Sydney Heads

The Sydney Heads (also simply known as the Heads) form the two-kilometre-wide entrance to Sydney Harbour in Sydney, Australia. North Head and Quarantine Head are to the north; South Head and Dunbar Head are to the south; and Middle Head, Georges Head, and Chowder Head are to the west and within the harbour.

The Hornby Lighthouse is located on South Head and is Australia's third-oldest lighthouse. Macquarie Lighthouse, Australia's first lighthouse, is three kilometres to the south on Dunbar Head.

North Head is a headland south-east of the suburb of Manly. It is part of Sydney Harbour National Park. The headland is a promontory of sandstone and is 3.85 square kilometres in area.

The Sydney Quarantine station is located on North Head and is one of the few still-existing facilities that once operated in each state of Australia until the 1980s. From 1828, Spring Cove, on the western side of North Head, was used to quarantine new arrivals to Sydney to minimise the spread of communicable diseases such as smallpox and whooping cough. In 1832, the whole area of North Head was set aside for a quarantine station. A permanent quarantine facility was set up in 1837 and continued to operate until 1984.

The site contains the remnants of Colonial (Colony of New South Wales) period buildings and equipment which were the best available means of combating major contagious diseases and hygiene-related conditions brought to the colony by ship. Soon after Federation the Commonwealth Government initiated a major building and infrastructure program which also remains largely intact today. This program included similar, but smaller, quarantine stations around Australian ports, of which North Head is the only remaining example. This site dealt with major shipping-related epidemic outbreaks which took place up until the 1940s. As such, the quarantine complex represents on of the most complete collection of buildings, equipment and a setting showing how life was lived among the struggles and successes in public health of Australia's past.

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