PORT BOTANY, NEW SOUTH WALES

'Port Botany' is a suburb in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Port Botany is located 12 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district, is in the local government area of the City of Randwick. Port Botany sits on the northern shore of Botany Bay, adjacent to the suburbs of Matraville, Banksmeadow and Phillip Bay.

Contents

Landmarks

Commercial Area

History

References

External links

Landmarks

Molineaux Point features a memorial to on Botany Bay provides views to La Perouse and Kurnell. A memorial here commemorates the sister ports relationship between Sydney Ports Corporation and Yokkaichi Port Authority, Mie Japan.

Commercial Area

Port Botany is a major commercial area that is serviced by road and rail networks, together with Sydney's nearby international and domestic airports. The two Container Terminal facilities are complemented by a bulk liquids facility and an adjacent bulk liquids storage and distribution complex.
The NSW Iemma Government has decided to expand Port Botany with a 60 ha third terminal (twice the size of that recommended by an independent Commission of Enquiry (COI) by dredging 7.5 million cubic metres of Botany Bay seabed that will have a major impact on the Bay's ecology and surrounding environment. The successful tender for the "Design and Construct" of the 60 ha land mass is due to be named in late 2007 with the construction taking place in mid-2008. However, this development is taking place prior to the NSW Government confirming any contracts with a stevedore to develop and operate on the 60 ha land mass which is a process taking place against any sound business principles.
The Iemma Government's decision to concentrate the bulk of NSW's container trade at Port Botany will see a tripling of containers being processed, and although there are plans to double the current percentage of containers being transported by freight rail from 20% to 40%, there will still be a 200% increase in container trucks on Sydney's roads.
Due to the lack of appropriate road and rail infrastructure to support the current levels of containers being transported, the decision to expand Port Botany and concentrate all the container processing through Sydney is going to have a long-term detrimental impact on traffic congestion. These extra 3000 container trucks per day will be spewing out carcinogenic fine diesel particles across Sydney.
Port Botany is a sleeping giant that will eventually strangle Sydney's already choking roads and the Iemma Government's decision to expand Port Botany follows on the back of the controversial infrastructure developments including the Cross City Tunnel, the Sydney Airport to Central rail link, the totally inadequate M5 to name a few.
Botany Bay is seen as the birthplace of European Australia, where Captain Cook arrived in 1770, and is home to Botany Beach (aka Foreshore Beach) which is utilised by many people including families, anglers, wind surfers, jet skiers etc and it is one of the very few Sydney beaches where dogs are allowed. Unfortunately, although Botany Beach was to remain a sandy public beach as part of the port expansion, The Sydney Ports Corporation has changed the plan after the approval and now plans to build a rock seawall along 80% of the beach making it unusable. Taking a beach away is considered totally un-Australian!
Unfortunately, after 200 years, competing interests by government and industry has seen the Bay treated as a toilet. Now the Iemma Government is planning to develop a desalination plant where the salt from the desalination will be discharged into the Bay and the water pipes will be running across the bay and through a number of Sydney suburbs.

History

Botany Bay is where Captain James Cook first landed on 29th April 1770, when navigating his way around Australia on his ship, the Endeavour. The ship's English botanist Joseph Banks and Swedish assistant botanist Daniel Solander, spent several days on shore collecting vast numbers of specimens, that were previously unknown. Cook's journals first referred to the bay as Sting Rays' Harbour, then later Botanist Bay and finally both these names were crossed out and replaced with Botany Bay. The suburb name comes from the bay it stands on.

Port Botany, Sydney Ports Corporation

Molineaux Point

References

★ ''The Book of Sydney Suburbs'', Compiled by Frances Pollen, Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1990, Published in Australia ISBN 0-207-14495-8

★ Sydney Ports

External links