| Historical notes: | Balmain and Mort Bay:
The two influences accelerating Balmain's growth were building of Mort's Dock (1855) and opening the Pyrmont Bridge (1857).
The whole peninsula was once virgin scrubby bush and tribal land of the Wangal clan of the Dharug people. In early colonial years 'gentlemen sportsmen' hunted deer, kangaroo and other game onto and on this peninsula. Mobs of kangaroos were driven from the plains of Leichhardt and Ashfield to the narrowest part (Yurulbin - see Birchgrove below). Timber-dealers, grass-cutters and woodmen denuded much of the land of its trees.
Colonial surgeon Dr William Balmain was granted much of Balmain in 1800 (550 acres - today's Balmain and Rozelle). Balmain's grant was subdivided in 1836, 24 years before the older, adjoining Birch Grove estate. Land at Ballast Point on Waterview (now Mort) Bay was sold in 1839 but not until the early 1840s depression did a surge of subdivisions carve up Balmain's grant.
The district started suburbanising as skilled and unskilled workers found lodgings close to town, and transport improved. In 1846, 19.6% of Sydney's population lived here, the largest residential area in the colony. Its deep waters attracted the maritime industry. By 1851 the population was 1397, a mix of middle-and working-class, some in elegant houses, others in cottages. Balmain Municipal Council formed in 1860 and by 1871, the population was 6272, then one of Sydney's largest. The Illustrated Sydney News of 11 July 1889 declared it the "working men's' paradise", with a population of 27,000, in 5000 houses (Read, 2011, 1).
Mort's Dock:
The Mort's Dock site has an industrial heritage spanning more than 100 years (1842 - 1979).
Mort Bay was originally known as Waterview Bay, and at the corner of the bay was the mouth of a small stream which rean down from Balmain Hill through the valley of Strathean. On its way to the harbour, the stream collected in small waterholes known as the 'Curtis Waterholes' after the then landowner James Curtis.
In 1842 James Reynolds purchased from Curtis an area of land bounded by what is now Curtis Road down to the water front between Mort and Church Streets, dammed the stream, built a stone house called 'Strathean Cottage' and sold fresh water to the ships anchored in the deep calm waters of the Bay (EP NSW 2004: 12).
The land was then sold to Captain Thomas Rowntree in 1853, who recognised the site as a prime location for a patent slip. To finance his venture, Rowntree sold his ship the 'Lizzie Webber' and in doing so, met Auctioneer, Thomas Sutcliffe Mort. With partner, merchant J.S.Mitchell, Rowntree had formed the Waterview Bay Dry Dock Company. Rowntree had arrived in NSW in 1852, owning much land. He'd built the 'Lizzie Webber' to carry English passengers to the goldfields and for Australian coastal trading. Mort further recognised the necessity for Sydney to provide docking facilities for ships needing repairs in the Colony, as at that time there were no such facilities south of Bombay (modern Mumbai), India. The location was ideal.
Proprietor and landlord T.S. Mort had a flair for money-making. Building a dry-dock here, he created a building boom and large-scale development. Born in Bolton, Lancashire and comfortably raised, he'd arrived here in 1838, working as a clerk and rising rapidly. By late 1843 Mort was organizing wool auctions (the first to held solely for wool), later of livestock and property. Organising wool sales in London, we was one of our first exporters and laid a pattern for future wool brokers. Mort's Wool Store at Circular Quay was designed by Edmund Blacket, on the site of today's AMP centre. By 1850 Mort was Sydney's leading auctioneer with a fortune from land speculation in search of port space for his wool vessels.
Rowntree and Mort formed the Waterview Bay Dry Dock Company (later Mort's Dock & Engineering Company) in 1853 and built Australia's first dry dock and patent slip on the site. The dock was operational by 1855, one year before Cockatoo Island. The company soon become the largest private employer in the colony, a cornerstone of the union movement and the birthplace of the Australian Labour Party (then the Labour Electoral League, later the Political Labour League), founded in 1891 by Balmain Unionists at the dock, who fielded 4 candidates in the State elections.
Mort recognized the need (there was no such facility south of Bombay) and despite the Government building a dry dock at Cockatoo Island, he started. He offered incentives: on completion, workers got a freehold block of land. Subdivisions and sales of Waterview Bay land followed, values spiraling in 1855 when it opened. Mort had bought large tracts and as needs arose, sold. When the dock needed extensions (1866 and 1875), he met costs with more sales. By 1877 80% of the estate was settled by a working class population. The elite who'd settled the area from the 1840s objected to pollution and industrial impediments to 'their' marine views.
In 1867, Mort's Dock became principally an engineering facility, manufacturing steam locomotives, ships and ship machinery, mining equipment, bridge-iron, steel pipe for the Sydney Water Board. Mort had ceased partnership with Rowntree and taken another partner in Thomas McArthur, superintendent engineer of the Australian Steam Navigation Co. When McArthur died, Mort sold his shares to his foreman and his manager, possibly to guard against growing unionism, or improve flagging productivity. Balmain had become a focus for activity because of the dock, where at least two unions were busy.
The company become the largest private employer in the colony, a cornerstone of the union movement and birthplace of the Australian Labor Party (then the Labor Electoral League), founded at this dock in 1891 by Balmain Unionists, who fielded 4 candidates in State elections. Having bought a copper mine in Queensland and a coal mine in Newcastle, Mort added an iron and brass foundry, boiler-making facilities and a patent slip at Balmain. In 1870 the dock assembled the first locally-produced locomotive.
In 1901 the company opened a second dry dock and slipway at Woolwich to cater for increased demand and by 1917 the Dock has built 39 steamships, 7 Manly ferries, pumping engines for the Waverley and Crown Street reservoirs, and the ironwork for the Sydney GPO. During the interwar period, an iron foundry was constructed, a slipway and floating dock purchased, and a virtual monopoly on industry in the area was obtained.
Mort bought a property near Bodalla on the Tuross River to produce dairy products. He financed French engineer E.D.Nicolle's experiments in refrigeration. Together they formed the NSW Fresh Food and Ice Company. Mort sunk 100,000 pounds into it, making negligible profit. In 1877 to his bitter disappointment, the first attempt to transport refrigerated meat by ship failed. Mort died before seeing the first successful cargo of frozen meat leave Australia in 1879, dying the year before.
Five days after his death, Mort's employees took up a collection to raise a statue in his honour. Sculpted by Pierce S.Connolly, it l was unveiled by the then Governor, Lord Loftus before a huge crowd. It still graces Macquarie Place in the city, opposite the Royal Exchange and Lands Department buildings.
The T.S.Mort Memorial Church remains in Bodalla, family mausoleum in the nearby cemetery and his flamboyant home Greenoaks survive at Darling Point - the latter renamed Bishopscourt and housing Sydney's Anglican bishops since 1910. It is listed on the NSW State Heritage Register. As Greenoaks it was famed for its 7 acre garden (to a 1865 Horticultural Magazine : 'the leading and model private garden of NSW'). Mort was an ambitious horticulturist, giving patronage, land and employment to nurseryman Michael Guilfoyle and his son, William (something alone for which Australia owes him gratitude). He was president of the NSW Horticultural Society in the 1860s pursuing cacti hybridization. The Anglican Church subdivided and built flats immediately south of Bishopscourt and is currently considering selling the mansion block itself off.
In 1901 the company opened a second dry dock and slipway at Woolwich to cater for increased demand and by 1917 the Dock had built 39 steamships, 7 Manly ferries, pumping engines for the Waverley and Crown Street reservoirs and the ironwork for the Sydney GPO. In the interwar period an iron foundry was constructed, a slipway and floating dock purchased and it had a virtual monopoly on local industry (Read, 2011, 2-3).
The outbreak of World War II proved to be a boom time for Mort's Dock. The 1920s and 1930s had seen a decline in the Royal Australian Navy with few vessels constructed and older ships sold off or scrapped. Japan's entry into the war led to a sudden demand for coastal protection and increased offensive power in the Pacific Ocean.
Between 1940 and 1945, Mort's Dock constructed 14 of the 60 Bathurst class Corvettes built in Australia, 4 of the 12 River Class frigates, and a 1000 ton capacity floating dock.
The dock's death knell was introduction of container shipping in the 1960s. Mort's company fell into liquidation in 1959. The site was purchased by ANL in 1960, its buildings demolished, the dock filled in for new wharves in 1965 to create its newest container facility. The backfill preserved the dry dock and other in situ remains providing a high archaeological potential and fabric integrity.
The first container ship berthed here in 1969, but the site was redundant ten years later, moving to Botany Bay.
Controversy raged over redeveloping the site. The NSW Government proposal for a large public housing development was vigorously opposed by resident groups who wanted it landscaped as open space. Groups such as the Balmain Association had formed in 1965, reflecting a changing mood concerning urbanization and loss of heritage. In 1986, in what it claimed to be a compromise, the Department of Planning and the Environment announced 211 Housing Commission flats would be built, with plans for parkland and a harbor-side promenade. The park was developed in stages (one: 1985; two: 1986-9) (Read, 2011, 3). |