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Coordinates: 33°51′S 151°10′E / 33.850°S 151.167°E / -33.850; 151.167
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[[Image:Chiswick Ferry Wharf.JPG|thumb|Image:Chiswick Ferry Wharf, with Gladesville Bridge in the background]]
[[Image:Chiswick Ferry Wharf.JPG|thumb|Image:Chiswick Ferry Wharf, with Gladesville Bridge in the background]]
===Ferry services and wharves===
===Ferry services and wharves===
{{Main|Parramatta River ferry services, Sydney}}
{{Main|Parramatta River ferry services}}
There are River Cat services along the Parramatta River to [[Circular Quay]]. The main wharves are:
There are River Cat services along the Parramatta River to [[Circular Quay]]. The main wharves are:
* [[Parramatta ferry wharf, Sydney|Parramatta]], (Southern side of River)
* [[Parramatta ferry wharf, Sydney|Parramatta]], (Southern side of River)

Revision as of 04:52, 7 August 2010

Parramatta River
Map
Physical characteristics
MouthPort Jackson

The Parramatta River is a waterway in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson, along with the smaller Lane Cove and Duck Rivers.

The river begins at confluence of Toongabbie Creek and Darling Mills Creek west of Parramatta[1] and travels in an easterly direction to a line between Greenwich Point, Greenwich, and Robinsons Point, Birchgrove. Here it flows into Port Jackson, still about 21 km from the ocean.

The total catchment area of the river is approximately 130 km² and is tidal to Charles Street Weir in Parramatta, approximately 30 km from Sydney Heads.

River governance

The whole of Sydney Harbour including its tributary rivers is now subject to a long range Catchment Management Plan. The Government has almost eliminated local representation by disbanding the former local catchment management boards.

The New South Wales Government has a documented policy in relation to access to the harbour and river foreshores, including public access to intertidal lands where landowners have absolute waterfronts but where the waterfront is exposed at low tide. Moorings and jetties are the responsibility of NSW Maritime, who are also responsible for the management of the Harbour and river seabed. Many bays contain swing moorings, mostly privately owned, but some associated with commercial marinas.

  • Parramatta River at Five Dock Bay, Drummoyne
    Parramatta River at Five Dock Bay, Drummoyne
  • Parramatta River at Gladesville
    Parramatta River at Gladesville
  • Parramatta River at Ermington
    Parramatta River at Ermington
  • Parramatta River at Parramatta
    Parramatta River at Parramatta

Transport

Image:Chiswick Ferry Wharf, with Gladesville Bridge in the background

Ferry services and wharves

Main article: Parramatta River ferry services

There are River Cat services along the Parramatta River to Circular Quay. The main wharves are:

Crossings

Lennox Bridge, Parramatta

The Parramatta River, along with Sydney Harbour, is the most significant waterway in Sydney. Since settlement, the river and the harbour have presented a formidable barrier to development north of the waterway - it literally cuts Sydney in half. As a result, the many crossings are extremely important to the life of the City. From east to west (including those crossing Sydney Harbour), they are:

  • John Whitton Bridge, Meadowbank
    John Whitton Bridge, Meadowbank
  • Silverwater Bridge
    Silverwater Bridge
  • Gasworks Bridge, Parramatta
    Gasworks Bridge, Parramatta
  • Bridge of Oars, Parramatta
    Bridge of Oars, Parramatta

Ecological and environment issues

Water quality concerns

Until 1970 the river was an open drain for Sydney's industry and consequently the southern central embayments are contaminated with a range of heavy metals and chemicals. The Northern Bays are less affected as the Sydney Harbour Bridge was not completed until 1932 and so industrial development was already well established on the southern side of the Harbour.

Dr Gavin Birch of the University of Sydney has published a number of papers which show that Sydney Harbour is as contaminated as most other harbours in industrialised cities, that the main sediment contamination is in the southern central embayments (Blackwattle to Homebush Bays), that there are five particularly contaminated areas of Sydney Harbour, and that four of them are in the Parramatta river system.

The main contaminated areas of the Parramatta River are:

Water quality is monitored by the New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change for faecal coliforms and e. coli, but only as far west as Cabarita. The Department does not monitor water quality further west on the River, despite increasing development and the use of the river for recreational boating. In the areas monitored, the water quality is generally acceptable except after heavy rains.

Fishing

The Parramatta River is subject to a number of fishing bans because of its contaminated sediments. There is a complete fishing ban in Homebush Bay because of the dioxin contamination, and a complete commercial fishing ban throughout the rest of Sydney Harbour and its tributaries, including the Parramatta River.

The Parramatta River is one of the few significant coastal rivers in New South Wales which has not been the subject of a Healthy Rivers Commission Investigation. The Cooks River and Botany Bay have been subject to such an investigation. Some have campaigned for a Healthy Rivers Commission inquiry to bring together all the information on the state of the river and its sediments and fish and assist in watershed management.

Major wetlands and environmentally sensitive areas

Major wetlands include:

  • Bicentennial Park Wetlands (nationally significant, JAMBA CAMBA)
  • Newington Wetlands (nationally significant, JAMBA CAMBA)

There are significant stands of mangroves along the river west of Henley (on the North shore) and Mortlake (on the southern shore) and in the Lane Cove River. The mangroves have actually colonised areas that were previously salt marsh. Research into historical drawings and writings indicates that the mangroves were far fewer at English colonisation. Council information panels in Glades Bay explain that the bay's now extensive mangrove stands would once have been open water, sandy beaches and outcrops of rock. Land clearing and development has allowed soil and various nutrients to be washed into the river. This has provided an ideal environment for mangroves to colonise. The excessive siltation of the river is an ongoing problem.

Reclamation

Many areas of the river, particularly the swampy heads of bays, have been reclaimed, often being used as rubbish dumps before being converted into playing fields. Large sections of Meadowbank Park were created in this manner. Some industrial sites were also reclaimed heavily from the river, particularly in Homebush Bay. Most creeks leading into the bays have been channelised (lined with concrete walls and floor).

Remediation

While some areas of the river with heavily contaminated sediments have not been remediated, there is significant remediation of sediments about to start in Homebush Bay. These include the dioxin contaminated sediments near the former Union Carbide plant and the lead contaminated sediments near the former Berger Paints plant. The former AGL site has been analysed, a remediation plan developed and approved, remediation completed and construction commenced on medium to high density residential development, but the sediments, which independent research shows to be contaminated with pollutants from the AGL operations, have not yet had the investigation stage finalised (as of 2000).

Other areas have had sediments covered with concrete to prevent the fish eating the benthos. Some of these companies claim that the contamination is best left alone, but environmentalists have argued that the contamination could be being passed up the food chain and claim that the companies are trying to avoid the costs incurred in pollution cleanup.

Recreational activities

Sailing

There are a number of sailing and yachting clubs on the River:

Sailing and rowing take place under an aquatic licence granted annually by Waterways.

Sea Scouts

There are Sea Scouts at:

  • Rhodes: First Yaralla
  • Meadowbank: First Epping

Rowing

The river has a long historical association with rowing. There is a monument in honour of Henry Searle, a champion sculler of his day, in the river at Henley.

Some of the school rowing sheds are:

There are also a number of rowing clubs:

  • Leichhardt Rowing Club (Iron Cove)
  • Drummoyne Rowers in Iron Cove
  • Sydney Rowing Club at Abbotsford
  • UTS Haberfield at Haberfield
  • Balmain

While a number of regattas are still held on the river each year, mainly in Iron Cove and Hen and Chicken Bay, many of the major regattas are now held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre (SIRC) where rowing was held for the 2000 Summer Olympics. Early GPS Schoolboy Head of the River races were held on the Parramatta River before moving to the Nepean River and later SIRC.

Most rowing training is done in the middle to upper reaches of the river between Abbotsford and Homebush Bay because there is less water traffic and therefore less waves and more protection from wind. Rowing also takes place in the Lane Cove River and Iron Cove which also have less traffic.

Foreshore walks and cycleways

Much of the foreshore is still in the hands of industry and private individuals as residences, however there is an increasing amount of waterfront land available as foreshore reserve with walkways and cycleways. As former industrial sites undergo remediation and redevelopment, the foreshores are opened up for public access. Where there is no foreshore access, cycleways are routed through quiet residential streets with clearly marked sections of the road reserved for cyclists.

Major foreshore parks include:

  • Cabarita Park
  • Kissing Point Park, Ryde
  • Meadowbank Park
  • Putney Park
  • George Kendall Riverside Park, Ermington
  • Bicentennial Park, Homebush Bay
  • Millennium Parklands, Homebush/Auburn

Heritage items

Major heritage buildings on or near the foreshore include:

  • Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital (now Rivendell Child, Adolescent and Family Unit), was designed by Sir John Sulman and built in 1891-93.
  • Callan Park, a former psychiatric hospital, with fine sandstone buildings designed by James Barnet in 1877.
  • Gladesville Mental Hospital, with sandstone buildings in park-like surroundings, designed by Mortimer Lewis in 1836.
  • Yaralla, the Italianate mansion of Thomas Walker and his daughter Dame Eadith Walker, generous benefactors of the Concord community, now functions as Dame Eadith Walker Hospital. It was built in the late 1860s, with later extensions by Sir John Sulman.
  • Newington, a Regency home built in 1832 by John Blaxland. In 1863, the property was acquired by the Wesleyans and turned into Newington College. In 1887 it became part of Silverwater State hospital, and later became an administrative block in the Silverwater Prison.
  • The above buildings are all listed on the Register of the National Estate.[2]

Inflowing Waterways

Waterways flowing into the Parramatta River include:

References

  1. ^ Gregory's Sydney Street Directory, 2002 (Gregory's Publishing Company) Maps 277-278
  2. ^ The Heritage of Australia, Macmillan Company, 1981, pp.2/11-2/39

33°51′S 151°10′E / 33.850°S 151.167°E / -33.850; 151.167

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