Circular Quay drone shows, Vivid Sydney water shows, Handa Opera On Sydney Harbour, Australia SailGP & fireworks from barges over Sydney Harbour at any time of the year are under threat from a proposed high-density housing development at Glebe Island. This does not affect Sydney NYE2024 (the upcoming edition).
Glebe Island is home to a port with 260 metres of deep waterfront wharf space, where Handa Opera On Sydney Harbour‘s enormous stage is prepared before been moved to Fleet Steps. Barges & pontoons are also moored at Glebe Island for the preparation of pyrotechnic displays & drone shows held from them. For the pyrotechnics, cranes are used to load the fireworks onto the barges & pontoons while for both drones & fireworks, the barges & pontoons are then moved into Sydney Harbour (or in the drone shows’ case, moored at Campbells’ Cove) for the displays. The same also applies for the annual water show held in Cockle Bay during Vivid Sydney, whose water pump infrastructure is first prepared at Glebe Island while Australia SailGP requires the delivery of 120 shipping containers.
Sydney New Year’s Eve (NYE), the most significant annual pyrotechnic event on Sydney Harbour, uses 6 barges and 4 pontoons. Without these, the display would be reduced to just the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House & city buildings. Fireworks displays at any other time of year & drone/water shows as well as Handa Opera On Sydney Harbour & Australia SailGP will be impossible to be held.
And according to Adam Huie of Banks Events, who has helped produce Sydney Spectaculars (the events, not the blog) since 1997, that’s what will happen if Glebe Island is no longer a port.
First things first, Glebe Island is a bit of a misnomer. It was an island originally, but it doesn’t exist anymore. It was joined to the mainland just over a century ago but now, fast forward to 2016.
On the 14th of November 2016, the New South Wales (NSW) Government announced Sydney Metro West, an underground rapid transit line. One of its proposed stations is to be at The Bays precinct, “Sydney’s new innovation hub where 95 hectares of land is being regenerated”.
At the time, the land regeneration wasn’t to include Glebe Island, which was instead marked as “for further study”.
Image: The Sydney Morning Herald
And indeed, further study it was, in secret. On the 25th of July this year, The Sydney Morning Herald revealed that the NSW Government had secretly commissioned a review into Glebe Island. The now not-so-secret review is being undertaken by Michael Schur, a consultant who was a former NSW Treasury secretary in 2011, who will also review the non-cruise ship terminal portion of the White Bay foreshore. He will be assessing options including:
- Retaining the ports with no nearby high-density housing
- Moving the ports for nearby high-density housing
- Building a hybrid model
The proposal by the NSW Government to turn it into high-density housing is made due to the now-under construction The Bays Metro Station, which would be able to handle large amounts of passengers & therefore, potential residents. The NSW Government later admitted the review was real.
Tom Forrest, Urban Taskforce Chief Executive said Glebe Island had the potential to be Sydney’s next Barangaroo which he described as “vibrant, open & perfect” but industry wants to stay at Glebe Island.
For example, the Port Authority of NSW, a corporation of the NSW Government, while supporting the Schur review, is opposed to the Glebe Island port closing down or being relocated. As noise, pollution & truck movements are all key considerations in whether the hybrid model can work, they even warned against that option, saying “sensitive uses” near ports & shipping threatened to upset operations. It is this position that has led event producers to not make a collective submission.
The NSW Liberal Party is also opposed to the relocation while Stuart Aryes, Urban Development Institute Of Australia, Chief Executive said a mixed-use precinct “could be a new jewel in the Sydney Harbour crown”.
The City Of Sydney, in a statement (below), gave a response which sounds like a wait and see approach with supreme confidence. The confidence is justified as Glebe Island/White Bay has not always been the location the pyrotechnic barges been prepared from. For example, in 1996, Wooloomooloo was the location for the set-up of the main barge used in the 9pm Family Fireworks that year. It relocated to White Bay/Glebe Island the following year.
However, Adam Huie told Sydney Spectaculars (the blog this time) that Wooloomooloo is “now occupied by other uses and unavailable”. You can read his full comments, which were published by The Daily Telegraph, at the bottom of this article.
The review is likely to be published by the end of the year.
The Sydney NYE2024 Glebe Island media call is on Friday the 27th of December at 10am & it wouldn’t be a surprise if questions are asked there about this situation.
Sydney NYE2024 is on at 7:30pm on the 31st of December while Australia SailGP returns on the 8th-9th of February with Handa Opera On Sydney Harbour 2025 being held between March 21 and April 20 & will be musical Guys & Dolls this edition.
There is a range of things that you could do with Glebe Island that are better than the way it has been used for a long period of time & one of those is obviously housing.
Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister Of Australia
If the government has an announcement to make, it will be made at an appropriate time.
NSW Government Spokesperson
The harbour is our jewel in the crown & Glebe Island supports that gem. Our harbour is also more complex & multifaceted than people realise so while we excel at events, they need a platform supporting them.
Margy Osmond, Tourism & Transport Forum Australia Chief Executive Officer
The government’s own department is telling them that this is a bad idea – that should tell you all you need to know.
Natalie Ward, NSW Legislative Councillor
Any proposed plans for the Glebe Island site is a matter for the state government.
Our experience over the years has meant we are adept at working around evolving changes to the event’s production to ensure we continue to deliver one of the world’s most spectacular New Year’s Eve celebrations.
City Of Sydney Spokesperson
(Barangaroo) That’s the sort of vision we need to see. Maintaining Sydney as a quasi-working harbour was a prospect that was abandoned by governments 30 years ago. Continuing to operate a hybrid model ensures the Bays Precinct will fail to deliver its potential. The last thing we want is to keep that giant hardstand area in order to satisfy the old Maritime Services Board.
Tom Forrest, Urban Taskforce Chief Executive
Sydney will struggle to be a better city without Glebe Island. The thought that the fireworks & other major events could be in jeopardy is truly alarming. Access to Glebe Island for preparing events is vital for the events sector & for Sydney’s economy, tourism and culture.
Paul Nicolau, Business Sydney Executive Director
We live here because of the working harbour.
Elizabeth Elenius, Pyrmont Action Group Founder
We use Glebe Island for a lot of events that mean so much to this city.
Because the Port Authority has had management of the site and their support for events is strong. We’ve seen that as the state government supporting our events but this report that’s coming has given everyone the jitters. We don’t know what is going on. These events are too important to Sydney. People around the world know us for our NYE celebrations. It would be terrible if we had to scale that back because a necessary work site was not available.
There’s quite a number of events that use that space as an essential part of their work. There’s Australia Day, Vivid, SailGP and Opera On The Harbour. They would all have major issues putting on some of their events without Glebe Island.
The drone show for Vivid in June required 110m of wharf space at Glebe Island for 4 weeks to build a barge & install the equipment allowing 800 drones to take off. Every city in the world that SailGP operates in, they deliver essentials by ship & set up on a wharf. If Sydney doesn’t have Glebe Island port, where are they going to go? All these events need waterfront access on the harbour.
People have spent years trying to work out how to deliver the New Year’s Eve fireworks if Glebe Island suddenly wasn’t available. We’ve never come up with a solution. The only sensible option would be to scale back on the event & surely no one wants that. Sydney has one of the best fireworks displays in the world, but the event could not be done the way it’s currently done without that Glebe Island facility.
I’d laugh at anyone suggesting (Port Botany, Kembla, Newcastle) that. There’s no way you’d be loading barges there & then shipping them here. Logistics require clear weather windows of opportunity. It would be unworkable, virtually impossible but why does that even have to be considered when we’ve got a working wharf right here?
Adam Huie, Banks Events Producer
Sydney Spectaculars 
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