Cockatoo Island (New South Wales)

Cockatoo Island Sydney, New South Wales
Cockatoo Island
Population:	2[1]
Postcode:	None[1]
Location:	10 km (6 mi) west of Sydney CBD
State District:	Balmain[2]
Federal Division:	Sydney[3]
Suburbs around Cockatoo Island: Sydney Harbour Sydney Harbour Cockatoo Island Sydney Harbour Sydney Harbour

Cockatoo Island, view from Woolwich

Cockatoo Island from the Gladesville Bridge

Cockatoo Island is the largest island in Sydney Harbour in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located at the junction of the Parramatta and Lane Cove rivers, Cockatoo Island is a former imperial prison, industrial school, reformatory and gaol. It was also the site of one of Australia's biggest shipyards during the twentieth century. The first of its two dry docks was built by convicts and was completed in 1857. The island's maritime industrial activity ceased in 1992. Cockatoo Island was inscribed on the World Heritage List in July 2010.

The island is managed by the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust which is also responsible for seven other lands around Sydney Harbour. The Harbour Trust is revitalising the island as a landmark harbour attraction with cultural events and heritage interpretation. Today Cockatoo Island retains many remnants of its past. Its prison buildings have been World Heritage listed, part of a serial listing of 11 Australian Convict Sites. Large workshops, slipways, wharves, residences and other buildings retain the texture of the island's industrial past.

In late March 2005 the Harbour Trust, in partnership with an event organiser, held the Cockatoo Island Festival. The event put the island on Sydney's cultural map and initiated a range of cultural activities including contemporary art installations, exhibitions and festivals. The island is a major venue partner of the Biennale of Sydney.

The Harbour Trust opened a camp ground on the island in 2008 [1]. The camp ground attracts some 20,000 campers a year and is a popular spot for watching Sydney's renowned New Year's Eve fireworks. In 2010, the island attracted a capacity crowd of over 2000 campers to view NYE fireworks. Other island holiday accommodation consists of five renovated houses and apartments with harbour and city views.

Sydney Ferries services Cockatoo Island as part of its Woolwich/Balmain ferry route and Parramatta RiverCat route. Day visitors are welcome, and can picnic, barbecue, visit the cafe, wander at leisure or take an audio or guided tour. Cockatoo Island is open daily and there is no admission charge.

Regular events and art installations are a feature of the island.^[4]

Cockatoo Island has grown into a versatile cultural venue on Sydney's cultural calendar. In 2008, it was a major venue partner of the 16th Biennale of Sydney, attracting over 80,000 visitors over 12 weeks. In 2010, the event attracted over 156,000 people. In 2009, Cockatoo Island hosted the Sydney Festival's "All Tomorrow's Parties" music festival. The 2 day festival included twenty-four bands over four stages across the island, and was curated and headlined by Nick Cave, attracting an audience of over 11,000. The island hosted the World's Funniest Island Comedy Festival in October 2009, with 200 comedy acts appearing over a weekend, attracting over 8,000 visitors.

The island is also increasingly used as a venue for private events both large and small. Part of the blockbuster X-Men Origins: Wolverine was filmed there in 2008. Reality television programs have also used the island as a location.

Early history

Before the arrival of Europeans, Cockatoo Island was probably used by the Aboriginal tribes of Sydney's coastal region.^[5] In 1839 it was chosen as the site of a new penal establishment by the Governor of the colony of New South Wales, Sir George Gipps. Between 1839 and 1869 the island was used as a convict prison. Initially, prisoners were transferred to Cockatoo Island from Norfolk Island, and were employed constructing their barracks and rock-cut silos for storing the colony's grain supply. By 1842, approximately 140 tonnes of grain were stored on the island.^[5]

Later, quarrying on the island provided stone for construction projects around Sydney, including the seawall for Circular Quay. Between 1847 and 1857, convicts were used to dig the Fitzroy Dock, Australia’s first dry dock, on the island. An estimated 1.5 million cubic feet (42,000 m³) of rock was excavated with 480,000 cubic feet (14,000 m³) forming the dock itself.^[5]

In 2009, an archeological dig on the island uncovered convict era punishment cells under the cookhouse. These cells give a valuable insight into the conditions convicts lived under on the island.^[6]

One prisoner on Cockatoo Island was the Australian bushranger, Captain Thunderbolt, who escaped in 1863 to begin the crime spree which made him famous. His wife had swum across to the island with tools to effect his escape, following which they both swam back to the mainland.

Fitzroy Dock

The dock was designed by Gother Kerr Mann, the island's Civil Engineer, and built between 1847 and 1857 utilising convict labour. The foundation stone of its ashlar lining was laid on 5 June 1854 by Governor Charles Augustus FitzRoy, with the dock being named in his honour. When completed in 1857, the dry dock was 316 feet (96 m) in length and 76 feet (23 m) in breadth, with an entrance 60 feet (18 m) wide. HMS Herald was the first sailing vessel to enter the dock in December 1857. The Fitzroy Dock was lengthened in 1870 and 1880 to be 643 feet (196 m).^[7]

Sutherland Dock

The dock was constructed under the supervision of the engineer Louis Samuel between 1882 and 1890.^[7] The dock was named after John Sutherland, the Secretary for Public Works and was large enough to accommodate ships of 20,000 tonnes. The dock was modified in 1913 and in 1927 to accommodate Royal Australian Navy ships.

Industrial School, Reformatory and Gaol

In 1864 the island was split between the NSW Department of Prisons and the Public Works Department, which expanded the dockyard around the foreshores. In 1869 the convicts were relocated to Darlinghurst Gaol and the prison complex became an Industrial School for Girls and also a Reformatory.

Cockatoo Island Dockyard

Mural of a cockatoo on the top island.

Shipbuilding began on Cockatoo Island in 1870.

In 1913 Cockatoo Island was transferred to the Commonwealth Government to become the Naval Dockyard of the Royal Australian Navy. The torpedo boat destroyer Warrego has the distinction of being the first naval ship launched at Cockatoo Island. Built in Great Britain, dismantled and shipped to Australia, Warrego was reassembled at Cockatoo Island and commissioned in 1912. This was the beginning of naval shipbuilding on the island. During World War I, the dockyard built, repaired and refitted many ships. At its peak during the war, some 4000 men were employed on the island.

In 1933, Cockatoo Island was leased to the Cockatoo Docks and Engineering Company Ltd for 21 years. The lease was renewed in 1954 for a further 20 years and again in 1972 for 21 years.

During World War II, Cockatoo Island was the main ship repair facility in the south-west Pacific. Some 250 ships were converted or repaired on the island. The Cunard liners Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were converted to troopships by Cockatoo Island workers in Athol Bight near Bradley Head in the harbour. In the eight months between August 1942 and March 1943, Cockatoo repaired four cruisers of the United States Navy - USS Chicago, USS Chester, USS Portland and USS New Orleans.

Many ships of the Royal Australian Navy were repaired. The cruiser HMAS Hobart suffered torpedo damage in the New Hebrides and limped into Sydney in August 1943 for major repairs and modernisation.

After the war, shipbuilding continued on the island. Orders were placed for two Battle Class and four Daring Class destroyers, the building to be shared by Cockatoo Island and Williamstown dockyards. In the 1950s, the government approved the construction of six Type 12 anti-submarine frigates, again shared between the two dockyards. Cockatoo Island also modernised and refitted many naval vessels.

In 1962, Cockatoo Island won the tender to construct Empress of Australia, which when completed in 1965, was the largest roll-on roll-off cargo passenger ship in the world. In 1963, the island won the contract to build the escort maintenance ship HMAS Stalwart. In 1979, Cockatoo began construction of HMAS Success, the largest naval vessel built in Australia. It was handed over to the Navy in 1986 and may still be seen in Sydney Harbour from time to time.

From 1971 to 1991, Cockatoo completed 14 major refits of Australia's Oberon Class submarines and many mid-cycle and intermediate dockings, not to mention short-term repairs.

Significant vessels built or worked over the life of the dockyard include:

• HMAS Warrego, a River-class destroyer launched on 4 April 1911. It was the first naval vessel launched from Cockatoo Island.
• HMAS Huon, a destroyer launched in 1914
• HMAS Brisbane, a light cruiser launched in 1915
• HMAS Adelaide, a light cruiser launched in 1918
• HMAS Albatross, a seaplane tender launched in 1928
• Steam Tug Wattle launched in 1933
• Customs patrol vessel Vigilant, later HMAS Vigilant, launched in 1938. It was the first aluminium ship built in Australia.
• Three Tribal-class destroyers (HMAS Arunta, 1940; HMAS Warramunga, 1942; HMAS Bataan, 1944)
• Several Bathurst-class corvettes during World War II
• Battle-class destroyer HMAS Tobruk was constructed for the Royal Australian Navy at Cockatoo Island Dockyard as ship number 185 and launched on 20 December 1947
• HMAS Vampire, a destroyer launched in 1952 and now at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour
• Empress of Australia, launched in 1964
• HMAS Success, the last ship launched from the dockyard in 1984.

World Heritage Listing

In July 2010, at the 34th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, Cockatoo Island and ten other Australian sites with a significant association with convict transportation were inscribed as a group on the World Heritage List as the Australian Convict Sites.^[8] The listing explains that the 11 sites present "the best surviving examples of large-scale convict transportation and the colonial expansion of European powers through the presence and labour of convicts". Of the 11 sites the Hyde Park Barracks, Old Great North Road, Old Government House at Parramatta are also within the Sydney region.

Cockatoo Island Events

Since 2005, Cockatoo Island has hosted a number of major events. They range from collaborations with the Sydney Writers' Festival to an international freestyle motocross competition. A summary is provided in the following headings.

Cockatoo Island Festival

Main article: Cockatoo Island Festival

In 2005, a three day music and arts festival was held on the refurbished island, utilising abandoned buildings and warehouses as exhibition rooms, concert halls and shopping/food venues. The festival was headlined by local and international musical groups and artists.

The festival attracted over 20,000 people and featured over 120 musical acts, as well as stand-up comedians, performance artists and more. A dedicated ferry service ran day and night to take ticket holders to and from the island. The festival did not return to the island in this format and was reborn elsewhere as The Great Escape in 2006.

Urs Fischer Installation

In 2007, Cockatoo Island hosted an art installation by New York-based Swiss artist Urs Fischer. The installation was a partnership with Kaldor Public Art Projects.

Biennale of Sydney 2008, 2010

In 2008, Cockatoo Island became a major venue for the Biennale of Sydney. The contemporary arts festival attracted approximately 86,000 visitors to the island over 10 weeks. In 2010, the island hosted the 17th Biennale of Sydney. Over 120 works of art by 56 artists were exhibited and attracted approximately 157,000 people.

Sydney Festival 2009

In 2009, Cockatoo Island was the venue for a major component of the Sydney Festival, the Nick Cave curated All Tomorrow's Parties music festival. The event attracted approximately 12,000 people.

Ken Unsworth Installations

In 2009, the artist Ken Unsworth's tribute to his wife, A Ringing Glass (Rilke) was an ambitious installation of galleries constructed inside the island's Turbine Shop. In 2011, Unsworth returned to Cockatoo Island with As I Crossed the Bridge of Dreams, a show incorporating dance, sculptural creations, music and song.

World's Funniest Island Comedy Festival

In 2009, Cockatoo Island hosted the World's Funniest Island comedy festival. Held over two days, it attracted approximately 8000 people.

Underbelly Festival

In 2010, Cockatoo Island hosted the Underbelly Festival, a collaboration of 150 artists on innovative and experimental projects over a 10 day residency and festival finale.

Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour Finale

In 2011, Cockatoo Island hosted the final of the world's leading freestyle motocross competition.

Planning and Projects

Stewardship of Cockatoo Island was handed to the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust [2] in 2001 to plan a new chapter for the island as publicly-owned urban park. In 2003 the Harbour Trust completed a Comprehensive Plan for Cockatoo Island and its other sites around Sydney Harbour.

The Comprehensive Plan proposed the revitalisation of Cockatoo Island as a landmark harbour attraction with the revival of maritime activities, the interpretation of its rich colonial and industrial heritage, and the creation of parklands and spaces for cultural events.

The Harbour Trust has now produced a management plan for the island to provide more specific details of the proposals for the island.

Urban Islands

In 2009 the Urban Islands masterclass was taught "by 3 groups of international emerging architects on and about the controversial site of Cockatoo Island":

Cross disciplinary creativity, experimental tactics and broad based participation are needed to inject Cockatoo Island with renewed life. The proposals developed in the 12-days play an active role in generating tangible proposals for Cockatoo Island, producing outcomes such as large-scale installations, futurologist proposals, media activism experiments, and greater harbour master planning visions.

One of the masterclass leaders was Geoff Manaugh, author of the influential BLDGBLOG. A second masterclass is planned for 2011.^[9]

See also

• Australian Convict Sites
• Media related to Cockatoo Island (New South Wales) at Wikimedia Commons

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Saffron Howden, "Bush camping on Sydney harbour's Cockatoo Island", Daily Telegraph, 3 April 2008. Accessed 14 April 2008.
2. ^ "Electoral District of Balmain: Electorate District Profile", New South Wales Electoral Commission. Accessed 14 April 2008.
3. ^ "Federal Electorate Search: Sydney", Australian Electoral Commission. Accessed 14 April 2008.
4. ^ "Sites - Cockatoo: Planning". Sydney Harbour Federation Trust. Archived from the original on 4 March 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060304041241/http://www.harbourtrust.gov.au/topics/planningcockatoo.html. Retrieved 18 April 2006. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} "Sites - Cockatoo". Sydney Harbour Federation Trust. Archived from the original on 12 February 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060212232609/http://www.harbourtrust.gov.au/topics/sitescockatoo.html. Retrieved 10 April 2006. 
6. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/24/2695537.htm?section=justin Convict era punishment cells unearthed
7. ^ ^{a b} Gillett, p.12.
8. ^ "UNESCO World Heritage Centre – World Heritage Committee inscribes seven cultural sites on World Heritage List". UNESCO World Heritage Centre website. United Nations. 31 July 2010. http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/642. Retrieved 17 September 2010. 
9. ^ "URBAN ISLANDS 2009 // Intensive Design Studio on Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour". URBAN ISLANDS. http://www.urbanislands.net/. Retrieved 23 July 2009. 

References

• Gillett, Ross; Melliar-Phelps, Michael (1980). A Century of Ships in Sydney Harbour. Rigby Publishers Ltd. ISBN 0727012010. 

External links

• Cockatoo Island Website
• Sydney Harbour Federation Trust Sites - Cockatoo Island
• Vintage aerial photograph by Frank Hurley at the National Library of Australia
• Captain Thunderbolt
• Cockatoo Island (New South Wales) is at coordinates 33°50′49″S 151°10′16″E / 33.84684°S 151.17115°E / -33.84684; 151.17115Coordinates: 33°50′49″S 151°10′16″E / 33.84684°S 151.17115°E / -33.84684; 151.17115
• UNESCO announcement of World Heritage listing