Sydney Ferries
Sydney Ferries is the public transport ferry network serving the city of Sydney, New South Wales. Services operate on Sydney Harbour and the connecting Parramatta River. The network is controlled by the New South Wales Government's transport authority, Transport for NSW, and is part of the authority's Opal ticketing system. In 2017–18, 15.3 million passenger journeys were made on the network. Services are operated under contract by Transdev Sydney Ferries. Sydney Ferries Corporation is the state government agency that owns the ferry fleet. History Early services Sydney's ferry services can trace their general origins as far back as the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove where in 1789, a small boat provided a link between Sydney Cove and the farming settlement of Parramatta. The first vessel, officially named the Rose Hill Packet (otherwise known as 'The Lump'), was a hoy crafted by convicts and powered by sails and oars. Return trips between Sydney Cove to Parramatta could take a week to complete. The ex-convict, Billy Blue, thought to be a Jamaican, provided a cross harbour rowboat from Dawes Point to Blues Point. By 1830, he was running what is thought to be Sydney first regular ferry service. The same year, a regular service was set up between Balmoral Beach and Balgowlah that shortened the otherwise long bush journey between Sydney and Manly and Northern Beaches. As time progressed, a series of rowboat ferrymen set up small operations to transport people from either side of Sydney Harbour. However, the first proper, steam-powered ferry services that could operate regardless of wind and tide appeared in the 1830s and 1840s. Parramatta River services North Sydney was still not a heavily populated area in the 1830s, however, Parramatta was growing. The first Australian-built steamship, PS Surprise was launched in 1831 and commenced regular, timetabled services to Parramatta on 1 June 1831. The service, however, was not financially successful and the vessel was sold to Hobart in 1832. It was followed by numerous further steam ferries operated by various business partnerships until the Parramatta River Steam Co, was formed in 1865. Due to the considerable costs of building wharfs, boatman would wait for ferries along the river and for a fee would row ferry passengers ashore. One of two punts near the current Gladesville Bridge was for river ferry passengers and was operated by boatmen. The other punt, Bedlam Ferry, carried main road traffic across the river. Sydney Ferries Limited Cross-harbour steam ferry services began in 1842 and this business grew to such an extent that a public company was formed, the North Shore Steam Ferry Co. Ltd. in 1878. In 1900, the North Shore company was reincorporated as Sydney Ferries Limited (SFL), which progressively took over most other harbour ferry services (except notably the Manly service operated by the Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company), and eventually became the world's largest ferry operator by fleet size and patronage. In addition to the vessels acquired in the takeovers, it procured in its own