A 3-and-a-bit hour cruise on the Hawkesbury River with Sue and Angus.
The first Riverboat Postman started the run in 1910 from Brooklyn. Today the mail is still delivered to the settlements of Dangar and Milson Islands, Kangaroo Point, Bar Point, Marlow Creek, Fisherman's Point and Milson's Passage which are all depend on the river for transport.
Click on photos to enlarge.
Our captain checking that Angus and Lynn are boarding in an orderly fashion,
The local garbage 'truck'.
Brooklyn Tidal Baths.
Hawkesbury River fishing fleet.
Dangar Island fire-fighting boat.
A goods train crosses the rail bridge as we approach.
Two trains crossing the Hawkesbury River Bridge.
With rain threatening, everyone was dressed for the wet weather.
The sandstone piers from the original 1889 bridge. A house has been built (in the background) on part of the old track and the first of the piers. This bridge provided the link between the Sydney and Newcastle sections of the New South Wales railways and was the largest bridge for its time yet built in Australia. It was replaced in 1946 by the present bridge located 61metres upstream.
The 'new' bridge.
The construction site cut into the sandstone where the new bridge was fabricated.
A nice collection of Grass Trees.
Vehicles using the 'newer' road bridge, the older bridge (still used) is in the foreground. This road is the main highway
to the north coast and Queensland.
The older and new road bridges.
This large sandstone rock in known locally as 'Breast' or 'Nipple' Rock.
Other patterned rocks nearby.
Was once a fine specimen.
Children from the Milson Island School Recreation Camp enjoy some canoeing.
Milson Island was bought by the government in 1901 and used as an asylum and then as a prison. It is now a recreation centre. On the northern shore opposite the island lies the wreck of the HMAS Parramatta which carried construction materials for buildings on the island.
Approaching the wreck of the HMAS Parramatta.
The wreck of the HMAS Parramatta, Australia's first warship. HMAS Parramatta was one of six 'River' Class Torpedo Boat Destroyers built for the Royal Australian Navy during the period 1909-16. On 17 October 1929 she was handed over to Cockatoo Dockyard for dismantling. Her hull was subsequently used as an accommodation vessel by the New South Wales Penal Department before being sold to Mr George Rhodes of Cowan as scrap.
What remained of Parramatta lay derelict on a mud bank opposite Milson Island until the 7th July 1973. On that and the following day the bow and stern sections
were salvaged and later transported to a site on the north bank of the Parramatta River, upstream from the Silverwater Bridge. The stern of the ship was later established as a naval memorial at Queens Wharf Reserve. The bow section is mounted at the north end of Garden Island, Sydney, within the grounds of the Naval Cultural and Heritage Centre.
(Sounds a bit like what happened to Phar Lap)
Angus and Sue checking out the lunch menu.
Checking out the view from the top deck.
There were hundreds of these Jelly Blubbers (Jelly Fish) - Catostylus mosaicus, in the river.
Our captain describing the surrounding sights.
The big and the small. No roads but there is electricity.
Picking up the mail from Bar Point jetty.
Some jetties have seen better days.
Grey Mangroves line the flooded valleys which is the Hawksebury River.
Rain clouds cover the, not far from home, wilderness.
One of the older cottages which stand out along the river.
Grey Mangroves border the unusually colourful (for this part of the world) hillside. Looks more like somewhere in
the northern hemisphere.
Turning for home.
Two residents from the 'Republic of Milson's Passage' wait for the exchange of mail bags.
'Republic of Milson's Passage' mascot and 'top hat' boat.
Colourful boat shed.
Long arms required to pick up the mail from Dangar Island.
Admiral Angus makes sure all is 'ship-shape'.
Some of the birds seen. White-faced Heron Australian Pelican Crested Tern Brush Turkey
One of the earlier Postman ferries.
Goods train crossing the Hawkesbury River Bridge.
The main north-south line sees a lot of trains during the day.
Passenger train crosses Hawksebury River Bridge and goes through tunnel.
Arriving safely back at Brooklyn after a good day out.
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