White 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'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

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 ...

with a surrounding locality near the suburbs of Balmain and

Rozelle Rozelle is a suburb in the inner west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 4 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Inner West Council. Location Rozelle s ...

in the

Inner West The Inner West of Sydney is an area directly west of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. The suburbs that make up the Inner West are predominantly located along the southern shore of Port Jackson (Parramatta River) ...

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

White Bay is named after John White, the

naval surgeon A naval surgeon, or less commonly ship's doctor, is the person responsible for the health of the ship's company aboard a warship. The term appears often in reference to Royal Navy's medical personnel during the Age of Sail. Ancient uses Specialis ...

aboard 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 ...

to Australia in 1788. Since the nineteenth century the bay has been used for water-based

transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

and industrial activities. In conjunction with adjacent

Glebe Island Glebe Island was a major port facility in Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour and, in association with the adjacent White Bay (New South Wales), White Bay facility, was the primary receiving venue for imported cars and dry bulk goods in the region unt ...

it has been a multipurpose

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

, owned and controlled by the

Government of New South Wales The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...

since 1901. White Bay was the first port in New South Wales to handle containerised shipping, opening in 1969 on reclaimed land. In the 1970s there were several companies operating container terminals, with rail transfer via the Metropolitan Goods line to larger holding yards at

Chullora Chullora, a suburb in the City of Canterbury-Bankstown local government area, is located 15 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Greater Western Sydney region. Th ...

. Container handling moved out of White Bay in late 2004 moving to

Port Botany Port Botany is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Port Botany is located 12 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Randwick. Port ...

. The White Bay Cruise Terminal opened in April 2013 replacing a terminal at Wharf 8 on

Darling Harbour Darling Harbour is a harbour and neighborhood adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central busines ...

. White Bay is also used for marine refuelling.

Landmarks

The White Bay Hotel was a historic hotel on Victoria Road. It was built in 1861, rebuilt in 1916, and refurbished in 1925 and 1933. It 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 fire and immediately demolished. The state government bought the site in June 2010. The rubble was removed on 29 October 2010 and the block levelled. The derelict

White Bay Power Station The 'White Bay Power Station'' is a heritage listed former coal-fired power station on a site in White Bay, New South Wales, White Bay, in the suburb of Rozelle, from Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The remains of the plant can be clea ...

dominates the landscape. On the eastern side stands the

Anzac Bridge The Anzac Bridge is an eight-lane cable-stayed bridge that carries the Western Distributor (A4) across Johnstons Bay between Pyrmont and Glebe Island (part of the suburb of Rozelle), on the western fringe of the Sydney central business dis ...

, which was completed in 1996 and is the main arterial link between the inner west and Sydney city. Below the bridge lies its predecessor, the

Glebe Island Bridge The Glebe Island Bridge is a heritage-listed disused swing Allan truss road bridge that carried Victoria Road (as Bank Street) across Johnstons Bay, located in the inner city Sydney suburb of Pyrmont, New South Wales, Australia. The br ...

, which opened in 1903.Anzac Bridge

Office of Environment & Heritage The New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH), a former division of the Government of New South Wales between April 2011 and July 2019, was responsible for the care and protection of the environment and heritage, which includ ...

Gallery

Image:White Bay Power Station.JPG,

Image:White Bay New South Wales 4.JPG,

grain silos Image:Balmain Coal Loader 1.JPG, Balmain Coal Loader Image:White_Bay_Demolition.jpg, White Bay Hotel demolition File:B_Bush_Bridge.JPG, Beatrice Bush Bridge, bike and pedestrian access over Victoria Road

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 City West Link is a link road connecting Parramatta Road and the Western Distributor through the Inner West suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was bypassed by the WestConnex project upon its completion in November 2023. This na ...

) and Victoria Road.Powerhouse Museum; ''Statement of significance: Newspaper trolley owner by Beatrice Bush''

Retrieved on 5 November 2006. Every morning in all weather, wearing

Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995 to 1996) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain, New South Wales, Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and on ...

socks and running shoes, Beatrice was part of the drive to work for thousands of motorists. 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 Susan Dorothea White (born 10 August 1941) is an Australian artist and author. She is a narrative artist and her work concerns the natural world and human situation, increasingly incorporating satire and irony to convey her concern for human righ ...

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.Australian Film Commission; ''The Paper Queen''; Film Database Entry

Retrieved on 5 November 2006. In 2005 a new cycle bridge crossing Victoria Road at the intersection of The Crescent was named the Beatrice Bush Bridge in her honour. Her newspaper trolley, hat, gloves and other clothing items are held in the

Powerhouse Museum The Powerhouse Museum, formerly known as the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS), is a collection of 4 museums in Sydney, owned by the Government of New South Wales. Powerhouse is a contemporary museum of applied arts and sciences, explori ...

collection in Sydney.

References

External links

reference
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(

CC BY-SA A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work". A CC license is used when an author wants to give other people the right to share, use, and bui ...

) at the

Dictionary of Sydney The Dictionary of Sydney is a digital humanities project to produce an online, expert-written encyclopaedia of all aspects of the history of Sydney. Description The Dictionary is a partnership between the City of Sydney, the University of Sydne ...

Sydney Ports - Master Plans

Local Images at InnerWest ImageBank

Local History Collection, Leichhardt Council

* ttp://www.smh.com.au/news/national/beer-may-flow-once-again/2008/06/01/1212258647602.html Beer may flow once again at White Bay Hotel
Susan Dorothea White's 1986 painting 'Beatrice the Paper-Seller of the White Bay Intersection'
{{Coord, -33.864, 151.184, format=dms, type:city_region:AU-NSW, display=title Sydney localities Bays of New South Wales