View towards the former Cockatoo Island Dockyards from the small beach below the Commander’s Residence on Spectacle Island, Parramatta River, N.S.W

I must have walked every inch of Spectacle Island during my time working for the Naval Heritage Collection, but my favourite place was the tiny beach on the eastern side of the island where fascinating objects, coloured glass and shells washed ashore…some perhaps from nearby Cockatoo Island.

The iconic 19th-century Commander’s Residence is situated on the eastern tip of Spectacle Island.