Cockatoo Island
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The largest of several islands in Sydney’s big natural harbour. It was once home to a convict gaol and later a significant naval shipyard that played an important role in both WW1 and WWII. After the shipyard closed in the 1990s, the once out-of-bounds island was eventually opened up to the general public.
More background info: The sandstone island takes its name from the cockatoos that indeed used to be plentiful here, but when the tree cover that once filled the island’s surface was felled, the cockatoos had to migrate elsewhere. So these days you won’t encounter any of the namesake birds on the island (except for the soft toy ones in the gift shop). The First Nation Aboriginals have always called the island “Wareamah” in their native Dharug language, though the island later also adopted the name “Biloela”, which is the translation of ‘cockatoo’ in a North Queensland Aboriginal language.
The British colonialists arrived on the island in 1839 – in order to establish a convict prison and labour camp here, specifically for those convicts who had been reoffending elsewhere in the colonies, so banishment to the island was an extra punishment.
And punishment it was indeed. Not only were the sanitary conditions lamentable and the rations meagre, the convicts also had to do backbreaking hard labour quarrying sandstone and building various structures, including the later shipyard’s first graving dock, Fitzroy Dock. They were housed in cramped conditions in dorms built for 300 prisoners but later housing up to 500 inmates. Additional punishment in the form of shackles, isolation cells and whipping with a cat-o’-nine-tails were common too.
In the 1860s, the convict population declined, so in 1869 the convict compound closed altogether and the remaining prisoners were transferred to Darlinghurst Prison (see under Sydney). Shortly after, in 1871, the buildings found a new purpose as an industrial training school for girls, as well as a separate “reformatory” for female juvenile delinquents. A training boat for “wayward” boys was for a time also moored on the eastern side of the island. This continued into the early 20th century.
The naval association with Cockatoo Island goes back to the 1840s, when the construction of Fitzroy Dock was begun. The dry dock went operational in 1857. It is now the oldest such structure in Australia and the only surviving one built by convict labour.
In the 1870s and 80s naval use of the island increased and a second, larger dry dock was constructed, named Sutherland Dock, which was completed in 1889. Shipbuilding and carrying out repairs to ships had by now become the main activity on the island. Initially used by the British Navy, after federation the Australian Navy, formed in 1911, took over and in 1913 Cockatoo Island became the official dockyard for the Australian Navy.
The shipyard’s significance grew during WW1, and in 1916 the first wholly Australian-built modern warship, HMAS Huon, was completed. At the end of the war, the shipyard had a workforce of over 4000 ... on an island that measures only ca. 500 by 500 metres.
It was also during WW1 that most of the Residential Precinct for essential dockyard staff was constructed, which now provides space for holiday apartments and houses.
During WWII, Cockatoo Island became the main ship repair yard in the Southwest Pacific, and some 250 Allied vessels were mended here. It was also during the war that air-raid shelters and the searchlight tower at the top of the island were constructed.
After WWII, shipbuilding continued on Cockatoo Island and amongst the vessels produced here were the Empress of Australia, then the largest ro-ro car and passenger ferry (launched in 1964 and serving the Melbourne-Tasmania route until 1986), as well as HMAS Success, the largest and last ship built for the Australian Navy at Cockatoo Island. Launched in 1984, and commissioned in 1986, she took part in the Gulf War of 1991 and was later deployed to East Timor to support Australian operations there.
However, with growing competition (especially from Asia), shipbuilding declined from the 1970s onwards. In 1989 the first ideas were floated to sell off the shipyard. The Dockyard Shop Committee, which represented over a dozen different unions, responded by calling a strike and occupying the island. This action lasted for 14 weeks.
But the end was nigh. The last project to be completed at the shipyard was the refitting of HMAS Orion, a reconnaissance submarine. With that job done the workforce was disbanded at the end of 1991.
In 1992 the whole of Cockatoo Island Shipyard closed for good. Part of the machinery was sold off at auction and many buildings and cranes were demolished, while most of the more important heritage buildings were spared.
The future fate of the island was for a while unclear, but in 1998 the government announced the formation of the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, with the task of rehabilitating important former defence sites and returning them to the public. This was very much in line with the campaigns organized by the “Friends of Cockatoo Island” group that had formed in the mid-1990s after the closure of the shipyard.
In November 2000, when the island was officially still out of bounds, an Aboriginal Rights group that was a branch of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra occupied part of the upper island and made a land claim. Predictably, the claim was rejected and the campaigners left the island again in March 2001.
In 2007, following extensive remediation works, Cockatoo Island was opened to the public. In 2010 the island was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List – together with ten other Convict Sites in Australia – see e.g. Hyde Park Barracks and Port Arthur.
Since 2008 Cockatoo Island has hosted the Biennale of Sydney festival, and parts of the Industrial Precinct were used as a film set (e.g. for “X Men Origins: Wolverine” in 2009). Live performances also take place here regularly.
What there is to see: quite a lot! And it takes time and is quite varied.
First you have to get there – by ferry boat (see details below) – and that’s already cool (see below) and as you approach Cockatoo Island you get a good view of the whole thing from the water.
After you get off the ferry at Cockatoo Island Wharf you pass what used to be the Muster Station, where dockyard workers clocked in for work and out when they left after their shifts.
Just outside the old Muster Station is today’s Visitor Centre. Here you can purchase souvenirs and pick up brochures, maps and also an audio guide if you so wish. I didn’t bother with the latter – I find they get in the way of photography and decided to rely on there being enough info panels dotted around. That was indeed the case, so I never regretted not having an audio guide in addition.
Opposite the Visitor Centre stands the former Fire Station of the shipyard, which today is home to one of the island’s cafe/bars called “Cockatoo Overboard” (the other, called “Marina Cafe & Bar”, is located in the Docks Precinct – see below).
At this point you have to decide which route you want to take. With an audio guide I presume it is a given route – and certainly when taking a tour with a live guide (see below). But without guiding you are free to take whatever direction you like.
I was most keen to see the Industrial Precinct, so I headed there first, crossing what’s called the “Eastern Apron”. That’s a largely empty square these days, but before the closure of the shipyard (see above) this too would have been covered with buildings containing all manner of workshops. But those were all demolished after 1992. You can still make out the outlines of some buildings’ footprints. The Apron is bounded to the east by the water and to the west by a high cliff. This was cut into the sandstone upper parts of the island to provide more space for buildings, so is not a natural cliff.
At the bottom of the northern end of the cliff is one of the entrances to what is called “Dog-Leg Tunnel”. This was part of the air-raid shelters that were dug here during WWII (see above). The tunnel takes one slight curve about halfway in and then emerges on the southern side. At this point of my visit I only took a quick look in but passed through later on. As I proceeded along the cliff face I came under attack by nesting seagulls defending their offspring fearlessly and with panache (it felt a bit like a scene from Hitchcock’s “The Birds”). So I had to move further away into the open space away from the cliff. Though I also spotted a chick hiding in some big piece of machinery towards the southern end of the Apron.
Entering the Industrial Precinct I was “safe” again. And here awaited what I consider the absolute visual highlight of Cockatoo Island. It’s a series of four large halls, the biggest being the former Turbine Shop, while the hall next to it has some stunning machinery, including what is described as Australia’s largest lathe. As photos on the info panels illustrate this was once used for making huge brass ships’ propellers. Images say more than words in such a case – so take a look at the photo gallery below!
I’m a sucker for some industrial archaeology, so I was in my element. I loved the spaciousness of the halls, the big heavy metal machinery, the old-fashioned gauges and all that, together with the smell of old machine oil. One of the workshop halls is actually still in use: it’s here that volunteers repair and restore various historic pieces of machinery. There were also a few film student teams about using the halls as backdrops for some college projects, I presume. They’re in good company – some big blockbuster movies also used these spaces as film sets (see above).
Exiting at the south-eastern end of these halls I came to Bolt Wharf with its large harbour crane. A couple more smaller and older cranes also stand by the northern quay of what is Fitzroy Dock, the oldest here, built by convicts (see above). More cranes can be seen in the Docks Precinct in the southern part of the island. Some of this is in use as a boat storage and repair facility. So some parts of the Docks Precinct are not accessible to visitors. The other, larger dock, Sutherland Dock, is used as a marina and serves as a home base for harbour cruise boats.
Very occasionally, some of the really old, steam-powered cranes are brought back to life by volunteers who restored them. Demonstrations take place every first Tuesday of the month (free). Unfortunately I was there on a Monday, so didn’t get a chance to see this.
Opposite the end of Fitzroy Dock is the southern entrance to the Dog-Leg Tunnel. Inside you can see some old graffiti praising communism as “the worker’s friend”. This was probably from the days of unions’ industrial action at the dockyard. Nearby are also the Southern Stairs, which you could use to get to the upper plateau of the island. A bit further on is also the southern entrance to the other tunnel, simply called Tunnel 1 and also stemming from the WWII days. This tunnel is clad in white-painted metal and goes in a straight line to the northern part of the lower island. But I didn’t use either and stayed on this side of the lower island and proceeded west along the northern quay of Sutherland Dock.
At the western end of the island is the Powerhouse Area. The Powerhouse as such was sadly not accessible when I was there, but the chimney is a highlight here. Unusually, you can get inside and stand right under it and look up to its top from the inside. Metal steps lead up all the way to the top, but it would take a foolhardy amount of courage to actually use those … Next to the chimney are some ovens that to me uncannily resembled concentration-camp crematoria … but maybe I’ve just been to too many of those.
Turning the corner and following the path to head north I had to speed up in order to avoid getting soaked, as it was a very windy day and spray was being blown over the land at this corner. Heading north-east I passed the shipyard’s two Slipways, now empty save for a smallish mock wooden boat.
Opposite the end of the Slipways the approach road to the upper island branches off and I took it. This leads to the historic Convict Precinct. The original convict barracks were not accessible but the Mess Hall was – it’s all empty these days. Behind it at the south-western end of the upper island is the ruin of what once was the military guardhouse from the convict colony days. There’d be QR codes for accessing more info and stories about the convicts and guards, but I didn’t bother with those.
From the edge of the upper island you get good views over the Docks Precinct and Sutherland Dock. But in order to reach the remaining parts of the upper island you first have to retrace your steps through the Convict Precinct and then turn right. This takes you to what is called the Ship Design Precinct. It consists of various workshops and drawing rooms, none of which were accessible, but you could occasionally get a peek in through the windows. At one point I passed a closed door that had radiation warning signs on it. Explanation: behind this door was an X-ray lab.
The Ship Design Precinct also features some remnants from the occupation by Aboriginal campaigners in the year 2000 (see above), to be found near the top of the Southern Stairs. On the stump of a former crane they installed a mirror-tile mosaic, parts of which are still visible. And on the end of one of the workshops you can still see large murals also left by this group.
Further up the road comes the searchlight tower erected during WWII. There’s no searchlight at the top any more, but the inside and the legs were painted in bright colours during the Aboriginal occupation. One leg features the First Nation flag (like the one you can also see flying next to the Australian national flag atop Sydney Harbour Bridge).
Beyond the tower comes the Historic Residence Precinct. Some of the buildings constructed during WW1 are now holiday accommodation and hence not open to the general public other then renters. But one of the older buildings from the convict days, built in 1841 and now called “Biloela House”, is accessible. It was once the convict prison superintendent’s residence and later the shipyard manager’s home. These days it houses an exhibition about the shipyard, with numerous historic photos, stories and paintings, plus a room in which several documentary films from the shipyards are shown in a loop, featuring many a ship’s launch ceremonies.
The views from the front terrace and the lawn beyond are fabulous, all the way to the Harbour Bridge.
Crossing the Biloela Lawn towards the cliff's edge you come to a walkway heading either left or right. To the left is what used to be a tennis court and the rest of the Historic Residence Precinct. But I turned right on the walkway heading to the roof of the Turbine Shop. Opposite this you can find remnants of some of the former grain storage caverns dug out by convicts in the early days of the colony (but the storage was vetoed by the British government who ordered the grain to be put back on the market). These caverns are semi-exposed these days because the cliff face was cut off to make space for the construction of the Turbine Shop in WWII.
Proceeding further would have taken me back to the Ship Design Precinct so instead I turned around and walked through the remainder of the Historic Residence Precinct towards the Northern Stairs that took me back to the lower island. From here you get a good view over the camping ground with its many military-olive-green fixed tents. There are also some giant steel objects standing like sculptures next to the campsite. They must have been from the shipyard, but I couldn’t quite make out their former function. Further on towards the Visitor Centre there is one “show tent” you can take a look in. There’s not much inside. Just two single camp beds with bedding and towels and one small storage box. Not exactly glamping.
That actually completed my circuit around the island, but I still had some time to spare so I decided to go back to the Industrial Precinct to take more photos and soak up the atmosphere in what was my favourite part of Cockatoo Island. This time around I took the Dog-Leg Tunnel from east to south to get to the Turbine Shop from the rear and spent some more time there and in the adjacent halls taking pictures.
But then it was time to catch the ferry back to Circular Quay.
All in all, the excursion to Cockatoo Island was one of the highlights of my time in Sydney, I found. The dark associations may be a bit thin and, as far as convicts are concerned, somewhat outside the time frame for dark tourism adopted on this website (see here), but all the industrial archaeology aspects more than made up for this. It may not be for everyone, but I found it fab!
Location: in Sydney Harbour ca. 4 km (2.5 miles) north-west from Sydney’s CBD (Central Business District) and Circular Quay.
Google Maps locators:
Cockatoo Island Wharf: [-33.8455, 151.1734]
Visitor Centre: [-33.8461, 151.1728]
Former Fire Station: [-33.8461, 151.1732]
Eastern Apron: [-33.8467, 151.1734]
Industrial Precinct: [-33.8478, 151.1737]
Fitzroy Dock: [-33.8484, 151.1725]
Sutherland Dock: [-33.8484, 151.1707]
Powerhouse chimney: [-33.8479, 151.1696]
Slipways: [-33.8471, 151.1702]
Military guardhouse ruin: [-33.8482, 151.1701]
Convict Precinct: [-33.8480, 151.1707]
Ship Design Precinct: [-33.8478, 151.1716]
Searchlight Tower: [-33.84755, 151.17244]
Biloela House (with exhibition): [-33.8472, 151.1725]
Former grain storage hollows: [-33.8478, 151.1729]
Harbour View Apartments: [-33.8474, 151.1728]
Heritage Houses: [-33.8468 151.1723]
Camping ground: [-33.8464, 151.1716]
Access and costs: only possible by boat (regular ferry connections), but admission is free.
Details: Cockatoo Island is served by two Sydney harbour ferry lines: F3 and F8. Both start at the Circular Quay ferry terminus, but while F8 goes via Woolwich/Balmain and terminates at Cockatoo Island, line F3 goes via Barrangaroo and carries on to Parramatta/Olympic Park. You could in theory board the ferry at Barrangaroo, but that way you’d miss out on the best part of the ferry ride (see below). F3 is the more frequent option, but finishes earlier in the day. F8 starts earlier in the morning and continues later into the evening (even until well after dark) but intervals between ferries can be up to a full hour. The ferries are part of Sydney’s public transport system using the same “Opal Card” for paying the fares (see under Sydney). Theoretically you can also get there by water taxi or private boat (to Camber Wharf in the Docks Precinct), but that will hardly be a realistic option for most tourists.
Getting around on the island is on foot – though I’ve also seen a bicycle rack, so maybe you can rent one … but bikes would be a hindrance rather than a practical asset in some parts of the island (especially when negotiating the stairs).
Admission to the island and all its various individual attractions is free.
Opening times: theoretically any time all the time, but the ferry connections pose a practical limitation. I would definitely advise you to go before noon, so you have sufficient time to explore before getting the ferry back. The Visitor Centre is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; the accommodation team is available between 8:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. (9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays).
If you don’t want to go self-guided, with or without an audio guide (available from the Visitor Centre), you can also go on various guided tours with a live guide. These range from general introduction “highlights” tours to specially themed ones (e.g. focusing on convicts or on the dockyard) and even to a “Dark Past Tour”, but that borders on the mythological and the “Ghost Tour” is of course fully paranormal-oriented and hence not something I’d ever consider. Prices for tours range from 16 to 47 AUD per person and the duration is between one and two hours. The meeting point for tours is by the Visitor Centre. Some tours run regularly on demand, while the more specialist ones only at scheduled times. Best check ahead on the cockatooisland website and book tickets online in advance.
It is also possible to stay overnight on Cockatoo Island. Options range from simple camping, for which fixed tents are available, though you are also allowed to bring your own. There is a communal kitchen/BBQ and a bathroom block at the camping ground. More exclusive are the options of staying in self-catering units in the Historic Residence Precinct. These range from whole houses sleeping 8-12 people to smaller self-contained apartments. The best are the Harbour View Apartments sleeping either 4 or 2 guests, but there are also a couple of units for 4 behind Biloela House. Finally there is also one studio apartment for 2 above the former Fire Station and Overboard cafe/bar (but note that this closes in the afternoon – so you’d still need to do your own catering in the evening). Rates start at 275 AUD per night.
Time required: I spent about three hours on the island, but if you want to read every information panel and watch all the film material in the exhibition, make use of the QR codes provided, and maybe have a lunch break, you could spend the best part of a day here. In fact you can even stay overnight (see above).
Combinations with other dark destinations: see under Sydney.
Combinations with non-dark destinations: Getting to Cockatoo Island already provides you with a prime combination if you take the ferry boat from Circular Quay (see above), because that way you get one of Sydney’s finest scenic rides on the water, past the Opera House and passing under the Harbour Bridge, after which you can see both sights together as you sail on … And the same in reverse on the ride back. The rest of the journey is less spectacular but still pleasant. You pass some upmarket waterfront districts and can speculate what these properties must be worth, in a city with some of the highest real estate and housing prices in the world …
See also under Sydney in general.
