Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L00053:schedule:5:p15
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L00053
Segment Type: schedule
Provision Reference: sch 5 (pt 15/42)
Character Range: 526741–529435

until 1847, Governor Gipps directed convicts to begin clearing and preparing the island for construction of a dry dock in 1845 (Birmingham: 1984: 20). Convicts removed large sandstone rock cliffs with an average height of 45 feet (15 metres), just to clear a level space large enough to accommodate the dock. Construction of the dock commenced in 1851 (Parker: 1977:13). As a distant and remote British settlement, shipping was a vital lifeline for the Australian colonies. The construction of a dry dock within the harbour of Port Jackson 'would be of great and permanent advantage to the Colony' and would be built using prisoner labour (2005 CMP: 22). The Royal Navy contributed to the cost of the dock on the condition the Royal Navy ships had preferential use rights (Jeremy: 1998:19). Gother Kerr Mann was responsible for the design and construction of the dockyard. Work on the dock progressed more slowly than anticipated, with a largely unskilled, and often unwilling prisoner workforce. A strong demand for labour in the Colony following the gold rush, combined with Cockatoo Island's penal status meant that free labour was not an option. The Resident Engineer, under pressure to have the dock completed promptly so it could receive vessels, pushed the prisoners hard, but some refused to work after hours. Alongside the dry dock were engine houses, a police barracks, offices a chapel and a mess room. The dock was finally completed in 1857 and the first ship to use the dock was the survey frigate HMS Herald, which docked on 1 December 1857 (Jeremy: 1998:p9). Of equal importance with the dock were its pumps, the machinery for ship repairs and the workshops in which to the house them. By c 1858-59 the engine house and six bays of workshops had been completed (2005 CMP: 26). As soon as the dry dock was finished there were plans to extend it and by 1858 the work was under way. Like the original dock, this took a long time as more of the adjacent cliff had to be excavated.
Overcrowding in the penal establishment became a regular problem and by 1861 around 500 convicts were held in accommodation built for no more than 328 (Kerr: 1984:26). Overcrowded wards and lack of supervision also lead to physical suffering through lack of fresh air and practices 'grossly obscene' between the male prisoners (Kerr: 1984:26).
Dual use – Public Works and Social Institutions
The period from 1869 saw the administration of the prison and dockyard split. The land above the escarpment remained in institutional use under the newly appointed NSW Department of Prisons and the foreshores became dedicated to dockyard use under the Public Works Department.
Disturbing reports concerning the