Point 2 Point

Got its name on Friday 15 February 1788 when Governor Phillip, Captain Hunter and others in three boats stopped ‘at a neck of land’ for breakfast. They were joined by an Aborigine, who put down his spear to look at the boats. Bradley said he ‘examined every thing very attentively and went into all our boats from one to the other’. Phillip have him an iron hatchet and looking glass (mirror). ‘When he looked into it,’ wrote Bradley, ‘he looked immediately behind the Glass to see if any person was there and pointed to the Glass and the shadows which he saw in the water signifying they were similar.’ The original name of Looking Glass Point is not known. (Source: Wallumedegal, An Aboriginal History of Ryde, Keith Vincent Smith, 2005)

It’s a point, neither here nor there. Good views up and down the river, with another sailing club that looked like a popular spot for a local afternoon bevvy.

Bedlam Point once had a punt. Originally a pulling boat operated by the ferryman pulling the boat via ropes, after 1832 it became a chain operated punt. The service ran until 1884 when the Gladesville Bridge opened. It was part of the Great North Road to Newcastle. Here’s an interesting story of highway robbery.

In 1837 the colonial government established the Tarban Creek Lunatic Asylum east of Bedlam Point – a convenient explanation for its name, but probably not correct (PDF).

Somewhat overgrown and rundown point, but with some interpretive signage explaining the history of the area. It is part of Banjo Paterson Park with the rather cute Rockend, a nineteenth century sandstone cottage that is now a restaurant.