North Head Quarantine Station Part II

 

Cemeteries

Three cemeteries functioned throughout the history of the Station. The approximate location of the First Cemetery (Site IIIA1, c. 1837–1853), is at the junction of the Wharf and Hospital roads, however no visible evidence remains, so it is not a landscape element except to those with knowledge of its existence.

The unfortunate positioning of the First Cemetery, always in the view of the well and recovering, was soon recognised, and the subsequent cemeteries were moved out of the perceived landscape of those quarantined. The Second Cemetery (Site L1, 1853–1881), is located east of the 3rd Class precinct. Three headstones remain in situ (two obscured by vegetation), and the outline of another two graves visible. The cemetery is separated from the experiential landscape of the quarantined unless they chose to visit it. The Third Cemetery (Site VA1, 1881–1925), is within the School of Artillery, on Commonwealth property. Two hundred and forty one burials are registered, and the cemetery retains many headstones and markers, protected by a chain wire three-metre high person-proof fence. This cemetery is even more removed from the Quarantine Station landscape than the second cemetery was. The Second and Third cemeteries become obscured and prone to bushfire if native vegetation is not regularly slashed. Erosion of grave sites occurs if the cemeteries are heavily visited or if stabilizing vegetation, especially grasses, is removed. There has been natural weathering and corrosion of sandstone headstones and wooden cross grave markers. Uncontrolled public access to these cemeteries, especially the Third, can result in vandalism or theft of remaining headstones and grave markers.

Some headstones from the First and Second cemeteries are now located in the artefact store within Building A20. Further research is required to relocate obscured graves.

The cemeteries are powerful reminders of the purpose of the Quarantine Station, its successes and failures and of its internees. They have historical, archaeological, genealogical and educational significance and special significance for descendants of those interred in them.

An archaeological assessment of the North Head Quarantine Station cemeteries; and an archaeological inspection report of the Third Quarantine Station cemetery have been prepared by the NPWS. These documents provide specific policy recommendations related to the conservation and management of the cemeteries, which are accepted as recommendations of this Conservation Management Plan.

Fences and walls

The Quarantine Station study area landscape includes a variety of fences and walls which are integral to the history and past functioning of the place. Fencing, generally 1.8-metre-high (6 ft) paling fences, was the primary means of enforcing the separation of different groups of internees at the Quarantine Station. The impact of the fences and clearing of bushland, on the appearance of the Station can be judged from historic photographs. The loss of the majority of fences creates a false impression of the Quarantine Station's layout and reduces the ability to experience the segregation that passengers were required to maintain. In this sense the cultural landscape significance of the fences has been lost, but could be regained by reconstruction.

These include:

Prominent sandstone block, 1.8-meter-high (6 ft) barrier walls, built in the 1930s Great Depression by workers on unemployment relief programs. These are located along boundary lines which show the subdivision of the Quarantine ground at that time for hospital, recreation and military purposes; a double chain wire three feet [one meter] high fence at the entry gate to the place which served as a "neutral zone" across which internees could talk with visitors;

Wooden paling fences around the staff cottages;

Chain wire 1.8-metre-high (6 ft) fences around the Isolation and Hospital precincts which separated them from healthy areas;

Foreshore stone and concrete walls at the Quarantine Beach wharf;

Low sandstone block kerbing and retaining walls on the main access roads; and

Section of remnant paling fences in bush around the Hospital area.

The sandstone block walls are generally in fair-to-good condition. Some sections, however, have collapsed due to water erosion undermining their footings. Further sections are in imminent danger of collapse. Blocks in the wall end near The Old Man’s Hat have seriously eroded due to wind and salty sea spray. Wire fences are substantially intact, though are prone to rusting. Existing timber fences around staff cottages are of recent construction [1985-90], mostly in good condition, though prone to distortion due to high winds. The stone walls and site fencing generally are important legacies of quarantine isolation practices.

Obelisk

A prominent sandstone obelisk 9.1-metre-high (30 ft) stands on the south-eastern edge of the Station. An obelisk is shown at this location on site plans dating from 1807 to 1809, though it is not known if the existing one is the original. The memorial is in fair condition but requires some stonework repairs at the base. It may prove to be highly significant, if it is the original, as the oldest surviving structure on North Head and one of the oldest on Sydney Harbor. The obelisk is one of the few landscape elements relating to a non-quarantine function, though as navigation markers they relate to the overall maritime themes that include quarantine.

Roads and paths

Roads and paths throughout the place include the bitumen roads, sandstone-paved roads and pedestrian paths to The Old Man’s Hat area and between the wharf and hospital areas. There is a hierarchy of paths and roads, ranging from sealed vehicle roads, through sealed footpaths and ramps, to unsealed tracks, especially into the surrounding bushland. These reflect how the landscape was lived in, and the strong separation of the managed landscape of the Station precincts and the informality of the surrounding areas such as The Old Man’s Hat.

Stone cairn (Site IIIA3)

A sandstone cairn stands adjacent to the 2nd Class Passenger Accommodation building P12. Built during the late 1830s, this is the sole remaining cairn of a line of thirteen which denoted the early boundary of the quarantine ground. It is in good condition. This cairn is the earliest surviving in situ structure associated with the place's quarantine function and demonstrates the early need for isolation and security.

Natural heritage

Overview and description

The study area for the natural heritage plan specifically requires consideration of the water body and the sea bed between Cannae Point and Spring Cove, including Quarantine Beach and store Beach; the Third Quarantine Cemetery within the former Defence land at North Head, and associated installations. The natural heritage items are those items recorded as occurring in the subject study area, or those items with a high probability of occurring within the area, based on studies, surveys and reports of the flora and fauna on North Head generally. Native bushland in the North Head Defense property and other parts of the North Head component of Sydney Harbour National Park is contiguous with bushland within the study area and fauna may move from one area to another.

Some fauna may occur sporadically or seasonally in different parts of North Head, and others such as raptors have territories which span large areas regardless of roads, walls or fences. Therefore, some of the conservation significance of the study area is linked to the wider context of North Head as a whole and even beyond. For example, the significance of the Little Penguin colony is considered in the context of other colonies and the feeding range of individual birds.

The maintenance of genetic diversity within plant communities is aided by free movement of bird, mammal and insect pollinators. Wind-borne pollen is dispersed widely; however maximum distances between plants which still allow effective pollination are seldom studied and, in consequence, little understood. It is axiomatic that larger units of vegetation enhance the prospects of long-term survival of genetic diversity in remnant plant communities.

Thus the biodiversity values of plants and animals in the study area are discussed in the broader context of those parts of North Head which are within Sydney Harbour National Park. Such an approach is appropriate for this Conservation Management Plan because the areas to the north and south of the Quarantine Station are declared as National Park, and their management for nature conservation in perpetuity is determined by the plan of management required under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974. The approach is also consistent with the requirements identified in the Commonwealth to State Land Exchange Agreement of 1979.

Little penguin colony, Little Collins Beach

Little Collins Beach has the only known mainland NSW breeding ground for the endangered Little Penguin, a colony which is protected by volunteers, each breeding season, to control predators. This was the scene of a massacre in 2015 when a fox attacked and killed 27 penguins, depleting the population. The colony extends from North Head to Manly Wharf.

Heritage listing

The North Head Quarantine Station Study Area is an integral element of the North Head peninsula. The Aboriginal and Natural values of the NHQS relate to the peninsula as a whole; and the European/Asian cultural values relate to the most of the peninsula, for the whole area was once Quarantine Reserve. The area represents a place of cultural and natural diversity reflecting the evolution of Sydney from Aboriginal occupation through European settlement to the landscape of today, representing many social, historic, recreational, environmental and educational values. The Heads maintain an iconic presence to the city as the gateway to Port Jackson and Sydney Harbour, and the city.

The Aboriginal heritage values of the North Head area are an intrinsic part of the significance of the place. Numerous Aboriginal traditions from various parts of the continent refer to and intermesh the creation of their natural and cultural environment; Sydney Harbour can be seen as the outcome of such a creative period. Aborigines were demonstrably present in the Sydney Basin many thousands of years before the present coastline was formed and would have experienced the actual creation of Port Jackson and Sydney Harbour with its rich and complex environment. The North Head area along with the other areas that form Sydney Harbor National Park retains Aboriginal heritage values in a physical setting that is substantially intact although embedded in the important urban setting of Sydney.

On a national scale, the Port Jackson environment, including North Head, formed the scene of or backdrop for some of the earliest and formative interaction between Aborigines and the British explorers and settlers. Archaeological sites remnant at NHQS are seen as symbolizing Aboriginal prehistory and contact history. Just as the Heads became a symbol to "New" Australians of a possible new and better life, they are seen by many Aborigines as a symbol of their loss and disenfranchisement. Evidence of Aboriginal occupation is evident in more than forty recorded sites. An exceptional wealth of further information may be contained in the archaeology of the place and in particular in the Pleistocene sand dunes; the only undisturbed, vegetated high-level sand dunes in the Sydney region. Rare and endangered species of flora and fauna are refuge at the place and in the wider area of North Head. Considered alone or ecologically as part of North Head, the Quarantine Station area includes significant geodiversity and biodiversity components of the natural heritage of New South Wales. The Station is situated on an isolated cliff-bound tied island complex formed by the interaction of strong bedrock and erosion associated with changes of sea level tens of thousands of years ago. The headland is capped by Pleistocene high-level sand dunes which also occur within the Station complex. The natural biodiversity consists of isolated, remnant and disjunct communities, populations and species, six of which are scheduled on the Threatened Species Conservation Act [NSW] 1995. In addition to the threatened plant species there are over 450 other species of vascular plants and ferns representing 109 plant families. This level of genetic diversity is remarkable and scientifically important.

The endangered population of Little Penguin is significant as the only population of this species which breeds on the mainland of NSW. The characteristics which have enabled this population to persist in one of the busiest commercial harbors in the world are important for scientific study. The endangered population of Long-nosed Bandicoot is also scientifically important as a remnant population of specie which was formerly common and widespread in the Sydney region. The few remaining trees of Camfields Stringybark are a significant component of the entire genetic resource of this vulnerable species.

North Head Quarantine Station

The Quarantine Station occupies the first site officially designated as a place of Quarantine for people entering Australia. It is the nation's oldest and most intact facility of its type and can thus be ascribed national significance. Together with Point Nepean Station, and in terms of the story of quarantine and its role in controlled migration to Australia, the two Stations have to be considered as being nationally significant quarantine sites. The Station's use remained essentially unchanged from 1828 to 1984, and all buildings and development on the site reflect the changing social and scientific demands of Quarantine during that period. The formation and development of the Quarantine Station relates directly to the growth of Australia as a remote island nation. It symbolizes the distance travelled and perils faced by many immigrants who first stood on Australian soil at the Quarantine Station. The site has symbolic significance for these reasons. The history of the site reflects the changing social and racial values of the Australian community and the development of medical practices in controlling infectious diseases. The site has historic significance in demonstrating and elucidating major themes in Australian history, immigration, the development of society and government, social welfare and health care, treatment of disease, transport and conservation. Evidence of the hardships experienced by European and Asian internees during their detention in Quarantine and the tragic deaths of some of them, is powerfully conveyed by the inscriptions on the gravestones, monuments and amongst the random inscriptions scattered throughout the site. The rugged topography of the southern rock cliffs in the area of the Old Man’s Hat, where the power of the sea is manifest, and where the healthy and sick internees sought relief from the confinement of the Quarantine Station, contrasts strongly with the sanctuary of Quarantine and Store Beaches, where European vessels were first quarantine and from where the food gathering and cultural activities of Aboriginal people were abruptly halted. The views to the Station and to North Head from the city of Sydney; and from the Station down the length of Port Jackson are significant for their iconic value. The class system which permeated Colonial society in this country is illustrated clearly in the extant building fabric and in cultural landscape which contains the subtle evidence of the fences and paths which were contrived to maintain absolute separation between the classes and races, and between the healthy and the sick, the dying and the dead, at the Quarantine Station. The whole place displays evidence of natural systems, historic built forms and historical associations with the experience of quarantine have been retained largely intact due to its relative isolation on North Head.

North Head Quarantine Station was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 having satisfied the following criteria.

The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales.

European/Asian heritage

The North Head Quarantine Station is the oldest and most intact of the quarantine stations in Australia. It was always the pre-eminent place of quarantine among the colonies, both because of its early beginnings, and because it led in many of the advances in quarantine practice. The Station's function remained unchanged from 1828 to 1984 and all buildings and developments illustrate the changing social and scientific demands of quarantine during that period. The station was also central to the development of the colony of NSW's responses to local epidemics of infectious diseases. The history of the Quarantine Station, which is well illustrated by its buildings, sites, landscapes and the functions that took place there interconnects with a number of key themes in NSW's history. The demands of quarantine, and the spotlight this cast on health standards, forced improvements in the conditions experienced by immigrants travelling to NSW, through the nineteenth century in particular. The procedures established for the quarantine of inbound shipping set the foundation for responding to the various local smallpox, plague and influenza epidemics up until the 1920s. The Quarantine Station also provided a safe haven to which the ill could be removed and treated. On a broader scale, the Quarantine Station dramatically demonstrates, in its development of arrangements to separate and deal differently with different classes and races of people, the changes in the social attitudes of the colony and State. This separation based on social status was most clearly evidenced by the barrier fences erected between the various class "compounds". The final transfer of the Quarantine Station to the State reflected the now-common pattern whereby land formerly reserved for special purposes, and protected from the development pressures of the urban areas surrounding them became valued for the cultural and natural values they possessed and were re-gazetted for conservation purposes when no longer needed for their special purposes.

Natural heritage

Some of the earliest collections of marine specimens were made at Spring Cove and are now housed in the Australian Museum. These collections were made in the 1830s and therefore have significance in the natural history of Sydney Harbor. The Little Penguin population is the only remaining mainland population of this species in New South Wales. This is important to the natural history of this species. Continued survival of the Little Penguin is equally important to the future pattern of conservation management of endangered species. The successful management of other threatened species in the Quarantine Station is similarly important to the course of NSW's natural history. The effects on other biodiversity elements of the further decline or loss of these threatened species is unknown but could be significant to the natural history of the place.

The place has a strong or special association with a person, or group of persons, of importance of cultural or natural history of New South Wales's history.

Aboriginal heritage

North Head is associated with the Aboriginal presence, ownership and use of the land prior to and after European settlement as a site where the Cameraigal Aboriginal clan first saw the European settlers. As part of the wider Manly area it is associated with named Aboriginal persons, such as Bungaree's wife Gooseberry, Bennelong and Wil-le-me-ring, who played a part in the early European settlement of Sydney. Due to an apparent misunderstanding, Governor Phillip was speared by Wil-le-me-ring in a bay in or near the Quarantine area, possibly Spring Cove or Little Manly Cove.

European/Asian heritage

The Quarantine Station has played an important part in the lives of many Australians, with over 13,000 persons, including convicts and free migrants to NSW and many Sydney residents, being quarantined, of who an estimated 572 have died and are buried there. The inscriptions at the site are an unusual testimony to those associations. The Station has also been closely associated with the administration of health by NSW and the Commonwealth, and a number of health administrators prominent in the development of NSW's public health policies and practices have had close and long associations with the Station. These included Deas Thomson, Capt. H.H. Browne, Dr Savage, Dr Allyne, Dr J. H. L. Cumpston, and Dr W. P. Norris. The Station also has association with the architects and designers and builders who created the Station; particularly the office of the NSW Colonial Architect to 1908, and the Commonwealth Department of Works and Railways, particularly George Oakeshore of the Sydney office. There has been no comprehensive survey of the architects/designers involved in the NHQS buildings. The Station played a pivotal role in the post-WWII period with the housing of illegal immigrants as detainees and refugees to Australia. The Station thus reflects the maritime arrival and "processing" not only of quarantined immigrants, but also of illegal and refugee arrivals. The 'down-turn' in Station activity paralleled the post-WWII change to airborne migration. Finally, the Station was the setting for socio-political dramas such as the revolt of the returned and quarantined troops after WWI; and the confrontations between secular and religious authorities in NSW over access by religious entities to the Quarantine Station.

The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.

European/Asian heritage

The Quarantine Station has a cultural landscape that is distinctly associated with its unusual functions. It was a landscape of rigid control, which is associated with and reinforced the institutional and functional nature of the place. The present day Harbor context is now recognised as being a visually attractive setting of natural bush and harbor views. The unity of the design and form of the buildings, set within grassy precincts, which convey a pleasant village-like feeling, unusual within the Sydney metropolitan area. The Quarantine Station bears witness to the evolution of public health policy in NSW and Australia generally, and the development of practices and procedures designed to protect the colony, state and nation from infectious disease. The quarantine system, which reached its full form in the first decades of this century, was a significant technical achievement, and was in part developed at the North Head Quarantine Station where it is well demonstrated in the surviving fabric. Aspects of this technical achievement can be seen in the remanent quarantine technology at the Station e.g. the fumigation chamber, shower blocks and autoclaves.

Natural heritage

The aesthetic characteristics derived from the natural values of heath vegetation and sandstone cliff geomorphology within the Quarantine Station are an integral part of the outstanding aesthetic values of North Head conserved as part of the Sydney Harbor National Park. These values are derived from the expanse of uninterrupted cliff face and vegetated headlands. They are appreciated and enjoyed both from offshore and within Port Jackson. Together with those of South Head, they have enormous emotional impact on people arriving and leaving Sydney by sea. This impact is greater because the sheer cliff faces are capped with continuous low heath vegetation rather than tall forest or prominent buildings. Spectacular views of the drowned valley system of North and Middle Harbors are seen from within the Quarantine Station.

The place has strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in New South Wales for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.

Aboriginal heritage

Aboriginal heritage values at North Head, including the Quarantine Station area, are important to the Aboriginal community in general, and to the local community especially for a wide range of reasons, social, cultural and spiritual. Aboriginal presence in the area is older than Sydney Harbour as it is known today. Port Jackson and Sydney Harbor has been the scene of some of the earliest fateful interactions between Aborigines and the British invaders. The surviving North Head Aboriginal sites are seen as symbolizing Aboriginal history of recent centuries as well as earlier times. The area is one of the last within Sydney Harbour environment where Aboriginal heritage values have been retained in a physical setting that is substantially intact along with Dobroyd, Middle, Georges, Bradleys, South and Balls Heads; Mount Treffle at Nielsen Park; and the Hermitage Reserve. This environment allows the Aboriginal community to educate the younger and future generations as well as others about Aboriginal history, life styles and values and provides a chance of experiencing some of the atmosphere and quality of traditional Aboriginal life. Aspects of these spiritual and heritage values are embedded in or embodied by physical remains such as rock inscriptions, paintings, images or deposits with archaeological material remaining as evidence of past Aboriginal presence, but these are seen as an inseparable part of the present natural setting. Evidence of Aboriginal occupation has been recorded in more than forty locations in the North Head area.

European/Asian heritage

The Quarantine Station has strong associations for several groups in the community for social and cultural reasons. These associations include connections to the Aboriginal community, for whom the Quarantine Station is a component of the North Head/Manly area. This area has strong associations with previous Aboriginal ownership and use; with the impact of European settlement on the Aborigines; and through specific acts of Aboriginal resistance in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. North Head Quarantine Station also has associations with the former Quarantine Station staff, who worked on the station while it was an active quarantine; with former passengers subjected to quarantine, and their families (e.g. as exemplified by the Constitution memorial and family commemoration of their forebears' quarantine experience); and with the Manly community, as part of the wider North Head landscape, which has significantly contributed to the 'sense of place' of that community. The station also has significance to Asian immigrants or seamen who arrived in Australia and was retained at the Station. Many of these internees made their permanent home in Australia.

The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.

Aboriginal heritage

Aboriginal people have occupied the Sydney basin for at least 20,000 years. The Harbor has been a focus for Aboriginal habitation since its occupation over 6000 years ago. So much of the physical evidence of Aboriginal people's occupation of North Head is either undiscovered or lies outside the immediate North Head Quarantine Station Study Area. Many of the known sites have limited potential to yield new information due to the nature or state of physical preservation. However, given the limited capacity in this study for thorough archaeological assessment. It is possible that some sites or as yet undetected sites exist that might have greater potential to yield information that contributes to our understanding of Aboriginal occupation of the area.

European/Asian heritage

The surviving fabric of the place, both through its elements, components and sub-surface archaeological evidence, have considerable research value at a State level, with the potential to provide information on the operation of the Quarantine Station and of those in quarantine, and so to add to our knowledge of its history. The station is significant for its ability to educate the general public in its history.

Natural heritage

The area of North Head including the Quarantine Station is a remnant fragment containing once highly common vegetation types in the Sydney region. Many of these vegetation types and the wildlife they support are confined to disturbed remnants with the original vegetation having been cleared for urban and industrial development. Over 450 species of plants are found on North Head. Ninety species of native birds have been recorded in the Quarantine area including some species covered by international migratory bird agreements. The long period of "isolation" of North Head as a "tied island" initially allowed the species of flora and terrestrial fauna on the Head to evolve independently from those found elsewhere in the Sydney Basin. Although no longer tied, and now subject to the introduction of exotic flora and fauna, this early isolation has enhanced the value to science of the biodiversity on North Head. The response of plants and animals to periodic burning and periods without burning has potential to yield information important to the understanding of the natural history of the Hawkesbury Sandstone flora and fauna.

The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.

European/Asian heritage

The Quarantine Station, as NSW's primary quarantine facility for 166 years, held a unique place in the State's history, and its remarkably well preserved set of quarantine structures, landscape features and inscriptions make it a place of great rarity. The functions it fulfilled are no longer used to control quarantinable diseases, and the North Head Quarantine Station has the best representative collection of quarantine related buildings, equipment and human memorabilia [in the form of the inscriptions] of any Australian quarantine station. The moveable heritage associated with the Station; [and comprehensively documented by the NPWS] is of great cultural significance; particularly in situ within the Station. The Station is also significant in Australia's European and Asian history as being one of the few Australian sites taken into conservation ownership and management directly after its original function and use had been ended.

Natural heritage

Three species, one subspecies and populations of two other species are listed in schedules of the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995. These species are the Little Penguin, Eudyptula minor (Schedule 1, endangered population, Manly); Long-nosed Bandicoot, Perameles nasuta (Schedule 1, endangered population North Head); the Sunshine Wattle, Acacia terminalis ssp terminalis (Schedule 1, endangered); Camfields Stringybark, Eucalyptus camfieldii (Schedule 2, vulnerable); the Powerful Owl, Ninox strenua (Schedule 2, vulnerable); and the Red-crowned Toadlet, Pseudophryne australis (Schedule 2, vulnerable). In addition to the threatened plant species there are over 450 other species of vascular plants and ferns representing 109 plant families. This level of genetic diversity if scientifically interesting and aesthetically pleasing. The endangered population of Little Penguin is significant as the only population of this species which breeds on the mainland of NSW. The characteristics which have enabled this population to persist in one of the busiest commercial harbors in the world are interesting for scientific study. The endangered population of Long-nosed Bandicoot is also scientifically interesting as a remnant population of a species which was formerly common and widespread in the Sydney region. The few remaining trees of Camfields Stringybark are a significant component of the entire genetic resource of this vulnerable species.

The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural or natural places/environments in New South Wales.

The Quarantine Station has the best collection of features in Australia reflecting the practice of quarantine, once operating at a number of stations around the nation. NSW had the first, and the last, operational quarantine station at North Head, and the surviving evidence at the station demonstrates many of the key milestones in quarantine development in this country. The moveable heritage of Quarantine Station is considerable in size, and has cultural significance in its own right.