Bennelong Point, a former island in

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a ria, natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove River, Lane ...

, is a headland that, since the 1970s, is the location of the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia.

History

Bennelong Point is known to the local

Gadigal The Gadigal, also spelled as Cadigal and Caddiegal, are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands are located in Gadi, on Eora country, the location of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. However, since the colonisation of Australia ...

people of the Eora nation as ''Dubbagullee''. The point was originally a small

tidal island A tidal island is a raised area of land within a waterbody, which is connected to the larger mainland by a natural isthmus or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide, causing the land to switch between being ...

, ''Tubowgule'', later renamed as Bennelong Island, that largely consisted of rocks with a small beach on the western side. The island was located on the tip of the eastern arm of Sydney Cove and was separated from the mainland at high tide. For a brief period in 1788, this relatively isolated protrusion into

Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...

was called Cattle Point as it was used to confine the few cattle and horses that had been brought from

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

by Governor

Arthur Phillip Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first Governor of New South Wales, governor of the Colony of New South Wales. Phillip was educated at Royal Hospital School, Gree ...

with the

First Fleet The First Fleet were eleven British ships which transported a group of settlers to mainland Australia, marking the beginning of the History of Australia (1788–1850), European colonisation of Australia. It consisted of two Royal Navy vessel ...

. The area at that time was also strewn with discarded oyster shells from many long years of gathering by the local aboriginal women. Those shells were regathered by the newly arrived convict women and burnt to make

lime Lime most commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Bo ...

for cement mortar. The point was called Limeburners' Point for that reason, though those shells only furnished enough lime to make a single building, the two-storey Government House. In the early 1790s, the Aboriginal man Woollarawarre Bennelong— employed as a cultural interlocutor by the British—persuaded

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the representative of the monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia, Governor-General of Australia at the national level, the governor ...

, Arthur Phillip, to build a brick hut for him on the point, giving it its colonial name. In December 1798, a half-moon battery was constructed at the extreme northern end of the Point, mounted with guns from ''HMS Supply''. In the period from 1818 to 1821, the tidal area between Bennelong Island and the mainland was filled with rocks excavated from the Bennelong Point peninsula. The entire area was leveled to create a low platform and to provide suitable stone for the construction of

Fort Macquarie Fort Macquarie was a square castle, castellated battlement fort built in 1798 at Bennelong Point, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on the site where the Sydney Opera House now stands. It was demolished in 1901 to make way for the Fort Macqu ...

. While the fort was being built, a large portion of the rocky escarpment at Bennelong Point was also cut away to allow a road to be built around the point from

Sydney Cove Sydney Cove (Eora language, Eora: ) is a bay on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, one of several harbours in Port Jackson, on the coast of Sydney, New South Wales. Sydney Cove is a focal point for community celebrations, due to its central ...

to Farm Cove. This was known as Tarpeian Way. The existence of the original tidal island and its rubble fill were largely forgotten until the late 1950s when both were rediscovered during the excavations related to the construction of the

. Prior to the Opera House's construction, Bennelong Point had housed

Fort Macquarie Tram Depot Fort Macquarie Tram Depot was part of the Trams in Sydney, Sydney tram network. It opened in 1902 on the site of the old Fort Macquarie and was demolished in 1958 to make way for the construction of the Sydney Opera House. History Fort Macquarie ...

Gallery

File:Adolphe Jean-Baptiste Bayot03.jpg, Bennelong Point and Fort Macquarie . File:Bennlong Point (Tubowgule) c. 1873 SLNSW FL1254158.jpg,

Bennelong Point Bennelong Point, a former island in Sydney Harbour, is a headland that, since the 1970s, is the location of the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. History Bennelong Point is known to the local Gadigal people of the Eora ...

, Fort Macquarie & the first

Sydney Rowing Club Sydney Rowing Club is the oldest rowing club in New South Wales, Australia formed in 1870. It has occupied its current site on Port Jackson's Parramatta River at Abbotsford, New South Wales, Abbotsford Point since 1874. The club has a focus on it ...

shed c. 1873. File:Aerial view of Sydney Harbour - the bridge is under construction.jpg, Bennelong Point and Fort Macquarie during the 1920s. File:Fort Macquarie Tram Depot.jpg, Fort Macquarie Tram Depot shortly before demolition in 1958. File:Sydney Opera house 3.jpg, The

on Bennelong Point, 2010. File:Bennelong Point restaurant 201708.jpg, Restaurants in Bennelong Point.

References

{{Sydney Harbour and Parramatta River islands Sydney Harbour Headlands of New South Wales Sydney localities Islands of Sydney Sydney Opera House

History

Gallery

See also

References