NOTES ON WHARF IN DEEP WATER, DAWES POINT. LXIV 



SOME NOTES ON A WHARF RECENTLY BUILT IN 



DEEP WATER AT DAWES' POINT, SYDNEY, 



NEW SOUTH WALES. 



By Norman Selfe, m. inst. c. e., m. i. Mech.E. 



[Read before the Engineering Section of the Royal Society of N. S. Wales, 

 September 21, 1898.] 



The commercial enterprise necessary to the provision of private 

 wharf accommodation appears to have been developed very early 

 in the history of New South Wales. The first regular landing 

 place was probably the "King's Wharf," still remembered as the 

 "Queen's Wharf" by old inhabitants, situated between the 

 Commissariat Stores and the Fire Station in George Street North. 

 In a map of the town of Sydney, printed with the Sydney Direc- 

 tory for the years 1835 and 1836, every building then in existence, 

 both public and private, is shown, and there are no less than six 

 private wharfs at the North end of the town. They are Camp- 

 bell's wharf, recently resumed by the Government ; Walker's 

 wharf, adjoining Dawes' Point, still known under the same name • 

 Lamb's wharf, a little south of Walker's, and the site of the jetty 

 to be presently referred to ; Aspinall and Brown's, now the 

 Central ; and Bettington's, now Dibbs' wharf. 



When the late Captain Lamb first established his business on 

 the Southern half of what is now known as Parbury's wharf, 

 there was a line of cliffs about 100 ft. back from the waterline; 

 and although a small area (to straighten the frontage and give 

 room for landing goods) has since been purchased from the Crown, 

 the front of the houses in Lower Fort Street are still only 250 

 ft. from the old sea wall, and the street is 60 ft. above high 

 water mark. With such a shallow depth to the property, and 

 such a heavy rise to the street at the rear, a steep road was 

 inevitable, and it was made worse by the sharp turn in it. 

 Consequently the outlet from this wharf has had the reputation 

 for many years of being one of the worst in Sydney. 



