Lion Island

by Miroslava Jurcik

Title

Lion Island

Artist

Miroslava Jurcik

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

Lion Island Nature Reserve was created in March 1956 and became part of the Australian National Heritage List in 2006. It covers an area of 8.1ha rising 93 metres above the sea where the Pacific Ocean meets Broken Bay, the Hawkesbury River and Pittwater. The island is home to Sydney’s largest population of Little or Fairy penguins (Eudyptula minor)
who come ashore each night to sleep in burrows on the hillsides or near rocks. These cuties are said to parade home in the exact same order each evening with each bird remembering its part in this sequence. Shearwaters also breed there.
The island is accessible only by a permit from the National Parks and Wildlife Service Regional Manager and only for Research, Education and Conservation purposes. Unfortunately, amongst its dense scrub and steep scree slopes the ubiquitous lantana and Bitou Bush have taken hold.
It has 2 small beaches on the western side, and both Hawkesbury Sandstone (eastern cap) and the much older Narrabeen sandstone and shale(shoreline). It has stood rising from the Pittwater estuary for 200 million years, formed from sandstone carried from Antarctica 300 million years ago.
THe island is located at Pittwater. "The first place outside Port Jackson to be named was called by Phillip Pittwater. But very few who enjoy the quiet beauty of that delightful portion of the Hawkesbury re-member William Pitt. When Phillip named the island which guards the entrance to Pittwater be remembered that great siege of "The Rock," one of the momentous sieges of history, and gave the island the name of his friend, General Elliott, who won Gibraltar for England. But though the name is still written on maps. General Elliott is too often forgotten, and because of a fancied resemblance to a lion, everybody talks of Lion Island. "1926 (https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28060064)
In the centre of the bay is Mount Elliott, so named from its similarity to the north end of Gibralter Rock. This island looms upward with stupendous grandeur, and at a distance strangely resembles the form of a lion, the outline of the head, body, and tail of that animal being visible. Interesting Excursion Up the Hawkesbury,. (1878, October 26). Australian Town and Country Journal (NSW : 1870 - 1907), p. 23. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70596088
In 1804 the Sydney Gazette reported Aboriginal people on a beach saving crew from the sinking ship Speedwell near Lion Island. “The very humane, friendly and precautionary conduct of an ancient native … would reflect the highest credit to a polished member of civilized society”. (Sydney Gazette) from: http://www.historyofaboriginalsydney.edu.au/north-coastal/location/lion-island-broken-bay

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May 19th, 2018

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