Balls Head, Sydney
Photographer
Charles H Kerry (& Co.)
Date1880s - 1890s
Object number00009434
NamePhotograph
MediumPhotographic print on paper
DimensionsImage: 152 x 189 mm
Mount: 510 x 408 mm, 2 mm
Sight: 147 x 180 mm
Overall: 510 x 408 mm, 2 mm, 0.13 kg
Mount: 510 x 408 mm, 2 mm
Sight: 147 x 180 mm
Overall: 510 x 408 mm, 2 mm, 0.13 kg
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionA photograph by Charles Kerry of Balls Head on Sydney Harbour.
Titled '1970 Balls Head. Kerry Photo' the image depicts three sailing skiffs or yachts with a cliff in the background. Kerry and Co Photographers produced postcards of places of interest around Sydney and New South Wales including beaches, buildings and associated activities.HistoryThe name Balls Head, refers to Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball. In addition to being the commander of the First Fleet ship SUPPLY, Ball also surveyed this region on the north side of Sydney Harbour.
Balls Head became the site of contention in 1916 when plans were announced to build a coal loading facility there. Many locals protested including the Australian poet Henry Lawson who wanted the area to remain a public bush reserve. He wrote a poem against the plans titled 'The Sacrifice of Balls Head':
They're taking it, the shipping push,
As all the rest must go —
The only spot of cliff and bush
That harbour people know.
The spirit of the past is dead
North Sydney has no soul —
The State is cutting down Ball's Head.
To make a wharf for coal.
Where picnic parties used to go
To spend a glorious day,
With all the scenery of a coast
And not a cent to pay.
The deep cool tangle shall be cleared
To make the glaring roads
And motor lorries jolt and grind
And drag their sordid loads.
And strings of grimy trucks shall run
In everlasting trains
And on the cliffs where wild trees are
Shall stand the soulless cranes,
To dump their grimy loads below,
Where great brown rocks are grand;
And the deep grass and wild flowers grow —
And boating couples land.
No more shall poorer families
Give "Grandma" and "Grandad"
A glimpse of nature's mysteries
To make their old hearts glad.
No more our eyes shall be relieved
In the city's garish day —
A sordid crime has been achieved!
And none has aught to say.
A smaller area was set aside which became known as Balls Head Reserve in 1926 and the adjacent coal loading facility was operational from 1920 to 1992.SignificanceBalls Head was originally the home of the Cameragal people. Traditionally known as Yerroulbine, the region was an important source of food for the Cameragal and became part of the area where early contact with Europeans took place.
Charles H Kerry (& Co.)
17 February 1897