North Head Quarantine Station – NSW

North Head Quarantine Station consists of several heritage listed buildings on the north side of Sydney Harbour. It operated as a quarantine station from 1832 to 1984 for travellers and migrants suspected of carrying contagious diseases such as smallpox, cholera, Spanish influenza, bubonic plague and more. The station was later further developed to include accommodation blocks, hospital, morgue and admin centre. For many migrants, their first experience of a new country was to be placed into quarantine for a minimum of three weeks to ensure they didn’t bring contagious diseases into Australia. In its 150 years operation, it detained 580 ships and over 13,000 migrants within its walls. In 1837 a Typhus ridden lady arrived on a ship at Sydney Harbour, 54 passengers had already died on board and a further 13 passed away in quarantine. Those who didn’t make it were buried in one of three cemeteries which have now been demolished. Functioning as a small village, North Head Quarantine Station was a place where over 600 men, women and children suffered and died of horrible diseases until thanks to modern medicine, was closed down in 1984. Visitors have reported seeing spirits of immigrants and hospital staff, cold and feeling uneasy in certain spots, being tapped on the shoulder, mysterious lights in unoccupied wards, ghostly Chinese immigrants wandering the wards. A male tourist on the guided tour said some nasty words about the matron who supposedly haunts the area, only to be attacked in the toilets followed by him running out screaming he had been held down by the lady. There are also large reports of a ghostly blonde girl who takes visitors hands and leads them around the pathways, at times she even speaks to them. With over 150 years of death, disease and suffering, North Head Quarantine Station is widely known as Sydney’s most haunted location. In 2014, it now functions as a visitor centre with café and runs daily ghost tours and education programs for history buffs.