Officers' accommodation was erected in the 1840s-50s including superintendents quarters, clerk of petty sessions, military officers quarters and quarters for the free overseer. Up to 500 prisoners were held there but the usual number was about 250. The brutalising conditions of the Island were admitted but no discernible improvements occurred. This period was also one of brutality against any unrest from the prisoners leading to a Select Committee of Inquiry chaired by Henry Parkes in 1861. During this time additions were made to the gaol including an ornate mess hall and houses for prison officials including Biloela House for the prison governors. Captain Gother Mann was Engineer in Chief at Cockatoo Island from 1847 and later became Superintendent of Convicts. Gother Kerr Mann, one of Australia's foremost nineteenth century engineers, was responsible for the design and construction of Fitzroy Dock, the first begun in the southern hemisphere and contemporary with Mort's Dock at Woolwich. The first ship, HM Surveying Brig Herald, docked in 1858. Approved in 1847 the colonial government built Fitzroy Dock between 1847-57 with convict labour. In 1846 Governor Gipps reported to the British Government that convicts would be employed in clearing and preparing the island for the construction of a dry dock. As the island was surrounded by deep water it was ideal for maritime activities as a British outpost at a time of increasing rivalry between European nations and the United States of America in the Pacific Ocean. As transportation ceased in 1840 the prison was used to house an increasing number of colonially sentenced convicts. The year 1839 also saw the expansion of the island's convict gaol with the construction of the barracks U-shaped in plan, the barracks held accommodation for 344 convicts. Twelve grain silos were also cut out of the rock in 1839 to store grain, following Gipps' order that the government would make provision for the storage of 10,000 bushels on the island within two years. The buildings were constructed to the design of the commanding Royal Engineer, George Barney, responsible for convict and military buildings in NSW. Expenses were met from Imperial, not Colonial, funds emphasising the role of the Imperial Government in the establishment of Cockatoo Island. Unlike contemporary New South Wales (NSW) penal establishments which were executed under contract, the work on Cockatoo Island was carried out by the prisoners. In 1839 Governor Gipps advised the Secretary of State for the Colonies that he was forming an establishment on Cockatoo Island for Imperial prisoners withdrawn from Norfolk Island. In time the settlements on Norfolk Island and in Tasmania were defeated by isolation and the inability of Sydney and Hobart based administrators to exercise adequate control. Assigned convicts were left under the control of landowners but convicts in government service and secondary offenders in penal settlements were housed in barracks as soon as these could be constructed. The expansion of settlement 1810-20 under Governor Macquarie led to the construction of places of confinement including Norfolk Island and Macquarie Harbour. The island has been subject to five major administrative/occupation phases. This name was given to the island in 1870 by the Reverend William Ridley, a student of an Aboriginal language, in response to a request from the Governor for a suitable name. It is not known who first called it Cockatoo Island, though it was known as such long before it was called Biloela. History Ĭockatoo Island is the largest island in Sydney Harbour. It was added to the Australian Commonwealth Heritage List on 22 June 2004. Cockatoo Island Industrial Conservation Area is a heritage-listed protected area relating to the former Cockatoo Island Dockyard at Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia.
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