Torrens Island is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...

in the Australian state of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...

located in the Adelaide metropolitan area in the Port River Estuary about northwest of the

Adelaide city centre Adelaide city centre (Kaurna: Tarndanya) is the inner city locality of Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaide and from the City of Ad ...

. Since European settlement of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in 1836, it has been used for a number of purposes.

Geographical features

An island in the Port River Estuary between the Port River to the west and Barker Inlet to the east, Torrens Island is located about north-west of Adelaide. Light Passage, named after founder of Adelaide Colonel

William Light William Light (27 April 1786 – 6 October 1839), also known as Colonel Light, was a British- Malayan naval and army officer. He was the first Surveyor-General of the new British Province of South Australia, known for choosing the site of ...

, lies in the Port River between Pelican Point and Torrens Island. Torrens Island is separated from the smaller Garden Island to the south by the Angas Inlet, but is connected to the mainland by a causeway and a bridge over the North Arm.

History

European discovery and use

According to the ''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

'', Governor

George Gawler Lieutenant-Colonel George Gawler, KH, (21 July 1795 – 7 May 1869) was the second Governor of South Australia, at the same time serving as Resident Commissioner, from 17 October 1838 until 15 May 1841. Biography Early life Gawler, born on 21 ...

in 1837 named the site after Robert Torrens senior, who was chairman of the South Australian Colonisation Commission, the board responsible for setting up and running the colony in its early years.

Quarantine Station

Being uninhabited, an island, adjacent to

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

, and near Outer Harbor, Torrens Island was initially used as the site of a Quarantine Station for new arrivals (by sea) to South Australia.D. Wals
Torrens Island Quarantine Station
''Weekendnotes'', 4 July 2013. Accessed 17 July 2013. One example of its use was during the Boonah crisis. There were two quarantine stations on the site at different times; the surviving Torrens Island Quarantine Station is listed on the South Australian Heritage Register. Tours of the heritage-listed Quarantine Station are conducted by the

South Australian Maritime Museum The South Australian Maritime Museum is a state government museum, part of the History Trust of South Australia. The Museum opened in 1986 in a collection of historic buildings in the heart of Port Adelaide, South Australia's first heritage pre ...

Internment Camp

The Torrens Island

Internment Camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simp ...

was a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

detention camp which held up to 400 men of German or Austro-Hungarian background between 9 October 1914 and 16 August 1915.

Land use

Power Stations

Quarantine Power Station Torrens island Adelaide

There are three power stations on Torrens Island: *

Torrens Island Power Station Torrens Island Power Station is located on Torrens Island, near Adelaide, South Australia and is operated by AGL Energy. It burns natural gas in eight steam turbines to generate up to 1,280 MW of electricity. The gas is supplied via the SEAGa ...

, completed in 1967, and since 2007 operated by

AGL Energy AGL Energy Ltd () is an Australian listed public company involved in both the generation and retailing of electricity and gas for residential and commercial use. AGL is Australia's largest electricity generator, and the nation's largest carb ...

; capacity of 1,280 MW. *

Quarantine Power Station Quarantine Power Station is a gas-powered electricity generation facility near the northern end of Torrens Island in the northwestern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. It is at the opposite end of Torrens Island from AGL Energy's Torrens Isla ...

, built and operated since 2002 by

Origin Energy Origin Energy an ASX listed public company with headquarters in Sydney. It is a major integrated electricity generator, and electricity and natural gas retailer. It operates Australia’s largest coal-fired power station at Lake Macquarie, Ne ...

; original capacity 95 MW, expanded in 2009 to 216 MW. *

Barker Inlet Power Station Barker Inlet Power Station is a power station in South Australia. It was announced on 7 June 2017 by AGL Energy to replace part of its ageing Torrens Island Power Station and was built alongside the existing station on Torrens Island in the north ...

was announced in 2017 with construction commenced in the third quarter of the year and opened in November 2019.

Protected area status

Torrens Island has been located within the boundaries of the following

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

s to varying extents since 1963, 1973 and 2005 respectively – the

Torrens Island Conservation Park Torrens Island Conservation Park (formerly Torrens Island National Park Reserve and Torrens Island Wild-life Reserve) is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located on Torrens Island in the Adelaide metropolitan area ...

which covers all of the island down to low water with exception to the most of land associated with the former quarantine station and the land associated with the

and

s, the

Barker Inlet-St Kilda Aquatic Reserve Barker may refer to: Occupations * Barker (occupation), a person who attempts to attract patrons to entertainment events * Barker (coachbuilder), a builder of horse-drawn coaches and later of bodywork for prestige cars * a person who strips tanba ...

which covers all of the east side of the island located below

high water Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tabl ...

and the

Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary (ADS) is a marine protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located on the east coast of Gulf St Vincent in and adjoining the north-western part of the Adelaide, covering the estuary of the Port River a ...

which overlays the entire island.

References

Islands of South Australia Geography of Adelaide Gulf St Vincent History of Port Adelaide {{Adelaide-geo-stub