Travel

TraveL DAY TRIPPER’S HIDDEN HAWKESBURY GEM

From New York to Brooklyn

„ DALLAS SHERRINGHAM

BROOKLYN on the Hawkesbury River is a hidden gem with a fascinating history most travelers bypass as they head north on the M1.

This little port and growing residential area has a lot to offer the day tripper looking for new experiences. It’s major attraction is the famous Riverboat Postman cruise that draws busloads daily.

Heritage buildings, an interesting shopping centre and good picnic spots are all framed by the literally thousands of pleasure boats now moored at Brooklyn.

It is less than an hour from Parramatta, or you can take the train.

The town provides a range of amenities and activities, while maintaining a quiet village atmosphere. Brooklyn provides convenient access for Western Sydney residents and day trippers to the Hawkesbury River and Pittwater waterways for boating, swimming and fishing and to Ku-ring-gai Chase and Muogamarra National Parks for bushwalking and scenic views

And it has close links with another Brooklyn in faraway New York.

In January 1886, the Union Bridge Company from New York was awarded the contract to build a railway bridge across the Hawkesbury River.

The American roots of the bridge are reflected in the name given to the construction camp, which was named after the 1883 Brooklyn suspension bridge.

The Hawkesbury River Railway Bridge was the final link in the Eastern seaboard rail network and was a major engineering feat at the time of its construction. "Hawkesbury River" was the original platform name when the station opened in 1887 but names varied over the following 20 years with the names "Flat Rock", "Brooklyn" and "Hawkesbury" all being used until the final change in 1906 to Hawkesbury River.

Ferry queues

Peat's Ferry Post Office opened in 1874 and was renamed Brooklyn in 1888.

Brooklyn is positioned at the northern end of the Cowan Bank, a scenic stretch of steep railway track on a 1 in 40 grade. The line drops 200m from the ridgetop near Cowan to almost water level, passing through four tunnels in the process.

Prior to electrification and diesel locomotives, Brooklyn was a staging post for trains heading south to Sydney with "push up" or bank engines being attached to the rear of steam trains here for extra assistance on the 8km climb to Cowan.

Early road traffic was conveyed across the river by George Peat's ferry and prior to the first road bridge being completed there were two vehicular ferries in operation, the "Frances Peat" and the "George Peat".

The new concrete road laid down between Hornsby and Gosford had been completed by 1930 and the increased traffic was beyond the capacity of the ferries. Long queues formed on holiday weekends as vehicles awaited their turn.

Work began on the first road bridge in 1938 and it opened in 1945. The width and depth of the river between Kangaroo Point and Mooney Mooney presented problems. The total distance to be covered was nearly 800m metres, but an embankment of fill was built out from the northern side, and the actual bridge spans only covered 580 m.

This was supplemented by a second road bridge, a six-lane concrete construction that was completed in 1973 as part of the Sydney to Newcastle freeway.

Riyal visit

In 1901 the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary, while in Australia for the inaugural opening of federal parliament, anchored their yacht the "Ophir" in Cowan Creek and boarded the paddle wheel steamboat the "General Gordon" for a tour of the lower Hawkesbury.

A small obelisk unveiled in 1939, adjacent to the railway station and the avenue of tall palms in McKell Park, commemorates the discovery and naming of the Hawkesbury River by Governor Phillip in 1789.

Attractions of Brooklyn.