Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L00053:body:0:p13
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the excavation and the security of the island to ensure the safety of the stored grain. However, the Colonial administration in London saw this as unnecessary interference in the free market and ordered that the grain be released for sale.
Many of the buildings constructed during this phase of the island's development, including the barracks, guard house, grain silos, engine house workshop, some residences and the Fitzroy Dock, are still extant and although some have been adapted for new uses they none-the-less tell a coherent story of early, colonial prison life. See the 1857 plan of the island reproduced at Figure 10.

A Dockyard and Prison
Convict labour facilitated the beginning of shipbuilding and repair on the island.
The island was strategically placed to support the development of Port Jackson as a trading centre and this potential was identified early in the life of the colony. The construction of a dry dock was considered crucial to this outcome and as a consequence Governor Gipps sought approval from the Imperial Administration in London to construct a dock using convict labour. In preparation, he instructed that the convicts begin preparing the site for the dock.
In 1845 the inmates commenced their most ambitious undertaking, the construction of the Fitzroy Dock. This work was the first of its kind in the Australian colonies and unlike most other dry docks in other parts of the world, was excavated from solid rock. The site chosen for the dock required the removal of large sandstone cliffs with an average height of 45 feet just to clear a shore level space large enough to accommodate the dock. The dock was named in honour of the NSW Governor Sir Charles Augustus Fitz Roy and took nine years to construct. It commenced operations in December 1857 when convict labour was used to overhaul the British naval brig, HMS Herald. In the years that followed the Fitzroy Dock was predominantly occupied with the repair and servicing of Royal Navy ships.
Figure 6: 1869 engraving depicting convict life on Cockatoo Island
The first prisoners to arrive from Norfolk Island were accommodated in tents, prison boxes and portable houses borrowed from Goat Island. However, by the time this engraving was made the convicts had constructed an array of permanent buildings. The top image shows a convict pouring grain into one of the underground silos that Governor Gipps had excavated to store the colony's surplus grain. The central image shows the Mess Hall in the Prisoners' Barracks (Building 3).
Figure 7: Phases of Development
Updated drawing
Figure 8: Section through No 5 silo
One of the earliest tasks undertaken by the convicts on Cockatoo Island was to excavate large underground silos. This drawing