Quarantine Station

The site was occupied by Aboriginal people before the arrival of colonists. Initially there was no need for quarantine.
In the 1820s the number of immigrants increased and Spring Cove was used in 1828 for the first time for quarantine purposes. In the early years, ill people were kept on board ship and others were accommodated in tents. Gradually buildings were added to the complex and these buildings reflect the beliefs and practices of the times in which they were built. The Quarantine Station was used to house newly arrived immigrants for 140 years.
New ways of treating infectious diseases combined with the speed of air travel meant that the Quarantine Station was not really needed after 1960. The last ship to be quarantined was the Nikki Maru in 1972.

The Quarantine Station website contains some excellent information about the its history and immigration http://www.manlyquarantine.com/

Manly Library has copies of records of those buried at the Quarantine Station.

Jean Duncan Foley in her book In Quarantine: A history of Sydney’s Quarantine Station 1828 – 1984, lists ships quarantined there, the dates of arrival, the number of deaths and the reasons for quarantine. If you suspect that an ancestor was quarantined there, you would need to check NSW State Archives www.records.nsw.gov.au for immigrant arrivals or cross check if you know the ship on which they arrived.