Berry Island, New South Wales

Berry Island
Sydney, New South Wales
Berry Island reserve park view.
LGA(s)North Sydney Council
Localities around Berry Island:
Wollstonecraft
Berry Island
Port Jackson

Berry Island is a locality in Wollstonecraft on the lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.[1] It was originally one of Sydney's Harbour Islands, but it is now connected to the mainland by a constructed isthmus.

Description

The area is now a reserve open to the public, with an interpretive bushland walk, playground and picnic area at the site. There is also a signposted Aboriginal site with rock carvings, grinding grooves and a waterhole. The reserve is heritage-listed.[2]

History

Berry Island was part of a grant of land made by Governor Macquarie to Alexander Berry and Edward Wollstonecraft in 1820 [3] and is named after Alexander Berry.[4]

The island was later joined to the mainland by a stone causeway over the mudflats. During the 1960s, the land between the island and the mainland was reclaimed and made into a grassed area.[4] [5]

Aboriginal sites

Aboriginal waterhole and grinding grooves (top right) along the Gadyan Track

Berry Island contains aboriginal rock carvings, middens, a smoke-stained cave and a stone tool grinding site.[6] It has a 20-minute (750 metre) loop walk called the Gadyan Track, with interpretive signage describing the significance of points around the island. The main feature of the track is a large Aboriginal rock carving of a whale, with a boomerang-shaped carving, a waterhole and grinding grooves alongside it. [7]

References

  1. ^ "Berry Island Reserve". North Sydney Council. North Sydney Council. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  2. ^ State Heritage Register
  3. ^ "Saving Balls' Head and Berry Island for Recreation". North Shore Historical Society Journal. 28 (1). 1988.
  4. ^ a b Wagner, Claire (1971). Biloela to Boambilly - The Islands of Sydney Harbour. Oswald Ziegler, Sydney. p. 54.
  5. ^ North Sydney Council. "Berry Island Bushland Reserve". Archived from the original on 6 October 2009. Retrieved 22 October 2009.
  6. ^ Hinkson, Melinda (1966). Aboriginal Sydney: a guide to important places of the past and present. Aboriginal Studies Press, Sydney. p. 32. ISBN 0-85575-370-6.
  7. ^ North Sydney Council. "Berry Island Reserve". Archived from the original on 3 October 2009. Retrieved 19 October 2009.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Berry Island Reserve, Wollstonecraft.

33°50′23″S 151°11′20″E / 33.839745°S 151.188858°E / -33.839745; 151.188858