''Fiddens Wharf'' or ''Killara Wharf'' was a former
wharf
A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...
on the
Lane Cove River
The Lane Cove River, a northern tributary of the Parramatta River, is a tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary west of Sydney Harbour, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The river is a tributary of the Parramatta River, winding thro ...
in
Sydney, Australia. Named after the
convict
A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as " prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former conv ...
Joseph Fidden, the wharf was primarily used for the transport of timber and supplies to and from Sydney in the 19th century.
It is unknown whether the original structure was a conventional wharf, or a mooring place with lines connected to a metal ring secured in a nearby
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
. Fiddens was one of the three main wharves on the river.
[National Parks & Wildlife Service of New South Wales - Information sign at Fiddens Wharf]
Indigenous History
The local
indigenous Australian people
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
, the
Cammeraygal occupied this area for at least 5,800 years.
[Fact Sheet 8 – Chatswood West – Willoughby City Council]
Early European History
In 1788, Captain
Arthur Phillip was aware of timber resources on the
north shore, in the area now known as
Ku-ring-gai. By 1789 a detailed survey of the river up to
De Burghs Bridge
De Burghs Bridge is a road bridge that carries the Lane Cove Road, part of the A3, across the Lane Cove River in Macquarie Park, Sydney, Australia. The bridge stretches from Macquarie Park in the south to West Pymble in the north.
History
T ...
was made.
Marine Lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...
Ralph Clark
Lieutenant Ralph Clark (30 March 1755 or 1762 – June 1794) was a British officer in the Royal Marines, best known for his diary spanning the early years of British settlement in Australia, including the voyage of the First Fleet.
Born in Ed ...
explored the area in 1790.
[Fairyland Site Assessment - Tony Butteriss, 2006] In 1805
George Caley
George Caley (10 June 1770 – 23 May 1829) was an English botanist and explorer, active in Australia for the majority of his career.
Early life
Caley was born in Craven, Yorkshire, England, the son of a horse-dealer. He was educated at the ...
explored the area, finding stands of blackbutt and blue gum. The first Europeans to inhabit this area were convict timber cutters and their overseers, who set up camp around 1805 near the end of Fiddens Wharf Road.
Sawpits, huts, a wharf and well were constructed. Between 1805 and 1809, a government sawmill and convict timber-getting camp was established on Lane Cove River near a place that is now known as “Fidden’s Wharf”. In 1814, 48 convicts and one overseer worked at the site. Even then, much of the best timber had been cut out. This site was disbanded about 1819.
In the 1820s illegal timber workers set up camp at Fiddens Wharf. Described as "armed ruffians, murderers, cattle stealers,
bushrangers and the very worst of characters". The logs were brought down to the wharf by
bullock dray.
On 5 April 1821,
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Lachlan Macquarie issued five crown grants of land in the area that now comprises
Killara
Killara is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia north-west of the Sydney Central Business District in the local government area of Ku-ring-gai Council. East Killara is a separate suburb and ...
, which included 40 acres to Joseph Fidden. Over two decades much timber was cut, including
blackbutt and
ironbark
Ironbark is a common name of a number of species in three taxonomic groups within the genus ''Eucalyptus'' that have dark, deeply furrowed bark.
Instead of being shed annually as in many of the other species of ''Eucalyptus'', the dead bark accum ...
,
stringy bark and
blue gum, the last two types highly regarded by Macquarie for building and flooring.
Billy Blue
William Blue (c. 1767 – 7 May 1834) was an Australian convict who, after completing his sentence, became a boatman providing one of the first services to take people across Sydney Harbour. He was also made a water bailiff and watched boat t ...
was another boatman who traveled to the wharf. A track was formed by 1813, now known as Fiddens Wharf road. In 1831 it was recorded that three sheds and a garden were above Fiddens Wharf. Residents named were boatmen Joseph Fidden, Thomas Elyard and William Bowles. The Lane Cove Sawmill Company was established just up the hill on Fiddens Wharf Road.
Geography
A number of different plant communities were found near Fiddens Wharf. The early logging occurred in the
Sydney Sandstone Gully Forest and
Sydney Blue Gum High Forest. Soils in these forests are derived from
Ashfield Shale
Ashfield Shale is part of the Wianamatta group of sedimentary rocks in the Sydney Basin. It lies directly on contemporaneously eroded Hawkesbury sandstone or the Mittagong formation. These rock types were formed in the Triassic Period. It is nam ...
and
Hawkesbury Sandstone
Sydney sandstone is the common name for Sydney Basin Hawkesbury Sandstone, one variety of which is historically known as Yellowblock, and also as "yellow gold" a sedimentary rock named after the Hawkesbury River north of Sydney, where this ...
from the
Triassic
The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Year#Abbreviations yr and ya, Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 ...
. In the Fiddens Wharf area
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...
alluvium and relatively high rainfall enabled large trees to grow. The
Blackbutt is the predominant species. The
dwarf plum pine is a common
Gondwanan
Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stage ...
relict
A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon.
Biology
A relict (or relic) is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas.
Geology and geomorphology
In geology, a r ...
at the site today. Six and a half hectares of forest around Fiddens wharf was declared a wharf reserve, where no timber could be legally cut. Regular fire discouraged
rainforest plant species and favoured the
eucalyptus
''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as e ...
trees. Many large Blackbutt trees today remain in this area.
[National Parks & Wildlife Service of New South Wales - Information sign at Fiddens Wharf]
Joseph Fidden
Joseph Fidden was born in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
around 1778.
Though some references state his birth year was 1757.
Convicted at
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
Assizes in 1799 for burglary and stealing two pots of paint and two loaves of bread. Sentenced to death by hanging, which was commuted to seven years transportation. He arrived in Sydney Cove on the
Earl Cornwallis
Earl Cornwallis was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1753 for Charles Cornwallis, 5th Baron Cornwallis. The second Earl was created Marquess Cornwallis but this title became extinct in 1823, while the earldom and its ...
on 6 June 1801. Fidden purchased his own land at Killara in 1821. Fidden gained his freedom and lived in the area for 25 years as a farmer and
ferryman
A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...
. He is said to have been a man of considerable strength
[National Parks & Wildlife Service of New South Wales - Information sign at Fiddens Wharf] and rowed "tons of sawn timber with the tide down the river" to
Circular Quay
Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping port, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the northern edge of the Syd ...
, and then "return with the tide, delivering supplies to farms along the way". On the return journey, he dropped off supplies to settlements upriver. The
sly-grog and other products he provided attracted the rough-living sawyers and bushmen of the district.
In 1807 Fidden married Mary Clark at
St John's Parramatta
Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...
, they had four children.
He died on 17 April 1856. Buried in
Camperdown Cemetery
Camperdown Cemetery is an historic cemetery located on Church Street in Newtown, an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The cemetery was founded in 1848 and was for twenty years the main general cemetery for Sydney, with the ...
.
After the logging
In the 1850s, when the local timber was exhausted, the area near Fiddens Wharf was planted with citrus trees. The fruit were sent to the city by boat for sale.
Lane Cove Road
Lane Cove Road is a major suburban arterial road in Sydney, Australia. It forms part of A3 and is located in the Ryde local government area.
The southern end of Lane Cove Road connects with Devlin Street at Blaxland Road at Top Ryde, about ...
became the main route for delivery to Sydney,
[National Parks & Wildlife Service of New South Wales - Information sign at Fiddens Wharf] and the commercial importance of Fiddens wharf diminished. The citrus plantation failed due to soil deterioration,
bushfires
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...
, pest and fungal disease. Fiddens Wharf eventually became a popular picnic spot. The cleared area near the river was an attractive area for recreation. Many boats from the
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
visited the area for day trips and camping. Vessels such as the "Native Rose", "Killara" and "Nellie" were often seen on the river.
[National Parks & Wildlife Service of New South Wales - Information sign at Fiddens Wharf]
20th century
A new wharf was built in 1908. Picnics via flat bottomed boat to Fiddens Wharf continued in the 20th century, sometimes over 3,000 people per day traveled up river to Fiddens Wharf or
Fairyland
Fairyland (''Faerie'', Scottish ''Elfame'', c.f. Old Norse '' Álfheimr'') in English and Scottish folklore is the fabulous land or abode of fairies or ''fays''. Old French (Early Modern English ) referred to an illusion or enchantment, the land ...
, downstream. Stone steps were built from the river to Fiddens Wharf road during the 1930s by unemployed men. They swam and fished by day. At night they distilled alcohol and gambled playing
two up. Some slept under overhangs in the sandstone rocks. Their rock carvings may be seen today in rock ledges by the river bank. In 1937, a weir downstream of Fiddens Wharf was built on the river which stopped tidal boats from reaching Fiddens Wharf. In the summer of 1938-1939, 10,000 scouts from all over the world came to nearby Bradfield Park for the Australasian Scout
Jamboree. The wharf area and river were prominent in their outdoor activities. During World War II, the
nearby area uphill from the wharf was used by the
air force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...
. Wooden buildings were constructed near the wharf, and trenches were dug in the nearby hillside. A new wharf structure at the river was built by the air force at the site of the original wharf in the 1940s, for swimming and diving. The new wharf was 60 feet long with stairs and a pathway leading to an ablution block.
[National Parks & Wildlife Service of New South Wales - Information sign at Fiddens Wharf] A sporting ground was built in 1966 near the wharf on the site of a small military training camp. This same area was used for logging purposes and picnics in the 19th century.
21st Century
Practically no evidence of the wharf or the military remains today. Though some refuge material near the river may be part of the air force ablution block. Despite many years of bush regeneration, the area near Fiddens Wharf is infested with
invasive weeds
An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species adv ...
. Fiddens Wharf is on the
Great North Walk
The Great North Walk is a walking track which runs from Sydney to Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia. The main track, in length, runs between the Obelisk in Macquarie Place in Sydney to Queens Wharf in Bicentennial Park in Newcastle and ...
. The oval is used for various activities such as
football and
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
.
Further reading
Historical image
References
{{reflist
Killara, New South Wales
Wharves in Australia
History of Sydney
Convicts transported to Australia
Forests of New South Wales
Lane Cove River