They’re the spectacular vistas that lure millions of tourists to the harbour city each year: the sails of the Opera House and the famous arches of the Coathanger and the Anzac Bridge.
But shift your gaze downwards and the picture becomes less like a postcard and more like a junkyard, according to a coalition of community groups mounting a new fight to clean up Sydney Harbour.
A dilapidated wharf under the Anzac Bridge in 2023. Credit: Michael Stevens
Stretching from Parramatta in the west to Manly in the east, they complain Sydney’s greatest asset is littered with junk that is a blight on the landscape and a national embarrassment.
Its bays and coves have become a “graveyard” for dozens of abandoned vessels left to rot by their owners, while derelict wharves, jetties and commercial infrastructure are allowed to crumble into the water.
They warn the junk is leaching toxic pollutants into the water and posing a threat to recreational users of the harbour and the burgeoning movement to open more harbour pools.
“It’s like dumping a rusting hulk of a car in a national park and doing nothing about it,” said Stuart King, a Balmain resident and the co-chair of “Save our Sydney Harbour”.
“We want to stop the junk, stop the pollution and improve Sydney Harbour for current and future generations.”
The campaign has united communities north and south of the harbour, including Berrys Bay, Snails Bay and the Waterfront Action Group.
They are demanding action by Transport for NSW and seeking 20,000 signatures on an electronic petition so that the matter can be debated in state parliament.
The campaign has won the support of Clean Up Australia, local MPs Kobi Shetty and Felicity Wilson, and mayors Clover Moore and Darcy Byrne.
Derelict marine vessels in Sydney Harbour. Credit: Wolter Peeters
Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne said it was absurd the most beautiful harbour in the world was being littered with refuse and junk.
“I think the maritime agency has had too much power over Sydney Harbour historically, and their response previously has been, ‘oh well, this is how we’ve always done things’,” Byrne said.
The group has drawn on the expertise of Dr Bill Ryall OAM, one of the state’s foremost contamination experts.
Ryall said older commercial vessels were more likely to have been treated with antifouling paints containing tributyltin (TBT), a “gender bending” chemical banned because of its extreme toxicity and capacity to make female sea snails grow male sex organs.
Those vessels could leach TBT and other heavy metals into the water if left to decay, posing an “unacceptable risk”, Ryall warned.
A rusting and derelict vessel near Goat Island. Credit: Wolter Peeters
City of Sydney Lord Mayor Moore said water quality remained the biggest obstacle to making the harbour more accessible for swimming.
Mary Curran is representing the northern side of the harbour and said the campaign was about making the harbour safe for kayakers and swimmers. “The harbour should not be a haven for hoarders,” she said.
A Transport for NSW spokeswoman said NSW Maritime takes an active approach to protecting Sydney Harbour and had a register of increased risk vessels. “We work with vessel owners and other agencies to ensure that vessels reaching end of life are managed and maintained to prevent sinking,” she said.
The coal loader wharf at Waverton in 2020. Transport for NSW is working on plans to make the area safe and retrieve sections of the wharf for future heritage interpretation.Credit: Michael Stevens
She said vessels on moorings were subject to strict licence conditions, and a statewide audit was conducted each year to ensure compliance.
Last financial year NSW Maritime issued more than 300 notes to remove vessels across Greater Sydney waterways, and salvaged and disposed of 20 vessels in Sydney Harbour.
But King said the community’s ongoing complaints to Transport for NSW had fallen on deaf ears.
The campaigners are demanding a clean-up and investigation to determine whether the state government has responded appropriately to their concerns.
Berrys Bay is home to Flanagan’s Afloat, a floating restaurant in its 1970s heyday that has sat idle for years and is considered one of the harbour’s worst eyesores. Credit: Wolter Peeters
They have seized on a recent judgment by Land and Environment Court chief justice Brian Preston, who argued the protection of the natural assets of Sydney Harbour must take “precedence over all other interests”.
HarbourCare founder Michael Stevens has documented the collapse of multiple wharves and a pier in Berrys Bay after they were left languishing for years.
Remnants of the wharves – with protruding rusting nails – have washed up on nearby Waverton oval.
An audit by the campaigners has already identified more than 80 derelict boats on the eastern side of the harbour.
The Boat Owners Association of NSW expressed “absolute support” for any plan to dispose of the boats.
Treasurer Andrew McKinnon said sometimes junk boats were used as placeholders for those lucky enough to score a mooring, with waiting lists of up to 22 years.
It was so expensive to dispose of an unwanted boat that it was often cheaper for owners to leave them in the harbour, McKinnon said. Eventually they started to leak, degrade and sink.
“It’s just an issue a whole series of successive governments have found too hard to deal with.”
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