Walsh Bay

This article is about the body of water. For the adjacent body of water, see Darling Harbour.
For the adjacent suburbs, see Dawes Point, Millers Point, and Barangaroo.

Walsh Bay
A 1937 image of the Sydney Harbour Bridge with Walsh Bay to the right of the Bridge in the centre of the image
Walsh Bay is located in Sydney
Walsh Bay
Walsh Bay
LocationSydney, New South Wales
Coordinates33°51′16″S 151°12′16″E / 33.8545°S 151.2045°E / -33.8545; 151.2045
EtymologyHenry Deane Walsh[1]
Part ofSydney Harbour

Walsh Bay is a bay within Port Jackson, about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) south of the suburb McMahons Point. It is named after Henry Deane Walsh, Engineer-in-chief of the Sydney Harbour Trust.[1] Walsh Bay is officially defined as that body of water that stretches from the Dawes Point (Aboriginal: Tar-ra) in the north east, to the Millers Point (Aboriginal: Coodyee) in the southwest and the original shoreline has been altered to include developments now known as Piers 1 to 9.[2]

In more recent times, Walsh Bay refers to the Walsh Bay Wharves Precinct or the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct, a harbour-side area in Sydney, located next to the neighbouring suburbs of Dawes Point and Millers Point that historically was a working port. The wharves were converted to apartments, theatres, restaurants, cafes and a hotel,[3] and in 2015 was designated as a major arts precinct.[4] Much of the precinct is listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register.[3]

The bay was first named in 1918 on drawings of a major new ‘wharfage scheme’ to modernise all Sydney's docks to handle steamships and motor vehicles. The rejuvenation was planned by Henry Deane Walsh as engineer-in-chief of the Sydney Harbour Trust. Its then-chairman, Robert Rowan Purdon Hickson, lent his name to Hickson Road, the new freight thoroughfare around this headland.[5]

  1. ^ a b "WalshBay". gnb.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  2. ^ "Gateway to Walsh Bay walk" (PDF). Heritage Walk. Walsh Bay Precinct Association. 2016. p. 2. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Walsh Bay Wharves Precinct". Office of Environment & Heritage. Government of New South Wales. 2007. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  4. ^ Aubusson, Kate (22 May 2015). "Walsh Bay arts precinct plan gets green light". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  5. ^ "Walsh Bay". Walsh Bay. Retrieved 24 February 2019.