Torrens Island is an island in the Australian state of South Australia located in the Adelaide in the Port River Estuary about northwest of the Adelaide city centre. Since European settlement of Adelaide in 1836, it has been used for a number of purposes.
Geographical features
An island in the Port River Estuary between the Port River to the west and
Barker Inlet to the east, Torrens Island is located about north-west of Adelaide.
Light Passage, named after founder of Adelaide Colonel
William Light, lies in the
Port River between Pelican Point and Torrens Island.
Torrens Island is separated from the smaller Garden Island to the south by the
Angas Inlet, but is connected to the mainland by a causeway and a bridge over the North Arm.
History
European discovery and use
According to the
Australian Dictionary of Biography, Governor
George Gawler in 1837 named the site after Robert Torrens senior, who was chairman of the South Australian Colonisation Commission, the board responsible for setting up and running the colony in its early years.
Quarantine Station
Being uninhabited, an island, adjacent to
Port Adelaide, and near Outer Harbor, Torrens Island was initially used as the site of a Quarantine Station for new arrivals (by sea) to South Australia.
[D. Walsh: Torrens Island Quarantine Station Weekendnotes, 4 July 2013. Accessed 17 July 2013.] One example of its use was during the
Boonah crisis.
There were two quarantine stations on the site at different times; the surviving Torrens Island Quarantine Station is listed on the South Australian Heritage Register.
Tours of the heritage-listed Quarantine Station are conducted by the South Australian Maritime Museum.[ Torrens Island Quarantine Station tours SA Maritime Museum. Retrieved 11 March 2018.]
Internment Camp
The Torrens Island
Internment Camp was a World War I detention camp which held up to 400 men of German or Austro-Hungarian background between 9 October 1914 and 16 August 1915.
Land use
Power Stations
There are three power stations on Torrens Island:
Protected area status
Torrens Island has been located within the boundaries of the following
to varying extents since 1963, 1973 and 2005 respectively – the Torrens Island Conservation Park which covers all of the island down to
low water with exception to the most of land associated with the former quarantine station and the land associated with the Quarantine Power Station and Torrens Island Power Stations, the Barker Inlet-St Kilda Aquatic Reserve which covers all of the east side of the island located below
high water and the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary which overlays the entire island.
See also
-
List of islands of Australia
-
List of power stations in South Australia
