HISTORY

DARLING ISLAND
HISTORY

Darling Island is steeped in history. The first inhabitants of Darling Island were the traditional owners, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. Early Europeans found so many shell-filled middens they initially named it Cockle Island.

In those times Darling Island was an oval-shaped, rocky, inhospitable island to the west of the Rocks, only accessible over mud flats at low tide. The centre of the island rose to a steep sandstone knoll heavily covered in trees and scrub.

Private Thomas Jones was a private in the NSW Corps. He is famous not only for having been the first European to own Darling Island, but for his demise at the end of a rope.

In 1795 the NSW Corps officers awarded Jones 55 acres at the North Eastern tip of Pyrmont, including Darling Island. As part of a drive by the young colony to provide food for the growing population, grants were made conditional on the new owners farming the land.

This grant -Jones’ Farm -required him to live on the land, clear and cultivate it. However, on discovering its poor potential, Jones never farmed Darling Island and instead sold the land to Sergeant Ikin, who sold it on to John Macarthur as soon as he could.

In 1799 Jones and his wife were charged with murdering a missionary, convicted, and hanged. Jones body was left hanging over the smouldering ruins of his house near George Street.

Without his knowledge he and his wife bequeathed their name to Jones Street and Jones Bay, in what was later to be known as Pyrmont. Jones Bay is on the western side of Darling Island

In 1796 the land was sold to Sergeant Obadiah Ikin of the New South Wales Corps.

JOHN
MACARTHUR

In 1799 Darling Island was purchased for ten pounds by Lieutenant John Macarthur, the pioneer of Australia’s wool industry. The rocky island did not lend itself to farming but its deep water access made it well-suited for shipbuilding.

In 1826, the island was name Darling Island after the new Governor Lieutenant General Ralph Darling who was Governor from 1825 to 1831.

When John Macarthur died in 1834 his son Edward constructed a stone causeway to better link the island to the mainland. Shipbuilding increased and in 1846 Macarthur sold Darling Island to the Hunter River Steamship Company which in 1851 became the Australasian Steam Navigation Company.

SHIPBUILDING

From the 1850’s on, Darling Island evolved into one of major shipyards in the Southern Hemisphere. The first iron hull ship wholly constructed in Australia was the “Ballaarat”, built by Australasian Steam Navigation Company on Darling Island in 1853 and now commemorated by the beautiful Ballaarat Park and gardens amid Darling Island Apartments.

In 1855 The Australian Steam Navigation Company commissioned Pyrmont Robert Saunders to fully link the island to the mainland and a year later Darling Island had been connected seamlessly.

The iron paddle steamer Leichhardt was built on Darling Island in 1865, the largest iron ship to be built at that time.

By 1880 the Australian Steam Navigation Company occupied all of Darling Island, a hive of industry, boat and ship building, repairs and maintenance, supporting the growing engineering needs of the colony, but construction had been haphazard and in 1889 the Government acquired all of Darling Island to improve the wharfage. The Government lined the foreshores a giant retaining wall comprising huge concrete blocks then added with purpose-built wharves, features of Darling Island that still remain today.

Australian Steam Navigation Company Yard 1860

FROM WHEAT TO MIGRANTS

By the turn of the new century the Sydney Harbour Trust acquired the island then primarily the Railway Commissioners yard and depot. The island was still filled with little-used railway tracks until the 1970’s. but the wharves along the foreshores were used extensively by overseas shipping.

In the 1920’s Darling Island was primarily used for wheat export but with the threat of war in 1938 the wharves were converted to handle troop departures. The railway lines enabled soldiers to be taken directly to the ships.

Wool Lorries Delivering for Export

Main Wheat Shed

Ammunition Being Loaded

After World War 2 thousands of European migrants arrived on and around Darling Island on ships like P&O’s Himalaya, Arcadia, Orsova, Oronsay and Orcades.

So constant was the flow of migrants that the Pier 13 Shed was converted to an Overseas Passenger Terminal. But as the influx slowed it was gradually used less and less, until repurposed entirely as a temporary casino, while the Star Casino was being built.

Darling Island & Jones Bay Wharf 1919

SS Baradine & SS Fairsky 1964

A CASINO AND MEDIA CENTRE

For the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Pier 13 became the Games Media Centre and just four years later it was demolished to make way for the Darling Island Apartment Complex, 108 apartments in three modern buildings set among parks and gardens, with iconic views of the Harbour Bridge and city. At its northern end with harbour on three sides, parks, gardens and spectacular views, Darling Island Apartments have become a luxury, peaceful oasis just minutes from the CBD.

Darling Island Apartments Under Construction circa 2003

OUR HISTORY

Pre 1700’s	The Cadigal people are the traditional owners.
1795	Private Thomas Jones of the New South Wales Corps is granted 55 acres on the western shore of cockle bay, which included Darling Island
1796	The land is sold to Sergeant Obadiah Ikin of the New South Wales Corps.
1799	John Macarthur, entrepreneur and pioneer pastoralist purchases the land from Ikin for 10pounds.
1836	Following the death of his father Edward Macarthur plans to develop Pyrmont and Darling Island with residences, warehouses and shipyards
1840	Edward Macarthur links the island to the mainland with a stone causeway
1846	The island is purchased by the Hunter River Steamship Company which establishes and engineering and maintenance yard
1855	The Australian Steam Navigation Company constructs a 330ft long patent slipway
1880s	Due to increased competition and financial losses the Australasian Steam Navigation Company collapses and the island is sold
1895	The NSW Department of Public Works begins a massive reconstruction, levelling the island and creating a 100 metre ong berth, a ferry wharf and a massive wheat storage shed
1901	With the growth in trade and industry the railway line is extended to the island

Early 1900s	The newly-formed Sydney Harbour Trust takes over works on the island and builds facilities for industries using the wharves
1902-1920	New berths Numbers 2 and 3 are completed and a concrete deck 290 feet long is built on the northern end. Two imposing naval defence buildings were built on the southern end, and still remain today
1920s	Wheat production increases dramatically and with the advent of bulk handling the trade moves to Glebe Island
1930s	The Maritime Services Board converts Darling Island wharves to general cargo
1938-45	With the advent of war the MSB converts Berths 12-14 to enable the efficient movement oif soldiers from shore to ship
1945-47	Post-war Darling Island receives ships carrying migrants from Europe. In 1951 Berth 13 is further altered to become the first purpose-built passenger terminal in Sydney Harbour.
1970s and 80s	With the cruise industry flourishing Berth 13 is used to take the overload from the Overseas Passenger Terminal and Circular Quay
1977-1993	Following the relocation of many wharves to Port Botany, the Darling Island wharves go into decline
1995	A temporary casino built on the site of Pyrmont wharves 12 and 13 opens and continues in use until the Star Casino opens
2002	With the adoption of the Darling Island Master Plan states that Darling Island will become mixed residential, commercial and public use.
2004	The Darling Island Apartments complex is constructed by Multiplex Constructions.