Steamboat pier, Balmain
Date1853
Object number00030001
NamePainting
MediumWatercolour on paper
DimensionsOverall: 179 x 335 mm, 0.02 kg
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionWatercolour sketch, orginally part of an album, titled 'Steamboat pier Balmain, 1853'. The image depicts the pier at Balmain, looking across Mort Bay to Ballast Point. The ferry wharf in the foreground is crowded with passengers awaiting a small paddlewheel steamboat at the end.HistoryThe area of what is now known as Balmain, was initially part of the land of the Gadigal and Wangal peoples of the Eora Nation. In 1800 2.2 km2 of the region was granted by Governor John Hunter to the colonial surgeon, William Balmain, who had sailed with the First Fleet on the transport ALEXANDER. Balmain returned to Scotland the following year after transferring his land to John Borthwick Gilchrist. Over the following years the waterfront land was leased for farming and cattle purposes and was eventually subdivided into smaller lots. Balmain's proximity to the main colony of Sydney and it wide harbour frontage ensured it was quickly developed as a hub of industry and supporting suburbs.
Industries clustered around Mort Bay in Balmain included shipbuilding, a metal foundry, engineering, boiler making and the Mort's Dock and Engineering Company works which opened in 1855. These sites brought in droves of workers that either lived in the surrounding suburbs or caught ferries that contributed to the early and sustained growth of the area. The Balmain Steam Ferry was established in 1843, although other steam services had been available since at least 1831. At its peak of production it was estimated that between 20,000 and 24,000 people travelled daily on the sixteen ferries that conveyed passengers between Balmain and the city.
SignificanceThe paintings are significant in documenting the development of the shores of Sydney Harbour as seen from the water and in recording water transport in the 1840s and 1850s. This painting of the steamboat pier in Balmain is rare as an early depiction of a steam powered ferry.
1840 - 1860
