Darling Island
Location: Pyrmont SydneyDarling Island is one of a number of islands in Sydney Harbour that have been reclaimed and are now a part of the mainland with little or no evidence remaining as to its former disposition.
When the first fleet arrived from Britain in 1788, Darling Island was a rocky inhospitable place on the western side of what is today known as Darling Harbour. In the first forty years of European settlement, Darling Harbour was known as Cockle Bay, because of the abundance of shellfish on its shore, and the island was subsequently called Cockle Island. The mud flat which joined the island to the mainland was bridged by a causeway in the 1840s.
In 1855, the Australian Steam Navigation Company acquired Darling Island upon which it would build one of Australia s foremost slipways and engineering workshops. In preparation for its construction, they contracted Pyrmont Robert Saunders, son of Pyrmont quarryman Charles Saunders, to level the island and connect it to the mainland. The contract time for excavation, quarrying and removal was two years. It was completed in one year. Robert Saunders was listed in the Australian Men of Marks Vol. II for the work he completed on Darling Island.
Darling Island as we know it today began to take shape in the 1890s with the construction of coaling jetties from Pyrmont Bridge to Darling Island. Ongoing reclamation work saw the harbour foreshores reduced by more than 70 kilometres since colonisation. By the turn of the 20th century, Darling Island was totally lined by wharves that were in continual use by overseas ships. After World War I, an influx of European migrants saw the wharves of Darling Island reserved for passenger liners. After World War II, the Pier 13 shed was demolished and a passenger terminal built in its place.
The terminal remained in use until the 1990s when a fall-off in passenger shipping saw it converted to a temporary casino until Star City Casino was built. From 2004, Darling Island began to undergo major redevelopment which included 109 apartments in 3 buildings, parklands, car parks and a waterfront function centre. The Darling Island development commenced with the demolition of the northern part of the Darling Island Centre, the former passenger terminal after it was used as the Sydney Media Centre during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
Stage 2 included the accommodation of over 22,000 square metres of offices to meet growing demand for Pyrmont from the media and communications industries. The adjoining waterfront residential building accommodates over 30 apartments. The nearby Jones Bay wharf underwent similar redevelopment. The red brick, heritage listed former Ordnance Stores of the Royal Edward Victualling Yard, built between 1902 and 1912, remain.
When the Australian colonies federated, they still relied on the Royal Navy for defence. Garden Island was too cramped to accommodate the ships and their stores, so in 1905-6 the Royal Edward Victualling Yard was built on Darling Island, Wharf 18 of Darling Harbour. Designed by Walter Liberty Vernon, it had to comply with the Royal Navy's exact and exacting standards. The two narrow, vertical Federation Warehouse buildings are a fine example of a style of building, design features and commercial activity now rare on and around the waterways of central Sydney.
The Royal Edward Victualling Yard was the first Royal Yard in the southern hemisphere. The stores operated during both World Wars and played an instrumental role in the provision of supplies during World War Two.
The names of Darling Harbour and Darling Island recall New South Wales Governor Ralph Darling. He was the colony's often criticised governor between 1825 and 1831. He is popularly described as a tyrant, accused of torturing prisoners, banning theatrical entertainment and reversing much of the progressive developments Governor Lachlan Macquarie had introduced.
