The Coal Loader & Lavender Bay

On 16 August 2020 we headed to Waverton to see the Coal Loader. We only planned a couple of hours, but it turned into a full day. We started in the tunnels in the morning and ended up at Luna Park watching the sun go down behind the Harbour Bridge.

The Coal Loader at Waverton is an old coal loading site on the harbour that has been turned into a park, with tunnels you can walk through and a big garden on top. Lavender Bay is close by, so you can do both in one day on the north shore.

About the Coal Loader

The Coal Loader is on the Waverton waterfront at 2 Balls Head Drive, just before Balls Head Reserve, on Cammeraygal land. It started work in 1919, loading coal into ships as fuel. It was taken out of service in 1964, opened again in 1974 to export coal, and finally closed in 1992. The NSW Government calls it one of the first and longest operating coal loading facilities on Sydney Harbour, and the whole site is now on the State Heritage Register.

North Sydney Council kept the old parts instead of pulling them down. The old platform, tunnels and workshop buildings are still there, now with gardens and community spaces around them. The site also protects an important Aboriginal rock engraving site, which you look at from a floating timber platform with signs explaining it.

Today it is a sustainability centre and “living classroom”. It runs on solar power, re-uses water, and has rooftop and wall gardens and community veggie plots on the open space above the tunnels. Even the wetland has a story. It sits where an old fuel tank used to be and was made to clean up the land and the water.

Getting there

Waverton Station is the easiest way in by public transport. From the station it is a downhill walk through the streets to the Coal Loader and Balls Head Reserve. Trains run to Waverton from the city and the north shore, and you can pay with an Opal card or contactless.

You can also take a ferry to one of the north shore wharves nearby and walk, depending on your route and how much walking you want to do. You can drive, but like most harbour suburbs, parking is hard to find at busy times.

Lavender Bay is close. You can walk there from Waverton through the streets and foreshore paths, or add it to a longer walk around North Sydney, Milsons Point and McMahons Point. North Sydney Council says Lavender Bay Parklands is about 5 minutes on foot from Milsons Point station or ferry wharf, and about 10 minutes from North Sydney station.

The experience

At the Coal Loader, start with the platform garden. It is wide and open and quiet, with bits of the harbour showing and lots of small things to look at. The old concrete structure is now covered in plants and greenery.

The garden beds on top of the old platform, with the harbour right there.

Each of the four tunnels is used for something different. Tunnel 1 is kept as it was and opens only on the free History Tours. Tunnel 2 is a public walkway through to the Balls Head bushland. Tunnel 3 holds 50 water tanks for watering the gardens, and Tunnel 4 is where threatened Eastern Large Bent-wing Bats spend the winter. Balls Head Reserve, bushland set aside for the public back in 1926, is right next door, so it’s easy to keep walking.

Walking through one of the old tunnels.

Past the tunnel, the path climbs into the bush at Balls Head. There is an old green bench tucked under a big sandstone overhang, and of course I had to sit there for a photo 😊 A bush turkey kept wandering around us like it owned the place.

The bench under the overhang, back in 2020.

Our bush turkey friend.

From Balls Head we kept walking along the foreshore. At Sawmillers Reserve there is an old rusty boat wreck sitting in the water, which we did not expect at all. At low tide you can walk out onto it, but we don’t recommend it as it can be tricky. Then on to Blues Point, where the view of the bridge is right in front of you, and down to Lavender Bay just as the light was turning gold.

The old boat wreck at Sawmillers Reserve.

The bridge and the Opera House from Blues Point.

Lavender Bay Parklands is a string of small parks. Clark Park has lawns and views across the bay to the Harbour Bridge and the city, little Watt Park has the playground, and Quibaree Park down at the water has an old slipway, a jetty and a small beach. Look out for the Peter Kingston walkway too, with small bronze cartoon characters along it. It’s a nice place to just wander around.

Lavender Bay and the Harbour Bridge, late in the afternoon.

Made it to Luna Park 😀

Sunset under the bridge at Milsons Point.

Back with Coco

In September 2026, six years after our first visit, we came back to celebrate Coco’s 4th birthday. Dogs aren’t allowed on Sydney trains, and on buses and ferries they have to be in a carrier, so with Coco we always drive. We walked him along the platform and sat on that same green bench in the rock hollow at Balls Head. A little further on is our picnic spot, where he had his birthday cake looking across at the Harbour Bridge 😀 We stayed until the sun went down behind the solar panels.

Coco’s birthday walk along the platform.

Taking a break under the sandstone overhang.

Birthday cake with a view 🎂

Sunset from the Coal Loader.

Tips for visiting

• The Coal Loader parklands and platform are open any time. The Centre for Sustainability is open on weekdays and Saturdays.
• Free History Tours run on the first and third Saturdays of the month and include Tunnel 1, which is normally closed.
• Dogs are welcome on a lead at the Coal Loader, Balls Head and Clark Park. Most of the Lavender Bay parkland is off-lead, just not near the playground.
• Tip: Bring a picnic. The spot looking across to the Harbour Bridge where we had Coco’s birthday cake is one of our favourite picnic spots in Sydney. There is grass, shade and the harbour right in front of you.
• Wear comfortable shoes if you are doing the Coal Loader, Balls Head and Lavender Bay together.
• Take water and sunscreen, as some parts have no shade.
• Public toilets are at Quibaree Park in Lavender Bay.
• For a longer day, add Wendy’s Secret Garden, which is right below Clark Park, or walk on to Milsons Point.

Sources: About The Coal Loader, North Sydney Council, Visit the Coal Loader, North Sydney Council, Tour the Coal Loader, North Sydney Council, Waverton Coal Loader, NSW Department of Planning, Waverton Coal Loader to be listed on the State Heritage Register, NSW Government, Lavender Bay Parklands, North Sydney Council, 100 years of Balls Head and Berry Island Reserves, North Sydney Council.

The first time we came here it was just a day out. Now it’s Coco’s birthday spot, and we’ll definitely be back with another picnic 😊

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