Harbour West

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Walsh Bay lies just West of the Bridge. It marks a considerable change in land use compared to the Eastern side. The original Walsh Bay was a cargo handling area which took a forest near to the suburb of Epping to just to supply the pier supports! Today, the former docks are being re-cycled into shops, theatres, residential and publishing units. The redevelopment of this area has forced property prices up and poorer residents out.

Gore Cove still retains its industrial usage. Here, Shell have a storage facility despite objections from local residents.

One of the pressures on waterfront land zoning comes from those residents who want to build high cost properties with good views such as these found at Lane Cove. Elsewhere, Lane Cove residents have objected to traffic problems which suggests that these stakeholders are taking a more active role in shaping land use decisions.

These 100 year-old dry docks at Clarke's Point are just a reminder of the former use of the area for military purposes. Places such as Cockatoo and Spectacle Islands have had their military uses reduced considerably. New uses include open space, television locations and military archives. The land to the left of the image is now a public park (Clarke's Point Reserve). Military sites throughout the Harbour are subject to public pressure to rezone them as public open space.

Elsewhere, land rezoning has allowed developers to build luxury houses such as these selling for around $12m. at Hunter's Hill.

At Balmain, the old Power Station site has been re-developed to provide smaller units coinciding with the demand for single-person and 'empty-nester' properties close to the city. On the opposite side of the bay, Birkenhead Point has been developed from warehousing into a retail outlet and apartment complex.

Not all land has been redeveloped in the last 10 years. In Balmain, waterside industries became derelict in the 1940s and there was little demand for the land. This allowed the government to build public housing on the foreshore in the 1950s. Current pressures on development would make such building today impossible.

Despite development, not everywhere changes. Here are some of the original worker's terraced housing in Balmain. To protect such areas some places have developed on-line community voices.

Further along in Johnston's Bay, an old factory has been reused by being fitted out as apartments.

Despite changes, the area is still a thriving port. Smaller goods depots have been closed and redeveloped (Walsh Bay), some areas are still under discussion (e.g. residents are against development of the old Caltex site at Ballast Point - they want the government to remediate the site and turn it into public open space). Here at White Bay, the bulk cargo handling cranes empty container ships and load cars.