Berry Island Reserve, Sydney

Gammeraigal Country

Once a harbour island separated from the mainland by tidal mudflats, Berry Island now connects to the Wollstonecraft shoreline and the wide grassed causeway at Berry Island Reserve.

A place with significant bushland, it was an important fishing, hunting and camping site for Cammeraygal people, and the shell middens, axe grindings and a large engraving we see today give us an insight into the Cammeraygal way of life. On a walking tour, you can learn more about the Cammeraygal people’s connections with the island.

Edward Wollstonecraft connected Berry Island to the mainland in the early 19^th century by building a stone causeway over the mudflats.

The area around the island became home to Sydney’s coal gas manufacturing industry, evidence of which we see today at nearby Oyster Cove and Balls Head. You can also find a number of vessels, remnants of the former ship wrecking yard, submerged beneath the waters of Balls Head Bay, on the eastern side of the island.

The NSW Government bought Berry Island and created nature reserves at Berry Island and Balls Head in the early 20^th century.

Berry Island is easy to get to – just a 10-minute walk from Wollstonecraft Station. It offers a fully fenced playground, picnic tables, BBQs and amenities. The 750 metre Gadyan Track weaves around the island and tells the stories and legends of the Cammeraygal who inhabited the surrounding harbour foreshores for thousands of generations and for whom this place holds special meaning.

You’ll also pass through preserved native bushland areas in North Sydney with twisting Sydney red gums and red bloodwoods and flowering shrubs such as white spider flower, wattles, banksias and correas. The interior has lower shrubs like tick bush, where you might find ringtail possums and superb fairy wrens.

Berry Island Reserve is perfect for catching up with friends and family – and you can bring your dog so long as they remain on a leash in bushland areas and stay 10 meters from the playground.

Berry Island is a unique and special place in the middle of urban Sydney – come and enjoy its heritage, natural areas and views across the harbour.