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Located next to the former White Bay Power Station and the ports at Glebe Island and White Bay on Sydney Harbour, The Bays Station site has an extensive maritime and industrial history.
When excavations began in 2022, the remains of the locomotive turntable were uncovered. Using non-destructive digging, these remains were then exposed and recorded by archaeologists.
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Preparing for Heritage Discoveries The Bays Station site for the Sydney Metro West project is close to both the former White Bay Power Station and the ports at Glebe Island and White Bay on Sydney Harbour. With an extensive maritime and industrial history in this area, careful consideration and planning for potential heritage discoveries was required. As part of the Conditions of Approval for the project, Sydney Metro prepared an Archaeological Research Design and Excavation Methodology (ARDEM) to manage archaeological remains. The ARDEM identified archaeological remains of a locomotive turntable from preceding decades. History of the Area Prior to European settlement, the areas of White Bay and Glebe Island were inhabited by the Gadigal and Wangal people. |
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The White Bay area would have been a suitable location for Aboriginal occupation given its abundance of marine and plant resources, reliable water sources, proximity to ridges and cliffs, and availability of raw materials suitable for stone tool construction.
Despite these favourable environmental factors, the preservation of in situ artefactual deposits associated with Aboriginal occupation is low due to the significant ground disturbance that has occurred in the area since European colonisation.
Industrial Beginnings
Construction for the White Bay Power Station commenced in 1912 to provide electricity to support the ever-expanding tram network and the growth of the suburban railway system.
The area between the White Bay Power Station and the port at White Bay became a railway yard once the Wardell Road to Darling Island Railway, part of the Metropolitan Goods Line, was built in 1916.
To support the Metropolitan Goods Line a locomotive roundhouse and turntable were built.
The turntable was 22 metres wide and its function was to turn the locomotive engines around to change their direction. These structures remained in operation until 1933 when the roundhouse was demolished, and the turntable was fixed “in situ” and could only be moved in emergencies.
World War 2
At the outbreak of World War 2, the port facilities became a major armaments and engineering supply depot for the US forces in Australia.
The US Navy was the principal tenant at White Bay and large storage sheds were built for them on the site. At the end of the war the large sheds were purchased by the Maritime Services Board and converted for port purposes.
Post war activity on the site included the 1951 construction of a new coal-loading facility. This involved the demolition of the storage buildings on the site, the building of new railway embankments and construction of two 20-tonne capacity electric jib cranes for the loading of coal onto ships at the port.
Recent discovery
Once approval was granted to start works for Stage 1 of Sydney Metro West, site excavation work began, and the remains of the former locomotive turntable were uncovered in March 2022.
Using non-destructive digging (NDD), these remains were painstakingly exposed and cleaned by a specialist team.
The entire site was then captured through extensive photography.
Virtual Preservation
Using those photographs and a virtual recreation of the remains, the heritage surveyors produced a 3D model to allow exploration of the historic locomotive turntable in three dimensions.
The remains of the former locomotive turntable were incomplete and although it couldn’t be salvaged, the 3D model gives an opportunity for current and future generations to visualise this historic find.
The 3D recreation of this locomotive turntable has been compiled into a video which can be viewed by clicking on the image below.
Video produced by Art of Multimedia and Artefact Heritage, with 3D photogrammetric models developed by Guy Hazel.
The Archaeological Research Design and Excavation Methodology (ARDEM) can be found via the link below: