Balls Head Bay, formerly known as Oyster Cove, Wollstonecraft Bay, Sugarworks Bay, Powder Works Bay and Kerosene Bay, is a

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

located to the west of the Waverton Peninsula, west of Balls Head and to the east of Berry Island, on the north of

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. Some of the older alternative names for the bay refer to industries that were once situated on its foreshore. There was a sugar factory, Robey's Sugar Works, there from around 1857 to 1859. There was a facility that produced kerosene from oil shale and handled imported 'case oil', Australian Mineral Oil Company, there from 1865 to 1868. There was an explosives factory, Neokratine Safety Explosives Company, there from 1889 to 1891. The site of these earlier enterprises was later occupied by a gasworks owned by the

North Shore Gas Company North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

, from 1917 to 1987. After coal gas production ceased, during the period 1971–1973, the artist Brett Whitely used the disused coal store building as a studio for creating large artworks. The site is now the residential complex, 'Wondakiah', with some public open space. Some of the old gasworks buildings have been repurposed as part of the residential complex. Balls Head Bay contains the former Balls Head Coal Loader. Parts of the disused loader site have been converted to public space—now known as the Coal Loader Centre for Sustainability—with the derelict loading wharf remaining safely off-limits. The site has interpretive signage that provides information covering in detail the history of the site.Interpretative signage at the Ball's Head Coal Loader In June 2021, the coal loader site was added to the NSW Heritage Register. It is now the home of the museum and training ship

MV Cape Don MV ''Cape Don'' is a former lighthouse tender, now a museum ship and training ship in Waverton, New South Wales, Australia. Built and launched by the State Dockyard at Newcastle, New South Wales in 1962 for the Commonwealth Lighthouse Service, she ...

. The

naval base A naval base, navy base, or military port is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that us ...

is located within the bay. Ships were broken up and burnt to the waterline in the bay. One such ship was the ''Lalla Rookh'', which was broken up at Kerosene Bay in 1898 after it caught fire in November 1897. The

Australasian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database __NOTOC__ The Australasian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database (AUCHD) is an online, searchable database containing data on shipwrecks, aircraft that have been submerged underwater or wrecked on the shore, and other artefacts of cultural sign ...

describes her as a 147-ton brig, long. (Creative Commons 4.0 International licence.) (See ''Lalla Rookh'' (ship).)

References

Bays of New South Wales Sydney Harbour {{Sydney-geo-stub

See also

References