The Spit is an urban locality in the
suburb of
Mosman in
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
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. The Spit is located in the
local government area of the
Municipality of Mosman and is part of the
Lower North Shore.
Landmarks
The Spit protrudes off
Beauty Point and is home to the
Spit Bridge, a
bascule bridge opened in 1958 over
Middle Harbour. The bridge opens at set times to allow yachts with high masts to pass. The Spit is the site of the Middle Harbour Yacht Club and a marina.
History
The Aboriginal name for The Spit is ''Burra Bra''.
From as early as 1834, a ferry operated by Barney Kearns carried passengers across the waters of
Middle Harbour. From the 1850s, a
punt operated by Peter Ellery, carried passengers across for sixpence and
horse-drawn vehicle
A horse-drawn vehicle is a piece of equipment pulled by one or more horses. These vehicles typically have two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have mostly been replaced by auto ...
s were charged 1s 6d. If the horses swam across, there was a reduction of sixpence. In 1889, it was replaced by a government steam punt. A wooden bridge was opened in 1924 after the electric
tram
A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...
lines were extended to the Spit. This was replaced by the bascule bridge in 1958, which was needed to cope with heavy traffic from the
Sydney CBD to the
Northern Beaches. Chinamans Beach was named after the Chinese residents who had market gardens and salt pans there,
[''The Book of Sydney Suburbs'', Compiled by Frances Pollen, Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1990, Published in Australia , page 245] it is now a popular family beach.
Heritage listings
The Spit has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
* Monash Crescent (East Side):
Middle Harbour Syphon
References
Sydney localities
Mosman, New South Wales
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