Woolwich Dock is a former

dry dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

and

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

Woolwich Woolwich () is a town in South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was mainta ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. The site was purchased by Morts Dock and Engineering Company in 1898. When it was officially opened on 4 December 1901 it was the biggest dry dock in Australia, at long and wide. Several extensions were carried out between 1902 and 1918, and the dock was lengthened to 260 metres. To achieve this William Street was acquired and a new road constructed – Franki Avenue, named after the general manager and later managing director of the company, James Peter Franki. By 1917 the company employed over 1,500 people. In the 1940s the Atlas workshops were replaced by the sawtooth roofed building which still stands on the site and several brick buildings were added. The busiest times for Woolwich Dock were during the two world wars when many passenger vessels were converted to armed troopships and repairs were carried out on damaged ships. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

work declined and the dock was closed down in 1958 and until 1963 the dock was vacant. 1963–1997: Army Occupation The

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...

purchased it in 1963 for its water transport operations. The three oldest buildings on the site were demolished and the Army erected a number of metal prefabricated buildings, added timber fender piers and timber wharves to the dock itself and constructed a traveling boat crane beside the dock. They made use of the dock for launching craft and the workshops for repairs and maintenance. The Army units based at Woolwich were relocated to

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, in 1997. 1997 Onwards In the late 1990s it was proposed that the land be sold to developers. A community group, Foreshore 2000 Woolwich, was formed to protest against sale of the site and through the lobbying efforts of this group and the local council, the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

agreed to the site being returned to the people of Sydney. In 2001 the

Sydney Harbour Federation Trust The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust ("Harbour Trust") is an Australian Government agency established in 2001 to preserve and rehabilitate a number of defence and other Commonwealth lands in and around Sydney Harbour. The Trust has been focused o ...

was formed to administer Woolwich Dock and various other sites around

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a ria, natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove River, Lane ...

Ferns

The sandstone cliffs near the head of the dock area have a notable population of ferns. Coral ferns ( Gleichenia species) and king fern are prominent. Three locally uncommon species have been recorded on the

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

cliffs beside the walking path; fork fern ( Tmesipteris truncata), scrambling clubmoss ( Lycopodium cernuum) and the skeleton fork fern (

Psilotum nudum ''Psilotum nudum'', the whisk fern, is a species of fern in the order Psilotaceae, Psilotales. Like the other species in this order, it lacks roots. ''Psilotum nudum'', means "bare naked" in Latin, because it lacks (or seems to lack) most of the ...

Citations

External links

* http://www.harbourtrust.gov.au/visit/woolwich-dock-parklands * http://www.takver.com/history/myunion/myunionp08.htm * http://www.woolwichdock.com/index.html {{Use dmy dates, date=July 2019 1901 establishments in Australia Commonwealth Heritage List places in New South Wales Transport infrastructure completed in 1901 Shipyards of New South Wales Woolwich, New South Wales