Guide to Goat Island New South Wales Australia

Goat Island, known to Aboriginal people as Me-Mel, is a rocky, tree-covered island in the middle of Sydney Harbour, just west of the Harbour Bridge and a few hundred metres off the tip of Balmain. It covers about 13 hectares, making it one of the largest islands in the harbour, and it holds one of the best collections of convict-era buildings in Sydney.

Known For

• Convict-built powder magazine and barracks
• Aboriginal heritage as Me-Mel
• Close-up views of the Harbour Bridge

The island is part of Sydney Harbour National Park and is normally closed to the public. The New South Wales Government has committed to returning Me-Mel to Aboriginal ownership, and in the meantime it is being cleaned up and repaired, with sea walls, the wharf and old buildings all needing work. Access is only possible on a permitted guided tour, and at times no tours run at all, so check the national parks website for current arrangements.

Things To Do on Goat Island

Guided Tours

When access is open, small-group tours land on the island by kayak from the northern shore or by tall ship from the city. They walk through the sandstone powder magazine, the barracks and the old Water Police station, and include Aboriginal perspectives on the island and the harbour.

The Convict Buildings

The Queen’s Magazine, finished in 1839, was built to hold the colony’s gunpowder safely away from the town. Its walls are so thick that the temperature inside barely changes through the year. Nearby are a cooperage, barracks, a kitchen and a wharf, all cut from stone quarried on the island by convicts in irons.

Anderson’s Couch

A seat carved into a rock ledge marks the spot where a young convict, Charles Anderson, is said to have been chained in the open for two years in the 1830s as punishment for repeated escape attempts. It is the best-known relic of the brutal conditions on the island.

Seeing the Island from the Water and the Shore

Ferries from Circular Quay to Balmain, Cockatoo Island and Parramatta pass close to Goat Island. From the shore, the best views are from the parks at Balmain East, from Barangaroo Reserve in Barangaroo and from Balls Head on the north side.

History

Me-Mel is closely linked with Bennelong, the Wangal man who became the go-between for his people and the first governor. He told the colonists that the island belonged to his family, and he and his wife Barangaroo were often seen there. It is one of the few places in Sydney where such a personal connection was recorded.

From 1833 gangs of convicts were sent to quarry the island and build the magazine complex, sleeping at first on a prison hulk moored offshore. The Water Police were based here from 1838, placed where they could watch every vessel moving up the harbour. In the twentieth century the island became a depot and shipyard for the harbour authorities and the base for the harbour fire boats, and the workers and their families formed a small village with its own hall.

The shipyard closed in the 1990s and the island passed to the national parks service. Around the same time it found a new audience as the police headquarters in the television drama Water Rats.

Where To Stay

There is no accommodation on the island. The nearest places to stay are in Balmain, The Rocks and Barangaroo.

Getting to Goat Island

No public ferry stops at Goat Island. The only way to land is with a licensed tour operator when access is open, and private boats are not permitted to tie up.