Scotland Island rises like the forested summit of a mountain from the waters of Pittwater. It is a short boat's ride across from Church Point. An early photograph shows the island in its pristine beauty, tree clad and apparently uninhabited. It looks as it must have appeared when the waters of Pittwater knew only the dugout canoes of the Aborigines.

The island is closely associated with Andrew Thompson. Thompson arrived in Sydney as a convict on the transport Pitt with the Second Fleet in 1792. He was sentenced to fourteen years transportation for the theft of cloth, valued at about 10 pounds, from the shop of a merchant. Thompson was born c.1773 and was therefore about nineteen on his arrival in Sydney. His father was a weaver manufacturer and dyer at Kirk Yetholm in Scotland and Andrew had been educated at a parochial school until forced to leave due to ill health. He was studying for the excise service when arrested.

In the colony Thompson was appointed to the police service in 1793 and served with distinction at Toongabbie and other areas. In 1796 Governor Hunter appointed him to the Green Hills (Windsor) and he rose to Chief Constable, a position he held until 1808. The Reverend Samuel Marsden praised Thompson's actions in the 1806 Hawkesbury floods when he saved the lives of 101 residents, plucking them from their rooftops in one of his boats.

Thompson had received an absolute pardon in 1797. He built the first toll bridge at Windsor, established a brewery and a hotel, managed Governor Bligh's Hawkesbury farms, owned ships, a tannery and salt works. In 1804 Governor King had helped Thompson set up a salt manufacturing plant in Broken Bay. The first. site was Mullet Island (now Dangar Island) on the Hawkesbury River but later Thompson moved his salt works to Scotland Island, named for his homeland. In 1809 Thompson was granted by Lieutenant Governor Paterson '120 acres on island near the southern extremity of Pittwater Bay -being the first bay on the south west side of the south head of Broken Bay. Rent: 3 shillings per year commencing after 5 years. This grant was later approved by Governor Macquarie. The grant reserved to the government 'the right of making a Public Road through the island and also reserving for the use of the Crown such timber as may be deemed fit for naval purposes'.

At the salt works on the island Thompson extracted salt from seawater by means of an oil burner. He was able to extract 200 lbs (90 kgs) of salt a week. A house was built and a ship slipway. It was rumoured Thompson operated an illicit still on Scotland Island.

Governor Macquarie was a valued friend and appointed him a justice of the Peace and Chief Magistrate on the Hawkesbury. Macquarie described him as a man of 'sober habits and good character'. The 'exclusives' of the colony hated and maligned Thompson. Macquarie appointed him a trustee of the new turnpike road from Sydney to Parramatta which antagonised the Reverend Marsden, another appointee. Marsden retired in anger to his farms.

By 1810 Thompson was ill as a result of his strenuous efforts in the Hawkesbury floods of 1809 and he died on 22 October 1810. His estate was valued at between 20,000 and 25,000 pounds. In his will he bequeathed a quarter of his fortune to Governor Macquarie.

Macquarie wrote that Thompson's death 'affected Mrs. Macquarie and myself deeply - for we both had a most sincere and affectionate esteem for our good and most lamented departed friend'.

Thompson's was the first burial in the cemetery of St Matthew's Church at Windsor and Governor Macquarie composed the long epitaph carved on his tombstone which may still be viewed today.

Before his death Andrew Thompson had laid the keel of a vessel which he named the Geordy. The Sydney Gazette of 24 November 1810 states

On Wednesday, the 14th of the present month, a launch took place at Scotland Isle, Pitt Water, of a vessel of 18 tons, said to be one of the finest of her berthen ever built in the Colony.- She makes part of the devised property of the late Mr Thompson, who at the laying down of her keel gave her the name of the Geordy.

Following Thompson's death the island was initially rented to William Mason for 120 pounds for three years. It was then purchased by Robert Lathrop Murray. In 1812 Scotland Island was offered for sale and the Sydney Gazette advertisement declared it contains 'one hundred and twenty acres of good soil, extensive salt-works, a good dwelling-house and stores, labourers' rooms, and every convenience suitable for a fishery, or shipbuilding, also a vessel of about ninety tons, partly built, still on the stocks.'

In the 1920s the foundations of Thompson's house and the remnants of a wharf were still in existence.

The island was offered for sale in 1813, 1814 and again in 1815 when it was divided into thirteen lots. In the Sydney Gazette of 21 August 1819 Scotland Island is again on the market but was not sold. Maybanke Anderson says that in 1868 a stranger appeared at Pittwater to lay claim to Scotland Island stating his father had purchased it in 1819. The Sydney Gazette advertisement of that year declares that the island is the property of R.A. Murray. The stranger claimed his name was D'Arcy Wentworth Latrobe Murray. He stated his father had been Secretary to the Duke of Kent, Queen Victoria's father. He claimed to be in possession of letters sent by the Duke to his father after the latter had come to Australia. Murray claimed he had come expressly to Australia to give the letters to Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh, then touring Australia, so they might be returned to the Queen. Murray also hoped the Prince might obtain a government appointment for him in New South Wales. The Duke of Kent died on 23 January 1820 six days before King George III and the brothers were buried at night at Windsor.

Murray was not successful in his claim. Charles Swancotts states a John Dickson had earlier laid claim to Scotland Island and when he died in 1843 he bequeathed it to his sons. The sons all died within a few years but James and David Dickson had given a seven year lease to Charles Jenkins and Joseph Benn who arrived at Scotland Island about 1855. They later discovered the Dicksons had no title to the island and Jenkins and Joseph Benn received a Certificate of Title as tenants in common after thirty years tenancy of the island. Jenkins died in 1892.

Joe and Mrs Benn are a legend on Scotland Island. Born in Antwerp, Belgium, Benn's name was in fact Ambrol Josef Diercknecht. He had apparently run away to sea and was soon a trader in Sydney owning a number of vessels, the William and Betsy and the- Lady of the Lake. TheWilliam and Betsy foundered off Port Stephens and the Lady of the Lake was wrecked at Long Reef, near Collaroy.

Benn rebuilt An drew Thompson's house and is said to have treasured a packet of old letters and documents but instructed they were to be burned shortly before his death.

Islands and treasure are synonymous and Scotland Island has its tale of treasure troves. The Belgian had brought Mrs. Benn to the island and she acquired the title of Queen of Scotland Island. Nell Almeida of Narrabeen, who is connected with the Benn family, says the family always used to say they were related to royalty, apparently for the Queen of Scotland Island.

Mrs Benn was a small, dark woman with gentle manners, who wore remnants of fine clothes and some beautiful jewellery. She helped the islanders in illness and also acted as midwife. J.S.N. Wheeler remembered 'seeing her once, an old lady, rowing herself across to Scotland Island in the teeth of a stiff nor'wester' around 1905.

In her last years Mrs Benn grew eccentric and gave belongings to friends but a story persists that she buried the greater part of her treasure on the island.

Even earlier in Andrew Thompson's time it was claimed a three legged pot full of holey dollars was hidden by two men who came from Sydney with a boatload of stolen treasure.

Joseph Benn died on 29 March 1900. Benn called himself Joe Benn or Binn and was described in his will as Joseph Benn. Benn left an estate of 35 pounds to his wife, Kathleen. It was only following his death that Benn's true name was revealed.

In 1900 a survey was made of Scotland Island and its area was 129 acres, 2 roods (52.5 hectares). Thompson's grant stated it covered 120 acres (48.5 hectares). Again in 1906 Surveyor Dobbie surveyed the island and land was offered for public auction on Saturday 10 November 1906.

Charles Swancott in his book Dee Why to Barrenjoey and Pittwater states that in 1911 it was proposed a Naval College should be established on Scotland Island giving the Sun newspaper of 29 September 1911 as his reference. Although a very frail copy of this paper has been checked at the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, no reference to the college was found.

During the 1920s a Mr. Fitzpatrick began to develop the island. There were few houses although Yamba stood on the western side of the island and Bangalla on the south-eastern side. Both houses still survive. (No they don't. Yamba has been rebuilt in 1997.)

Scotland Island is dotted with houses nestled amongst the tall gums and vegetation. The water is very shallow close inshore. There' are boatsheds, jetties, stone walls, yachts and boats and a number of wharves where the ferries call in if anyone wishes to disembark or passengers are waiting on the wharf. The original ferry service was commenced about forty five years ago by Keith Egan. .

At the Tennis-Wharf is Andrew Thompson Park (It is actually Catherine Park) and in the late 1950s Percy Gledhill and the Manly Warringah and Pittwater Historical Society unveiled a monument here to Andrew Thompson. The parry came over from Church Point in the ferry to Tennis Wharf, Mr. Gledhill as always in his three piece suit and felt hat. He loved these occasions and usually arranged a camera crew to record the event to be shown on a Cinesound newsreel.

From Andrew Thompson Park a road winds around the island. The foreshore area measures roughly 22.5 kilometres and walking at a brisk pace it would take approximately 35 minutes to walk the distance. The island covers forty two hectares and island roads are untarred; locals use four-wheeled drive vehicles. Several streets plunge up the steep sides of the island to the summit and Elizabeth Park. The island rises 100 metres above sea level. It is a strenuous walk, heavily forested and the magpies chortle among the trees. The roads tend to list due to the run off in heavy rains and erosion is a problem.

Once the island relied on kerosene lighting but in 1965 'the lights were turned on'. The islanders gathered to celebrate the occasion with drinks and a plate supper. All had left the new light switches turned on and when an official pulled the switch at 10 p.m. the island 'lit up like Christmas.'

On an island bushfire could be a disaster and despite its rejection of too much progress the islanders are not foolhardy. At the Tennis Wharf the local fire brigade has its headquarters and has recently acquired a new shed for its equipment. Hopefully it will never be used for a serious conflagration.

One suggestion many of the islanders have strongly opposed is a vehicular punt service to the island. A punt and cars would end its peaceful isolation and inevitably bring more visitors, tarred roads and the sprawl of suburbanism.

Not that the islanders are staid and unfriendly. In their community hall they have musical shows and operate a theatre restaurant. The Scotland Island Players first show for 1992 was a humorous play, 'Bedroom Farce.'

One rather notorious association with the island was the famous Madam, Tilly Devine (1900-1970). Tilly was born Matilda Mary Twiss in London and during World War I married an Australian soldier, James Devine. In 1919 Devine returned to Sydney and his wife followed the next year in a war-bride ship, the Waimana. In Sydney Tilly worked as a prostitute with her husband as protector. From 1921-1925 she had 79 convictions for offences relating to prostitution and the couple became more involved in underworld activities including the sly-grog traffic. By World War II she was 'Queen of the 'Loo' and a rival of the other infamous madam, Kate Leigh. Tilly divorced Devine in 1943 and in 1945 married a seaman named Parsons. In 1953 she sailed to England to see the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth U.

Tilly Devine had a hideaway on Scotland Island. She would often arrive on a Friday night at Church Point with her body guards to be ferried across to the island. She was said to have given her working girls a restful holiday on Scotland Island and also to have hidden a cache of ill-gotten tax-free gains some time in the 1930s.