This week, Roy decided to spend some time out and about, exploring a few of the fascinating places to be discovered in Sydney. Roy loves exploring Sydney because there always seems to be something to be discovered and when he visited Folly Point, he found this area was no different. Not only is Folly Point a fascinating place, but from the point you can even spot some shipwrecks!
If you would like to visit Folly Point, it is located in Cammeray, North Sydney on the North Shore of Sydney Harbour. To get there take Cammeray Road and continue along the road essentially until you run out of road – this is Folly point. From here you can explore the small parkland area on the point, and from a little further up the road, you can gaze across to Salt Pan Creek where the wrecks of two ships can be seen.
Folly Point has an intriguing history, though nobody is entirely sure what the origins of the name ‘Folly Point’ are. In fact, the exact location of Folly Point has even moved, with early maps actually marking Folly Point as the small peninsula in Primrose Park! By the 1880s though Folly Point was located where we know it today and was a perfect waterfront location for boatsheds and the various associated services like tea rooms. In the 1890s though, Depression struck and Folly Point became home to hundreds of out of work men and their families living rough in basic shacks and tents. ‘Tin Town’ as the settlement became known grew up in the bush surrounding Folly Point and was actually still in existence during the 1930s Depression, when the population of the shanty town again grew.
Folly Point itself is not the only attraction in the area though as it is from slightly further up the road that you can gaze into Salt Pan Creek. Once, Salt Pan Creek was actually known as Old Shipwreck Bay, hinting at what lies on the sand flats – ship wrecks. A number of ships found their final resting place in the bay, though there is one which is the most visible, the Barque Italia. Italia was actually in Newcastle when disaster struck. In 1906, the boat caught fire and eventually exploded, and the remaining hulk was towed to Sydney and abandoned in Salt Pan Creek. Another ship which was visible when Roy visited, but is apparently difficult to see at higher tides, is the Coraki which was abandoned on the mudflats in 1946, after serving the country in the Second World War. There are apparently more wrecks within the creek, but they are not so easy to spot!