Early History
Before the arrival of Europeans, Cockatoo Island was probably used by the indigenous Australian people of Sydney's coastal region. 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 (140 long tons; 150 short tons) of grain were stored on the island.
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.
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.
One prisoner on Cockatoo Island was the Australian bushranger, Captain Thunderbolt, who escaped in 1863 to begin the crime spree which made him famous. It is alleged that his wife had swum across to the island with tools to effect his escape, following which they both swam back to the mainland. There is no significant evidence to support this claim.
Read more about this topic: Cockatoo Island (New South Wales)
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