#peatisland

History of the river 📚

Bar Island

With a school established in 1875 then a church built in 1876, Bar Island is rich in Aboriginal and European history. Now uninhabited, the only thing that remains on the island is a fireplace and chimney which were originally incorporated into the church as well as the graves remaining in the cemetery. (Pictured)

HMAS Parramatta Wreck

Launched in 1910, the HMAS Parramatta (I), built for the Royal Australian Navy, was one of six ‘river’ class torpedo boat destroyers. 1929 marked the year her hull became an accommodation spot on the Hawkesbury River before being sold as scrap and moored in the river where it eventually broke adrift during a storm. The wreck can be seen today lying in the shallow water within Cascade Gully.

Peat Island Mental Asylum

Peat Island, (one of the most interesting locations on the river) was used to house men and boys with intellectual disabilities in the early 20th century. With isolated and harsh living conditions, the residents were constantly surrounded by death and despair and rarely had visitors. Reports of torture, multiple drownings and unexplained deaths made the headlines during this time with many of these occurring in ‘Ward Four’. (Pictured)

History Services Blog. (2013). Visiting Bar Island [Web post]. Retrieved from http://historyservicesnswblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/visiting-bar-island.html

Palin, M. (2015, December 6). Australia’s ‘lunatic asylum’ horrors: ‘It was One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in reality’. news.com.au. Retrieved from https://www.news.com.au/