Scotland Island, New South Wales

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Scotland Island is an island in the north of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Pittwater, off of Church Point.

1 General Information
2 History
3 Location and size
4 Physical environment
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] General Information

Scotland Island is one of two inhabited islands in the Sydney area. It has a population of about 1000 residents. Most of the island consists of bushland and residential zones, with approximately 350 houses. There are no shops, cafes or industrial zones, but it was not always like that. A hundred years ago salt was extracted from seawater near what is now known as Tennis wharf. Using an oil burner about 90kg were extracted each week. There were even farms with sheep on the island at one time. Now most people go to the mainland to work.

The only non-residential buildings are a kindegarten, community hall and Fire Station. The Child center and community hall were built by the residents in the 1980s and 1990s and are used for various purposes, including a pre-school, ballet classes, karate, yoga and the island theatre group. There are various other community groups on the island, such as Island Thinkers, which organises regular discussion groups.

The island is noted as home to a number of artists. 2006 saw a large arts and film festival organised by the community and held on the island. For many the festival was marred by a fire in an art gallery in neighbouring Newport, New South Wales which destroyed a collection of artworks created by people associated with the island or the other foreshore communities of Pittwater.

There is no road access to the island and so the volunteer fire brigade fulfill a number of essential services normally perfromed by full-time emergency service personnel in other areas of Sydney. Primarily the Scotland Island Rural Fire Brigade (SIRFB) is a fire service. The entirely volunteer brigade has about 30 active (firefighting) members and about another 30 associate (non-firefighting) members. There are three fire vehicles - 2 tankers and a 4WD to move people. The brigade also maintains a high-speed fire boat and, as the primary fire response vessel on Pittwater, attends boat fires and is regularly called to help brigades in other areas.

SIRFB attends bush, structure and boat fires on the Island, in the surrouding national park, on Pittwater and out of area in support of other fire districts. In addition, the brigade provides emergency medical response in support of the NSW Ambulance Service and assists residents with the after effects of storm damage

[edit] History

European discovery and first exploration of the island was in 1788, shortly after the establishment of a penal colony in Sydney Cove, some 30 kilometres to the south. The island was originally named Pitt Island by Arthur Phillip, Governor of the colony. The first European settler to own land on Scotland Island was Andrew Thompson who created a successful salt works there. He then renamed the island Scotland Island after his homeland. He also built boats there up until his death in 1810. The island was sold as a whole several times in the nineteenth century before being divided and sold off in lots in 1906. Permanent residents only took up residence in the 1960s. Power was only connected to the island in 1967.

[edit] Location and size

Scotland Island is about 1 km in diameter. Its highest point is about 120 metres above sea level. It is a 3 km walk around the circumference and takes about 40 minutes. Pittwater is a tidal waterway in the south-eastern part of Broken Bay, in the Hawkesbury River. To the east is Newport, west is Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, south is Church Point and Bayview. Pittwater connects to the ocean to the north, past Palm Beach.

[edit] Physical environment

Around 18,000 years ago Scotland Island was just a hill, but after the last ice age the sea levels rose, flooding Pittwater, making it an island. The water surrounding it is saltwater which flows in from the Pacific Ocean/ Tasman Sea. There are many small beaches, but they are not naturally sandy. They consist mainly of mud, mangroves and rocks. There are no rivers or cliffs, but some small caves towards the top of the island. The top of the island is sandstone and the lower part consists of shale.