th century, the island was used as a shelter for gangs of convicts and a gunpowder warehouse. Later, Goat Island was the site of the port's first marine police station and fire station. The island then served as a shipyard and in more recent years hosted film shoots and concerts, including the TV series 'Water Rats'. The National Parks and Wildlife Service organizes tours of the islands from time to time.See their website for details..

Balmain Leste:Next stop the suburb of Balmain, one of Sydney's iconic suburbs, is one of Sydney's oldest industrial areas. Over time, the industry left Balmain and it is now synonymous with avant-garde cafes, bookshops and galleries. There are many famous restaurants in Balmain, and the area is well served by old fashioned converted former workingmen's bars with music and other entertainment.

Balmain and its nearest neighbor - Birchgrove - are served by four ferry piers - Balmain, Balmain East, Balmain West and Birchgrove, two of which are served by this ferry. Balmain East Wharf is located at the bottom of Darling Street, the main thoroughfare, which runs up the hill into the main shopping area. About a mile from the pier, the next mile is lined with cafes, restaurants, quaint pubs, bookshops, galleries and antique shops.

At its peak, the area had over 80 pubs! Today it still has something for everyone, from traditional to modern, neighborhood friendly to chic and all serve a wide variety of beers, ales and cocktails. Make it a night or a day! The pubs in the area are also great places to eat with a variety of dishes from the simple to the sophisticated. Most pubs also cater for a variety of events, from christenings or birthdays to weddings, funerals or corporate events.

Birchgrove Pier is located at the end of Yurulbin Point (Long Nose Point), a narrow strip of land opposite Manns Point and the suburb of Greenwich. Birchgrove, a sister district of Balmain, is located on the north-west slope of the Balmain Peninsula overlooking Sydney Harbor and includes points of Yurulbin and Ballast. The long foreshore offers views of the Parramatta River with Cockatoo Island dominating the foreground. Its harbor fronts make it one of Sydney's wealthiest suburbs.

Yurulbin Park at the edge of Yurulbin Point is a former shipyard at the end of Yurulbin Point that has been transformed into an award-winning public space. An old stone slip next to the pier marks the site of the Morrison and Sinclair boatyard, where hand-built wooden boats were built from the 1920s. once such slipways were common across the harbour.

Greenewich Wharf is located at the southern end of a large peninsula occupied by the Lower North Shore suburb of Greenwich. Greenwich Point is believed to be named after Greenwich House, which was built in 1836 by shipbuilder George Green. The lower east coast of the peninsula is one of the last areas around Sydney Harbor still occupied by industry, in this case an oil supply. branch in Gore Bay.

The prosperous waterfront district of Greenwich is close to the estuary of Lane Cove. The suburb offers harbor views, some bushland, shops, restaurants and cafes, a harbor pool with a shark net. Greenwich Baths is the westernmost beach in Port Jackson, Greenwich Baths is a protected swimming area in a small cove at the end of the Greenwich Peninsula.

Manns Point, at the tip of the Greenwich Peninsula, offers a slightly different perspective of this part of the river than most Lower North Shore viewpoints, including Balmain on the opposite bank. Nearby steps lead to Manns Point Lookout, with stunning views of the harbour, Cockatoo Island towards the town and beyond to Balls Head Bay and Gore Cove. The Lookout at Manns Point is a 650m walk from the Greenwich Point Ferry Pier.

>Immediately east of Greenwich, opposite the mouth of River Lane Cove, is the former industrial suburb of Woolwich. Located at the end of the Hunters Hill Peninsula, here you can discover Sydney's maritime past. The impressive Doca de Morts and the surrounding shipping industry developed with the growth of housing in the early 20th century. The wharf was used as a military barracks during World War II and was later used by the Department of Main Streets to build the piers for the Gladesville Bridge. The adjacent Woolwich Lookout is an impressive cantilevered platform jutting out over the carved sandstone of the quayside, providing stunning views of the marine activity below, as well as the city skyline, Harbor Bridge, Cockatoo Island, Lane Cover River and Balmain peninsula.

The current name follows a tradition of naming places on the Parramatta River after towns on the River Thames in England. Woolwich on the Thames was the landing place for the prison boats from which the convicts were transported to Botany Bay.

Cockatoo Island marks the point where the Parramatta River begins and Sydney Harbor ends. Cockatoo, the largest island in Sydney Harbour, is by far the most interesting and well worth a visit. Where else can you set up a tent and camp so close to the city or with such a beautiful view of the harbor bridge, the city skyline and the beautiful mix of headlands, suburbs and water?

Located at the confluence of the Parramatta and Lane Cove rivers, Cockatoo Island has had many uses since colonization, including a convict prison, an industrial school and a girls' reformatory. It is also the site of one of Australia's largest shipyards in the 20th century. It is now Australia's most unusual urban park and well worth a visit.

Cockatoo Island, located at the confluence of the Parramatta and Lane Cove rivers, has had many uses since colonization, including a convict prison, an industrial school and a girls' reformatory. It is also the site of one of Australia's largest shipyards in the 20th century. The first of the two docks was built by convicts and completed in 1857.

When the shipyard closed in 1992, Cockatoo Island lay dormant for a decade until the Sydney Harbor Federation Trust was established and charged with revitalizing this important corner of Sydney Harbour. The Trust's restoration of the island has resulted in one of the most unusual places to visit in the city.

After leaving Cockatoo Island, the ship passes two islands: tiny Snapper Island is largely undeveloped, but the larger Spectacle Island has been used as a supply depot for naval ordnance since 1884.

Drummoyne:Drummoyne, an established suburb in Sydney's inner west, approximately three miles from the CBD, is surrounded on three sides by Sydney Harbour. The buildings of the Birkenhead Point shopping complex, located a mile south of Drummoyne Wharf at the entrance to Iron Cove, were the Dunlop Rubber Works. It was established in the 1890s to manufacture tires from rubber imported from India.

Before reaching Hunleys Point Wharf on the north bank of the Parramatta River, the ferry passes under the Gladesville Bridge. As the RiverCat approaches the bridge's large concrete arch, it turns left. The inlet on your right is called Tarban Creek and you can see the prestressed concrete structure and skew legs of the Tarban Creek Bridge. This bridge is part of the Gladesville Bridge complex completed in 1964. Prior to this, the Parramatta River was crossed just west by an 1883 iron truss bridge with a swing span near the south shore that allowed coal workers and other ships to pass. The remains of the bridge's former piers, along with the ramp for an early boat, can be seen on the river bank.

The bridge complex was a key element in a road network intended to connect the city to Gladesville and Sydney's north-western suburbs, but it turned out to be the only part of the system to be built. If you go under the Gladesville Bridge, you will see that the bridge is made up of four sides side by side. Each side consists of hollow precast concrete boxes in formwork across the river. When a rib became self-supporting, it broke out of the sheath, which then moved laterally to the next rib and so on. The traffic deck is a series of prestressed concrete beams on slender reinforced concrete columns. When completed in 1964, the Gladesville Bridge was the longest concrete arch in the world, spanning 1,000 feet (305 meters). It contains 50,000 tons of concrete and has a vertical clearance of 37 meters above high water.

Huntleys puntThe suburb, 9 km north-west of Sydney's central business district, was named after Alfred Huntley, who bought land here and built Point House in 1851. Huntley later became Chief Engineer of the Australian Gas Light Company. The eastern portion of Huntley Point Road leading to Gladesville was the original road leading to Gladsville's first bridge. The pylon of this bridge can be seen across the river at Five Dock Point, opposite the ferry terminal.

After leaving Huntley's Point, the ship crosses the Parramatta River toChiswick Wharfon the south bank of the river. Chiswick is located on the peninsula between Abbotsford Bay and Five Dock Bay on the Parramatta River. The area around Chiswick was originally known by the Aboriginal name Bigi Bigi. Writing in the 1850s, Dr Fortescue had an estate in this area which he named Chiswick after the village on the Thames west of London. This eventually led to the Parramatta River being known as the 'Thames of the Antipodes', the first of many suburbs along the river, also named after places on the Thames - Greenwich, Woolwich, Henley and Putney.

Old Gladesville Asylum Vineyard Terraces

As you leave Chiswick and the ferry follows the bend in the river, you will see the old buildings of Gladesville Hospital on the right bank. The Asylum adopted a then-enlightened approach to dealing with mental illness, offering meaningful activities such as gardening and farming for patients. A zoo and a farm were established for this purpose. In the 1880s, a large vineyard was planted in terraces overlooking the river. The terraces can still be seen along a flat land where zoo animals once roamed.

Canada Bay, 11 kilometers west of the Sydney central business district, is a large inlet of the Parramatta River and a suburb of Sydney. The entrance to Canada Bay can be seen on the left side of the ferry as it heads towards Parramatta, between Abbotsford Pier and Cabarita Point. The name Canada Bay honors a connection between Australia and Canada. After the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837-1838, two Irish rebels and 58 French Canadians were deported to Australia. At the request of the local Catholic bishop, they were taken to Sydney. Imprisoned at Longbottom Stockade (located at today's Concord Oval), convicts quarried stone to build Parramatta Road and collected oyster shells to make lime.

Abbotsford Wharfit is at the end of the Great North Road. The road doesn't live up to its name today, but in the early 1830s the convict-built road became Sydney's first major inland to the Hunter Valley. Crossed the river at the site of the boat jetty - the rest of the convict built infrastructure can be seen across the road at Bedlam Point. Punt Road, Victoria Road and Blaxland Road follow the original alignment of the Great North Road on the north bank of the river. Banjo Paterson Cottage, where one of Australia's greatest writers lived with his grandmother as a young man, is just off the old North Shore boat road. It was built as an inn for travelers on the move.

The area now known as Abbotsford remained deserted until 1828, when the convict-built Great North Road was built in 1828. Abbotsord and the neighboring towns of Five Dock and Drummoyne. Five Dock Farm was subdivided into 12 acre and 24 acre farms in 1836, these properties were the beginning of the townships that exist today. Abbotsford House was built in 1890 by Arthur Renwick, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney, President of the Sydney Hospital and member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1887 to 1908. Agriculture gave way to suburban development after Great War. Abbotsford House was sold to chocolate manufacturer Nestlé in 1903 as a site for a new factory. Australian poet Henry Lawson died at home on September 9, 1922.

Cais de Cabaritalocated in Parque Cabariba, a very popular open space. The park is the most popular venue for weddings and ceremonies due to its beautiful surroundings. Along with barbecue grills and covered areas with restrooms and picnic tables around the park, Cabarita's pool and pier make it a great day trip spot.

Mortlake was notable as the site of the gas works of the Australian Gas Light Company (AGL), who first bought land here in 1883. Colliers from Newcastle brought coal to the gas works at Mortlake. When a new Gladesville Bridge opened in 1964, it was built to replace a bridge that had to be closed every time the swing section on the south side of the bridge had to be opened to allow large ships to pass. The gas plant closed and the site was redeveloped into the Breakfast Point housing development.

Ferry Putney-Mortlake:Vehicle ferries or rubbers were widespread in New South Wales during the colonial period, but most have been replaced by bridges. There were four points on this ferry route, but only one - from Mortlake to Putney - is still in service. Established in 1928, the cable car operates while the ship circumnavigates Putney Point on the right bank. The suburb of Putney faces the Parramatta River on the north bank, between Gladesville and Meadowbank.

Kissing Point Bay extends west of Putney Point. Much of the Putney Peninsula is now occupied by Putney Park. On the coast there are slips that connect the area with its shipbuilding past. Kissing Point - the site of the ship's next stop - is believed to be named after a nautical term describing the action of boats scraping the bottom as they enter shallow water. Here the keels of loaded ships sailing upstream "kiss" on the spot the rock that juts out into the river.

The coastal strip of the Parramatta River around Kissing Point and Morrisons Bay has historical links as the first private settlement outside Sydney and Parramatta was established here in 1792. First known as Eastern Farms and then Kissing Point, Ryde Settlement which developed inland beyond Kissing Point became a thriving fruit-growing region. It was in Ryde that Australia's first brewery was established and the famous Granny Smith apple was developed.

Bennelong Park is so named because Bennelong, the Aborigine who befriended Sydney's first governor Arthur Phillip in 1788, was buried by the river north of Kissing Point in an unmarked grave. He was buried somewhere in the grounds of the James Squire Brewery, part of which fell into the modern park. Today a memorial plaque stands in Cleves Park, Putney, to mark the approximate spot where he is believed to be buried.

Bennelong Memorial, Putney

Ponte Uhrs-punt (Ryde):The set of steel trusses and two steel towers that make up the center section of the Uhrs Point Lift Bridge began handling road traffic in 1935. The bridge replaced an earlier punt service here. As upstream transportation needs decreased, the elevator opening was blocked and the counterweights removed in 1949. Increased road traffic necessitated the construction of a second road bridge on the east or downstream side, which was completed in 1987.

A short distance upstream from Uhrs Point are two railroad bridges. The two bridges show different technologies that are 100 years apart. The first to appear is a standard iron truss bridge completed in 1886 to carry the Main Northern Railway from Sydney to Newcastle. It was named after NSW Chief Engineer John Whitton, whose achievements over 35 years in office earned him the title of father of New South Wales Railways. Whitton built a number of identical iron truss bridges around New South Wales - the only others in the greater Sydney area are the Gasworks Bridge at Parramatta and the Como Bridge, which used to carry the Illawarra Railway over the Georges River . Como and Meadowbank bridges no longer carry rail traffic and have been converted for pedestrians and cyclists.

The replacement bridge on the upstream side is a striking contrast, being pairs of welded steel box girders, fabricated off-site and transported to the north shore and brought to the piers by a special floating crane. It opened to rail traffic in 1980.

prado:before British colonization, Meadowbank was home to the Dharug-speaking Wallumede tribe. During the early 19th century, the Aboriginal population of the Sydney Basin had been decimated and the few survivors of the Dharug people tended to congregate in this area. Charity Point, where the ferry docks, is so named because that is where the colonial governor distributed gifts to the Aborigines every Christmas as a gesture of goodwill. A vineyard was established here by a Second Fleet convict, James Shepherd, in the early 1800s. A cable point service operated here between 1898 and 1935, the year Ryde Bridge opened and traffic was diverted onto it. At low tide, the remains of the pier wall are visible.

Homebush Bay is a bay on the south bank of the Parramatta River. The name is also used to refer to an area west and south of the bay itself, which was once an official suburb of Sydney and has now become the suburbs of Sydney Olympic Park, Wentworth Point and part of the neighboring suburb of Lidcombe. . . Homebush Bay has a natural and artificial coastline on the south side of the Parramatta River between the old suburb of Homebush Bay and the suburb of Rhodes. For many years, the bay was an industrial wasteland shunned by locals. The entire area has been revitalized after part of the area was selected for the 2000 Olympics. Once used as a garbage dump, it is now an attractive urban oasis.

Served by its own railway and station, the Homebush Olympic venue features grass, lakes and recreational facilities, in addition to extensive natural vegetation with a series of footpaths through a natural mangrove forest. Sydney Olympic Park Millennium Parklands contains reclaimed land. remnant forests; freshwater and saltwater wetlands and cultural heritage areas. The Homebush Olympic Precinct is a short walk from the Homebush Bay ferry pier.

Several shipwrecks are visible in Homebush Bay, remnants of shipwrecks in the bay in the mid-20th century. These are the steamers SS Ayrfield and SS Mortlake Bank, the steam tug SS Heroic and the defense ship HMAS Karangi, all broken up in the early 1970s and now lying near the south-west coast of the bay. The wrecks of a number of abandoned or damaged smaller vessels lie nearby.

Beyond Homebush Bay, the Parramatta River becomes quite narrow and shallow, so shallow that all vessels in the Sydney Farries fleet, apart from specially designed RiverCats, cannot navigate the water. The concrete road bridge with the curved bottom that the ship crosses is the Silverwater Bridge. It was the first prestressed concrete box girder bridge in New South Wales. Constructed of a series of precast concrete boxes supported by temporary steel trusses between the piers, it was completed in 1962.

Rydalmere Apricot:Rydalmere, on the north bank of the river, is a residential area with a large commercial development to the west.

Rydalmere is located 21 kilometers northwest of the Sydney CBD. Upstream from Rydalmere Wharf is a bridge that carries a water main across the river. It has a walking deck and links the suburbs of Rosehill and Rydalmere. Subiaco and Vineyard Creeks run along the north side of the river.

Sydney's first private vineyard was planted on the banks of these creeks in 1792 by Thomas Schaeffer. Schaeffer's vineyard was the first established in the colony. In 1798 he sold this property to Captain Henry Waterhouse, but not before making the first wine exported from the colony. Captain Waterhouse was the man who first brought Spanish Merino sheep to Australia and began breeding them on the property.

As the ship makes a sharp Z turn, the Camelia Railway Bridge appears. It is a welded steel truss and is the most recent bridge (1995) across the river. The bridge is located near where Vineyard Creek enters the river.

Ponte Gasworks, Parramatta

Not far upstream is the James Ruse Drive Bridge, which opened in 1966. The next and last bridge over the Parramatta River before the ferry reaches its terminus in Parramatta is the Macarthur Bridge. Iron truss bridges were common from 1870 to 1893, about 20 road bridges and 12 railway bridges were built and most of them are still in use today. It was informally called the Gasworks Bridge after a nearby gasworks and was completed in 1885.

Parramatta has great significance in Australian history, being the first inland European settlement and the second general settlement after Sydney Cove to be established by British settlers from Australia in the late 18th century. As you might expect, Parramatta has some excellent examples of old colonial architecture, including Old Government House, Elizabeth Farm, St John's Cathedral, Lancer Barracks and Linden House Museum.

Today's Parramatta is a modern city with a variety of cafes and restaurants exploring cuisines from around the world, major shopping centres, cinemas, theaters and Rosehill Racecourse. Parramatta is best understood with a visit to the Visitor Center which includes Parramatta: People and Place, a large exhibit that charts Parramatta's development and can be explored by following a walking map.