Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L00053:body:0:p14
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L00053
Segment Type: other
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Character Range: 34137–36877

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 is of a typical section through No.5 silo. The only access to the silos was via a manhole about 2 feet in diameter. Convicts working to carve the silos were forced to remain underground until they had hewn the required daily quota of stone. It is believed that there were originally 20 silos on the island. However, the exact number still extant is not known because several are believed to be hidden under asphalt paving near Biloela House. Others were destroyed during the excavation undertaken to accommodate the workshops built during WW II.
Figure 9: Photograph of quarried sandstone (1890s)
Sandstone quarried by the convicts was used to build many of the buildings on the island. It was also used for building works in Sydney, including the construction of Semi-Circular Quay. This photograph was taken in the 1890s during the second, or Biloela Gaol phase when prisoners who were capable of heavy work quarried and dressed stone in the paddock between the men's and women's sections.
Convict labour was also used to build the fine sandstone Engineers' and Blacksmiths' Shop (Building 138), which still stands near the dock. This is one of the first buildings associated with the operation of the Fitzroy Dock and was built to a Royal Engineers' design, with the Portsmouth Steam Factory in England used as the prototype. The Dock and Building 138 are an outstanding example of the use of convict labour to provide a major piece of infrastructure for the colony, as recognised by the World Heritage listing of Cockatoo Island Convict Site as part of the greater Australian Convict Sites World Heritage Property. The machinery in the workshop was operated by steam until 1901 and some evidence of the original equipment remains. The use of convicts to build the Dock and the Engineers' and Blacksmiths' Workshop building, two major pieces of infrastructure, addresses one of the major World Heritage criteria for the listing of Cockatoo Island.
During this time the island was both a prison and a dockyard, with the convicts providing the labour needed to run the dock. However, these two uses resulted in management conflict, which was partly overcome with the appointment of Gother Kerr Mann as Superintendent of the Prison as well as Engineer of the Dockyard.
Conditions for the convicts were extremely harsh. Their accommodation was overcrowded and sickness was common. As a result, a Select Committee appointed in 1861 to enquire into public prisons criticised the management of