White Bay (New South Wales)

White Bay looking towards Sydney and the Harbour Bridge
White Bay Hotel 2008

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.

History

White Bay is named after John White, the naval surgeon aboard the First Fleet to Australia in 1788.[1] Since the nineteenth century the bay has been used for water-based transport and industrial activities. In conjunction with adjacent Glebe Island it has been a multipurpose port, owned and controlled by the Government of New South Wales since 1901.[2][3] It caters for container handling, break bulk cargo (timber, paper, motor vehicles and steel) and dry bulk cargoes (cement, sugar, gypsum, aggregates, etc.).

The White Bay Hotel [4] was a historic hotel on Victoria Road. It was first built in 1861, rebuilt in 1916, and refurbished in 1925 and 1933. It finally closed in 1992, "landlocked" by roads and with no local workers. Until 2004 it served only as a platform for billboards advertising to traffic on the Western Distributor, and on 5 September 2008 was destroyed by a suspicious[5] fire and immediately demolished. The NSW state government bought the site in June 2010.[6]

The rubble was removed on 29 October 2010 and the block levelled.

Landmarks

The derelict White Bay Power Station dominates the landscape. On the eastern side stands the magnificent Anzac Bridge, which was completed in 1996 and is the main arterial link between the inner west and Sydney city.[7] Below the bridge lies its predecessor, the Glebe Island Bridge,[7] which opened in 1903.

Notable residents

For 25 years from 1971 to just before her death in 1996, one of Sydney's true characters, Beatrice Olive ("Beattie") Bush, sold papers to passing motorists at the junction of The Crescent (City West Link) and Victoria Road.[8] Every morning in all weather, wearing Balmain Tigers socks and running shoes, Beatrice was part of the drive to work for thousands of motorists.[8]

The 1984 song The White Bay Paper Seller by Judy Small was written about Beatrice. The 1986 painting Beatrice the Paper-Seller of the White Bay Intersection by Susan Dorothea White shows Beatrice Bush running between the cars and trucks, selling newspapers in the rain. The 2004 documentary, The Paper Queen by Julie Nebauer documented her life.[9] In 2005 a new cycle bridge crossing Victoria Road at the intersection of The Crescent was named the Beatrice Bush Bridge in her honour.[7] Her newspaper trolley, hat, gloves and other clothing items are held in the Powerhouse Museum collection in Sydney.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "White Bay". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  2. ↑ Sydney Ports; Glebe Island and White Bay Master Plan, Part A; 2000;
  3. ↑ Sydney Ports; Glebe Island and White Bay Master Plan, Part B; 2000;
  4. ↑ White Bay Hotel Heritage Report
  5. ↑ ABC News, 7pm, 6 September 2008
  6. ↑ State snaps up White Bay Hotel site (SMH)
  7. 1 2 3 Roads and Traffic Authority, NSW; ANZAC Bridge, ; Retrieved on 5 November 2006.
  8. 1 2 3 Powerhouse Museum; Statement of significance: Newspaper trolley owner by Beatrice Bush; ; Retrieved on 5 November 2006.
  9. ↑ Australian Film Commission; The Paper Queen; Film Database Entry; ; Retrieved on 5 November 2006.
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Coordinates: 33°51′50″S 151°11′02″E / 33.864°S 151.184°E / -33.864; 151.184

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