Torrens Island Sanctuary which overlays the entire island. Torrens Island Torrens Island is an island in the Australian state of South Australia located in the Port River Estuary between the Port River and Barker Inlet, about northwest of the state capital of Adelaide. Since European settlement of Adelaide in 1836, it has been used for a number of purposes. Being uninhabited, an island, adjacent to Port Adelaide, and near Outer Harbor, Torrens Island was initially used as the site of a Quarantine Station for new arrivals (by sea) to South Australia. One example of its use was during the so-called "Boonah crisis".
Henry Whitelock Torrens Henry Whitelock Torrens Henry Whitelock Torrens (1806–1852), son of Major-General Henry Torrens, was born on May 20, 1806. He received his B. A. at Christ Church, Oxford and entered the inner temple. After a short service under the Foreign Office, he obtained a writership from the Court of Directors of the East India Company and arrived in India in Nov. 1828 and held various appointments at Meerut. In 1835 he joined the Secretariat, in which he served in several departments under Sir W. Macnaghten. In 1839 he assisted in the editing of the "Calcutta Star", a weekly paper, which became