Pyrmont, Mangrove swamp

The history of the bay was the mangrove swamp with sparkling creeks later became open sewers, and the mangrove shores ended up overflowing with offal and industrial waste. Until the late 1820s Blackwattle and Rozelle Bays were isolated and often dangerous, the rocky slopes and surrounding timbered land used as a retreat by criminals and bushrangers. A mangrove swamp at the head of the Blackwattle Bay was filled partly by tides and from a creek running from Surry Hills.