COCKATOO ISLAND TOUR - Feb 26
On a mild yet cloudy morning (perfect for an outing) 25 members undertook a visit to the historic Cockatoo Island.
After the usual morning tea we met up with our two guides, Carole and Cole (an American from Philadelphia!), divided into 2 groups then set off on our ways.
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Plumbing, electricity, and civil engineering must have been a challenge, and still is!
The island has 3 distinctive components to its history
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A penal colony for those convicts deemed too “hard” to handle elsewhere. Cockatoo Island operated as a harsh secondary punishment penal colony from 1839 to 1869 in Sydney Harbour, designed for convicts who re-offended in the colony.
See more at: Convict era (1839 to 1869) | Cockatoo Island
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A school for young girls to be trained up in domestic matters. From 1871 to 1888, the former prison buildings on Cockatoo Island housed the Biloela Industrial School for Girls and a separate Reformatory, holding up to 120 girls (aged 18 months to 19 years) who were neglected or convicted of crimes. It was a notoriously harsh institution known for extreme discipline, poor conditions, and abuse.
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A shipbuilding yard. Cockatoo Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site, served as Australia's premier shipbuilding and naval dockyard from 1857 to 1991. It built, refitted, and repaired vessels for the Royal Australian Navy and Allied forces, particularly during both World Wars, and features historic, convict-built dry docks, including the 1857 Fitzroy Dock.
Some of the stories were really quite amazing, particularly one that explained how local butchers were encouraged to throw their scraps into the river around the island to encourage sharks and so deter any attempts to escape!
All told, an outstanding day.
