The Collection

DAMNED SOULS AND TURNING WHEELS
2009 BIENNALE OF SYDNEY/HISTORY OF COCKATOO ISLAND

An installation depicting the history of Cockatoo Island as seen through rare archive images and songs.

Devised by Warren Fahey (with Mic Gruchy)

The viewer (that’s you) needs to understand the following documentary is a filmed version of the multi-screen installation which covered the entire wall of the officer’s barracks on Cockatoo Island. Three computers screened the image composites onto six large panel screens. The music, mostly traditional segments from the National Library of Australia, were married to archival film, drawings, maps, and photographs. The program follows the island’s history from colonial goal to colonial dockyard, then as an the Biloela institution for naughty girls and then the Vernon naval training centre for equally naughty boys. Next, the island became a shipworks, sometimes in partnership with the newly founded Australian Navy. The installation was an immersive experience. It was acknowledged as the most-visited installation of the 2010 Biennale of Sydney. One of my intentions with the project was to show how traditional song segments can be used in archival project – they add, I believe, a unique flavour. These musical segments were selected from the John Meredith Collection and Warren Fahey Collection of the NLA. Incidental music came from the Rouseabout Records catalogue. After the Biennale finished I offered the installation to the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust for permanent placement on Cockatoo Island – they refused on the ground that they had no one to look after the computer programming – ie turning it on and off. Shameful.

Damned Souls and Turning Wheels.

Surprisingly few people know of the fascinating stories associated with Cockatoo Island and its place in Sydney’s maritime, social and labour history. It is a somewhat dark history, commencing its life as an isolated convict prison and later becoming a place of confinement and training for orphaned and wayward young boys whilst, at the same time, a female ‘industrial school’ and reformatory for female prisoners. Cockatoo was also a place of industry, and in particular, shipbuilding. Colonial warships, clipper ships and smaller service ships were repaired and maintained on the island’s original Fitzroy dock and, in the early twentieth century, it became the site for major shipbuilding projects for the newly established Australian Navy. It was also a vital engineering hub where thousands of tradesmen and women worked around the clock, especially during the First and Second World Wars. The history of Cockatoo is best seen through the [records/eyes/stories? of] people who were incarcerated or worked on the island over the past 170 years. It is indeed a history of damned souls and turning wheels.

One of the ways early Australian settlers documented their stories was through story and song. In the twenty-first century most of our entertainment is delivered by technology and we have been conditioned to expect slick, often unnecessarily over-produced music devoid of story. In many ways we have become a people who get entertained rather than entertain each other. Music, of course, plays many roles in our lives and in many ways we have devalued it by having it played in lifts, shopping centres, theatre foyers, cafes and everywhere else imaginable (and unimaginable). Folk songs are unique in being story songs that have stood the test of time. They are emotional capsules of everyday people and their stories, often expressing frustration, remorse, humour and aspiration. They commemorate public events, honour real people, sneer at political leaders and authority, call for social change, mourn unnecessary loss of life, and celebrate the Australian spirit.

Many of the ballads from the convict transportation era, for example, are understandably plaintive as they tell of the dreadful separation from family and lovers, the fear of being sent so far away from their homeland, deprivation and mistreatment by their carers and the system and, finally, heartfelt warnings to others ‘lest they too be transported’.

How hard is my place of confinement,
That keeps me from my heart’s delight,
Cold irons and chains all abound round me,
And a plank for my pillow at night.

(Broadside ‘Here’s Adieu To all Judges and Juries’, Anon, c. 1812)

Songs were also used as vehicles for sarcasm and, in their own simplistic way, captured the essence of the times. One song, simply known as ‘Botany Bay: A New Song’ points to why convicts were transported and reinforces Governor Macquarie’s later remark: ‘Australia was settled by people sentenced here, and those that should have been!’

The hulks and the jails had some thousands in store,
But out of the jails are ten thousand times more,
Who live by fraud, cheating, vile tricks and foul play,
And should all be sent over to Botany Bay.

(Broadside, Mitchell Library Collection undated)

The songs associated with our maritime history, including Cockatoo Island, come from many sources: rare broadside ballads, early songsters, nineteenth-century sheet music, early newspapers, union bulletins, the vaudeville and music hall stage, wartime singalong collections and, most importantly, from songs and poems taken down from people who nurtured them in their repertoire, often passing them down through the years from family to family, friends to friends. In their own way, these songs and poems are signposts to our history and national identity.

Cockatoo Island’s story started in 1839 when it was chosen by the Governor of the Colony of New South Wales, Sir George Gipps, as the site of a new penal establishment. Sixty convicts were relocated from Norfolk Island penitentiary in February that year. At first accommodated in tents and portable lock-ups borrowed from Goat Island, the convicts were soon housed in prisoner’s barracks as construction across the island progressed. Their numbers grew as did their workload – cutting sandstone blocks for Circular Quay and building the island’s underground silos to hold the colony’s grain supply.
Now the soldiers, they stand with their whips in their hands,
They drive us, like horses, to plough up the land.
You should see us poor young fellows, working in the jail yard;
How hard is our fate in Australia.

(Broadside ballad ‘Australia’)

Three of Australia’s most notorious bushrangers were incarcerated on Cockatoo: Thunderbolt (Fred Ward), ‘Jacky-Jackie’ (William Westwood) and ‘The Darkie’ (Frank Gardiner). Ward had the distinction of escaping in 1863 by swimming ashore. By all accounts, Cockatoo was a grim and brutal place – a hell on earth for its inhabitants.

I’ve been hunted like a panther into my mountain lair,
Anxiety and misery my grim companions there,
I’ve planted in the scrub, my boys, and fed on kangaroo,
And wound up my avocations by ten years on Cockatoo.

(‘The Murrumbidgee Shearer’, The Old Bush Songs, A.B. Paterson, A&R, Sydney, 1905 edition.)

In 1869, the Cockatoo Island prison closed and the inmates were moved to Darlinghurst Gaol – only to reopen in 1888 as an ‘overflow’ prison for both male and female criminals.

After the prison closed in 1869, the abandoned prison buildings became a semi-prison for delinquent and orphaned girls and boys. The famous clipper passenger ships Vernon and, from 1891, Sobraon were anchored at the island as training vessels. Up to 500 boys under the age of seven lived on the Vernon. The juvenile goal was renamed ‘Biloela’, reflecting its Aboriginal name, and eventually closed in 1908 when Long Bay Gaol was opened.

(Vernon ‘boys’ farewell their ship in Moreton Bay 1890s. QSL.)

The island, surrounded by deep waterways, was a natural port and from the 1840s serviced visiting and stationed British Navy and allied ships, including clippers and steamships. The island dockyards operated in one form or another for 83 years and repaired and built Australian barges, war ships and ferries. In 1913 it became the Royal Australian Navy Dockyard where our most famous warships and submarines were built – Sydney, Kookaburra, Warrego, Tobruk etc.

Oh, it’s lonesome away, from Australia and all,
In the mess decks at night, where the action bells call,
But there’s nothing as lonesome, morbid or drear,
Than to sit on the deck of a ship with no beer.

(Anonymous parody of ‘The Pub With No Beer’ from the HMAS Yarra [Diggers’ Songs, W. Fahey, AMHP, 1996])

Cockatoo’s massive worksheds also housed major engineering programs including the repair of Charles Kingsford Smith’s Southern Cross through to the manufacturing of giant turbo engines for the Snowy Mountain Scheme. The island also claimed a turbulent labour history with mass strikes, walkouts and sit-ins as its labour force and unions dealt with workplace relations, safety and, on several occasions, the threat of closure.

In 1991, working life ceased at Cockatoo Island however the shadows of its past still survive today. The history of the island continues to be told through folk song and stories, saluting the numerous souls who broke the stone, carved the rocks, built the docks and made the giant wheels turn on Cockatoo Island.

It’s wet and bleak, the morning, as you squeeze in through the gate
As you clock on, your bell will ring, eight hours is your fate
Off comes your coat all wet and cold and ‘Right, lads’ is the cry
With an eye on the clock and the other on your lathe,
you’ll wish that time could fly.

Turning steel how do you feel
As in the chuck you spin?
If you felt like me you’d roll right out
And never roll back in.

The gaffer’s walking down the shop and so it`s work you must
The grinding, groaning, spinning metal hotter than the dust
And I’m often dreaming of me girl as we’re walking through the park
Whilst I’m gazing on that blueing steel and a million flying sparks.

(‘Factory Lad’, written by Colin Dryden, c. 1966 )        

Background to project

The project was born over a dinner at Sydney art curator, Amanda Love’s, home in 2009. Amanda, taken by David Elliott’s inspiration for his Biennale, had suggested he should meet me – and arranged the introduction. The project was sealed at a subsequent dinner at my place where it became obvious that David shared my passion (and knowledge) of traditional music. He matched me – song-for-song – when we discussed the works of A. L. Lloyd, Ewan MacColl, Harry Smith and dozens of traditional singers long gone.

(Biennale Artistic Director David Elliott)

I had been to the previous Biennale on Cockatoo Island in 2008 and taken by the island’s industrial and social history. My mind immediately snapped the project into action: a sound and image installation telling the island’s story. Over the next few months I rolled ideas around and embarked on researching what archival images, both film and picture, were available to illustrate the six ‘signposts’ I indentified as the island’s historical markers: convicts/bushrangers, colonial dock, colonial institutions (Biloela/Vernon), WW1 engineering/shipyards, WW2 and post-war industry, closure/parkland.

The next stage was to go door-knocking to see what images I could secure without cost.
Letters were written, telephone calls and emails made and many favours called upon.

By October 2009 I was confident enough to sign an agreement with the Biennale and signal that the project was to proceed.

Budget

The Biennale of Sydney is a not-for-profit initiative and artists are not ‘paid’ as such to participate and I am no exception. I did, however, need a budget to pay for ‘actual’ costs and especially projection equipment, rigging, computers and for the image and sound designers. At one stage it was touch and go whether we would proceed because of our budget estimates. Thankfully, the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust agreed to become the Biennale’s co-sponsor of my work.

Technical

The technical requirements of the exhibition call for 6 short throw projectors.
Operating off two MacIntosh computers.
There are 4 sound speakers.
The images are screened directly on to the sandstone wall offering a long panorama.
The room, rectangle in shape, has been blackened out to allow maximum impact.
Some seating will be available.

Timeframe

The project was developed and researched between May-September 2009.
Footage, sound and images were requested for delivery by November 2009.
Assembly began March 2010 with delivery and installation planned for w/c May 3.
The installation trial period will also be during this period and, if necessary, the sound will be final mixed and projectors located.
The installation is open to the media on 11 May
Official launch opening is 12 May
Installation will run on a loop 7 days a week during exhibition times.

The Soundtrack

The soundtrack to the installation has been designed to provide the viewer with snippets of songs they would not necessarily have heard, before but relate to the image. They have been taken from archival recordings in the National Library and from recordings either produced or released by Warren Fahey featuring a variety of artists.

Jim Jones music intro played by Warren Fahey (concertina), Marcus Holden, Garry Steel and Clare O’Meara.
Land of Pests  spoken by Warren Fahey with sound effects mix by Marcus Holden.
Botany bay Scoundrels – film –  featuring peter O’Shaughnessy
Australia, Australia – sung by Warren Fahey with The Larrikins
Repeat Jim Jones instrumental
Jim Jones – film – featuring Declan Affley from The Restless Years
Bound For Botany Bay – sung by Warren Fahey with The Larrikins
Wild Rover – Tom Newbold/Meredith Archive.
The Dodger – sung by Warren Fahey with The Larrikins
Jack’s The Lad part 1 – fiddle tune played by Simon McDonald/O’Coonor: Officer Archive
Morning of the Fray – sung by Warren Fahey
Jack’s the Lad part 2 – Simon McDonald
Frank Gardiner Is Caught – Sung by Warren Fahey with The Larrikins
Harmonica: Cuckoo Waltz – Sprouse/Fahey:Rouseabout
Woolloomooloo – Susan Colley/Fahey Archive
Mandolin sting – Marcus Holden
Rambling Sailor – Sally Sloane/Fahey Archive
Sailor’s Grave: Simon McDonald: O’Coonor:Officer Archive
Lost Sailor: Simon McDonald: O’Coonor:Officer Archive
Curs’d Isle verse 1 & 2 – sung by Clare O’Meara
Naughty Little Twinkle tune – Sally Sloane/Meredith Archive
Naughty Little Twinkle song – ditto
Curs’d Isle verses 3 – sung by Clare O’Meara
Haul on the Bowline – sung by Ewan MacColl/Riverside
My Boy Tommy – Susan Colley/Fahey Archive
Polka – Susan Colley/Fahey archive
According to the Act – Captain Watson/Shiplover’s Society/O’Connor Archive
Harmonica: Hornpipes – Sprouse/Fahey/Rouseabout
Leave Her Jollies – Captain Watson/O’Connor Archive
Austerity Blues music – Abe Romain/Barbara James/Fahey?Rouseabout
Bugle Call – Fx
Why Can’t We Have a Navy – Warren Fahey from Diggers’ Songs/Rouseabout
Harmonica: waltz –  Spouse/Fahey/Rouseabout
In the Army Now – Warren Fahey/Mic Conway/Rouseabout
Goodbyee – Florrie Forde/Fahey/Rouseabout
Fighting the Kaiser – Warren Fahey/Mic Conway
Colonel Kicks the Major – Warren Fahey
Little Billy Hughes – Warren Fahey & The Larrikins
Film: Cinesound intro into Wanganella
20th Century Blues music – Barbara James/Fahey/Rouseabout
Bugle Call – FX
Film: Spring Cleaning in the Navy – film
I’ll Take the Tripod – Warren Fahey
Goodbye Uncle Adolph –
Take Me Up the Harbour – instrumental The Larrikins
Film: The War is over…. film
Take me Up the Harbour – two – Ina Popplewell/Meredith
Film: depression banjo clip – film
Shut the doors – Bob Dyer/Fahey/Rouseabout
Lou From Cockatoo Verse 1 – Warren Fahey/Dengate
Nails – Warren Fahey & The Larrikins
Factory Lad – Andy Saunders/Lobl
The Voyager – Gary Shearston/Rouseabout
Down Went the Captain – Susan Colley/Fahey Archive
Old Sydney Town  – Phyl Lobl/Bronzewing

Partnerships

A project of this nature and scale would not have been possible without the cooperation and collaboration of many institutions and people.
Mic Gruchy who readily agreed to work on the project as image designer.
Basil Hogios who came on board as sound designer.
National Film & Sound Archive – in particular Darryl McIntrye, David Boden, Simon Drake, Matthew Davis and Catherine Secombe.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation and in particular Beth Shepherd and Cyrus Irani.
Australian Goverment Department of Defence.
Maritime Union of Australia.
The Estate of Charles Chauvel (by arrangement with the licensor Curtis Brown (Aust) Pty Ltd).
Cinesound/Movietone Productions/Thought Equity Motion and Cinesound/Movietone Productions.
National Library of Australia and in particular Margie Burn, Robyn Holmes, Shelly Grant and Kev Bradley. The Folklore & Oral History section generously provided archive recordings from their Collection.
State Library of New South Wales and in particular Richard Neville.
State Library of Victoria; State Library of Queensland.
State Records New South Wales and in particular Alan Ventress and Christine Yeats.
William A. Raymond Film Collection (with permission of Libby Forrest and Renn Wortley).
Gary Shearston and Roustabout Records.
Naomi Hood (on behalf on the late Colin Dryden)
John Dengate who allowed me to take liberties with his song’Bill From Erskinville’.
Phyl Lobl for her song ‘Old Sydney Town’.
Andy Saunders for his version of ‘Factory Lad’ from Phyl Lobl’s album.
Marcus Holden who went beyond the call of duty to record some incidental music for the soundtrack.
Clare O’Meara for singing my song ‘The Curs’d Isle’.

This project was made possible through the support of Sydney Harbour Federation Trust.

Film

Rebel Penfold-Russell, Pat Fiske and Adam Bayliss of Rebel Films are producing a documentary film on my work including a strong focus on the Biennale project. They have been filming various stages of the project’s development..

Concert Program

The Larrikins will be presenting concerts on the island as part of the Biennale program.

Sydney Gazette & New South Wales Advertiser Jan. 19, 1839

Convicts to Cockatoo Island
Cockatoo Island.- It is stated that it is the intention of the Government to station a large gang of men on Cockatoo Island for the purpose of quarrying stone, which there abounds, of an excellent quality. The stone, it is said, will be sold to defray the expenses of the Establishment.

Sydney Gazette 19 Feb 1839

First shipment of convicts
Cockatoo Island.-The seventy prisoners brought up last week in the Governor Phillip, from Norfolk Island, will be removed to Cockatoo Island, at the entrance of the Parramatta River, this day for the purpose of quarrying stone for the new Circular Wharf.

Sydney Gazette 23 Feb 1839

Description of Cockatoo Island
Cockatoo Island.-The island known by this name is situated at the entrance of the Parramatta River, and is of the form of a triangle. It contains about four acres of land. It is without water, and is said to abound with snakes. On this island it is known by all persons acquainted with it, that there are places where a man might effectually conceal himself for days together, not withstanding the strictest search.
It is very rocky, and the stone is said to be of an excellent description.

Arrival of convicts
The sixty commuted prisoners from Norfolk Island, were forwarded to the island on Thursday morning under a military escort. The men were removed there chained together. They are placed under the charge of Lieutenant Bentley, of the 50th regt, the officer commanding on Goat Island. This gentleman will not reside on the island, but in his absence the men will be in the custody of a sergeant’s guard.

There are two working overseers stationed on the island. The works are to be carried on under the superintendence of the person who now holds, or lately held, the office of Ranger of the Government Domain at Parramatta.

The men on their arrival were placed in tents, huts being erected for the overseers. The first employment that will be furnished the men will be the construction of a wharf on the southern side of the island, after which they will proceed with the quarrying. The stone is not intended for sale as formerly stated, but is intended to be applied for the erection of the New Circular Wharf. To remedy the want of water, a party is now employed in boring a well. The view from the island is one of the finest near Sydney

Governor Sir George Gipps, 8 July 1839

Governor Gipps statement
I have caused an Establishment to be formed here for the reception of Prisoners withdrawn from Norfolk Island….. for Norfolk Island was so full that we could not in March last, send another man there, so crowded was every building…. No place in New South Wales would be so well calculated for it as Cockatoo Island, surrounded as it is by deep water, and yet under the very eye of authority.

Need for grain silos
The quantity of wheat now stored in the underground granaries or silos, which were constructed last year at Cockatoo Island, is 20,000 bushels; but additional silos are in progress, and, if the price of wheat continues as low as it now is in Sydney, I propose to increase the Government Store to any amount not exceeding 100,000 bushels.

Sydney Gazette. 23 May 1839

Treatment of convicts
Secondary Punishments. -Our readers are aware that the prisoners
brought up from Norfolk Island under the Act of Council, empowering the Governor and Executive Council to commute the sentences of well-behaved prisoners at the penal settlements to such terms of hard labour in irons on the public works of the Colony as may seem appropriate.

Convicts are now employed on Cockatoo Island in quarrying stone, and in the construction of pits for the preservation of grain. These men, we understand, complain that the commutation of their sentences instead of proving a reward operates rather as a punishment, the weight of their sentences never having been felt till now. At Norfolk Island, they say, a well behaved man was sure to be taken into the service of the Commandant or of some of the officers belonging to the establishment, or employed in some way under Government, which relieved him of the hardest portion of his punishment – the wearing of irons.

Vegetables, milk, and various other comforts were there easily obtained and in ample abundance. At Cockatoo Island all are worked in irons, and no one can obtain an indulgence beyond the strict Government ration. The worst punishment of all, however, is that at Cockatoo Island they are constantly in view of civilized life and tantalized with the sight of the blessings of freedom, yet find themselves shut out from the one and denied the other.

In every way we can contemplate it, the removal of these men from Norfolk Island is likely to prove a judicious measure. At Norfolk Island an establishment had to be kept up at a great expense, which was productive of no earthly benefit either to the mother country or to this Colony, and the good effect of which, as a means of punishment, was at least very questionable. On Cockatoo Island the expense is incomparably less: the prisoners are equally shut out from Society; their labour is infinitely more productive, -and the prospect of restoration to their forfeited rights, held out a reward of a few years’ good conduct, and scarcely fail to have a beneficial effect on their moral character. Even in hardships of which they at present complain will have a tendency to produce this effect, for who would not prefer encountering a few years’ severe punishment, to a hopeless imprisonment on Norfolk Island

Sydney Gazette. 27 June 1839

Governor visits Island
COCKATOO ISLAND.-On Monday last His Excellency the Governor visited Cockatoo Island and inspected the works going on there. He remitted the colonial sentences of several men, and ordered the irons to be struck off others of whom a good account was given. His Excellency then ordered all the prisoners who inhabited the hut from which Wheland escaped last week to be brought before him. He then addressed them, telling them he was convinced they must have been aware of the escape, and in order to show them that their connivance should not go unpunished, he said he would see that none of those who inhabited the hut with Wheland should be assigned to private service during the remainder of their sentences.

Sydney Gazette 14 Jan 1841

Convict escape
ESCAPE.-There are very few days pass over in which we do not hear of the escape of some prisoners from the stockades and other places On the night of Tuesday last, a party of prisoners effected their escape from Cockatoo Island. We have not as yet ascertained their number or their names. ‘ We have no doubt that under proper management such occurrences would seldom if ever take place. We think it hard that the public money should be paid to persons totally incapable of filling the situations they hold. If competent persons were paid an adequate salary not only would it benefit the community, but we are certain of saving of the public funds. We are surprised that matters of this description have not been long ago more strictly looked into. If there was a direct taxation in this Colony for the several institutions, we are certain that Government would be forced-in self-defense to pay more attention to regulations of this kind.

Sydney Gazette 23 Jan 1841

Convict bushrangers captured
Bushrangers. We are happy to have it in our power to state that the whole of the Cockatoo Island bushrangers have been taken by the Police, and safely lodged in custody. One of the number was taken on Thursday last while in the net of purloining sundry articles from a vessel at present lying in the Cove. The other two were seized the same morning by the Liverpool Police. They were armed at the time.

Sydney Gazette 1841 March

Civilian caught aiding convict escapees
Water Police Court
FRIDAY, MARCH 19.
William Munks, free by servitude, was charged before Captain Brown withstanding on Cockatoo Island with the intention of aiding the escape of some of the prisoners.

Patrick Hunt, private in the 28th Regt. deposed that while stationed on duty on Cockatoo Island on the 17.h inst., he saw a boat under sail approach the Island, which he frequently hailed, and warned to steer off, but which nevertheless approached the Island. On the boat grounding he secured the prisoner, the only person in the boat, and gave him into custody.

Another soldier of the 28th Reg. gave into Court a list of the different articles found in the boat, which consisted of tea, sugar, and flour, which he had locked in a box; there was also an old sword and a rusty file in the boat. The prisoner stated in his defense that he was going up the Parramatta River to meet his son and some friends who were at the Homebush Races, and for that use he had the provisions in the boat; that the wind being fair, he had hoisted a sail, but had fallen asleep, which was the cause of the boat’s approaching the Island. He was remanded for further evidence.

Sydney Gazette 17 March 1841

Shark kills convict
Mechanics School of Arts News
An inquest was held on Sunday last, at Hyde Park Barracks, by Captain Innes, Acting Coroner, on the body of a prisoner of the Crown, who, while bathing on Saturday off Cockatoo Island was bit by a shark in the thigh, through the legs of which he died an hour afterwards – a verdict; to the same effect was returned by the jury.

Sydney Gazette 28 Sept 1841

Bushranger Jacky-Jacky (William Westwood)
Jackey Jackey is shortly to he removed from the Jail, at Darlinghurst, to Cockatoo Island… .Bushranging is again becoming fashionable on the Hunter River region.

Sydney Gazette 9 Nov 1841

Convict escape
Two CONVICTS ESCAPED.-Yesterday evening, about seven o’clock, two of the convicts attached to the Cockatoo Island gang escaped by jumping into the water. As soon as they were missed, a cannon was fired and blue lights burned, to alarm the various posts on the shore. Captain M’ Lean, who resides in the neighbourhood, no sooner heard the report than he got his boat launched and manned, and proceeded in pursuit of the fugitives, but after having rowed round about the island for a considerable time, and using every effort to secure the runaways, he and his party were forced to return without success. Information of the circumstance was immediately forwarded by Captain M’Lean to the proper authorities.

Sydney Gazette 6 Sept 1845

Cost of maintaining gaol
Mr. Windeyer supported the view taken by Mr. Wentworth, and contended that the whole of the gaols in the colony were in their region and all convict establishments and that there was no law that he was aware of to make a distinction between colonial and British gaols; and the words of the Act of Parliament whatever they might mean, and bear no other construction than that put upon them by the honorable and learned member for Sydney.

Mr. Robinson also supported the view of Mr. Wentworth, and said it was clearly ascertained that two-thirds of the expenses of the establishment throughout the colony were caused by convicts, and he thought the house would do right by only voting one-third of the sum asked for.

Mr. Wentworth contended that if the only establishment contemplated by the act was Cockatoo Island, as had been intimated by the Colonial Secretary, then all those persons who were confined in the Woolloomooloo gaol, and undergoing sentences from the United Kingdom, or commuted sentences, had no right to be there; they had no right to be quartered on the general revenue of the colony, and it was the duty of the house to remit those persons to the establishment to which they properly belonged; and he therefore proposed that the house should now either stop, or at once inquire into the number of persons of the description he had alluded to, and the expense entailed by them, and either take measures to send those persons to Cockatoo Island, or to charge their expenses on the British treasury.

Mr. Lowe supported the views of Mr. Wentworth.
The Colonial Secretary did not allow that Cockatoo Island was a gaol; it was a place of safe custody, and so, to a certain extent, was Hyde Park Barracks, the Female Factory at Parramatta, and the various iron gangs of the colony. He thought if the measure contemplated by the hon. and learned member for Sydney was carried out, a debtor and creditor account of every place must be kept, and he had no doubt but that the balance would be found greatly against the colony; for it should be remembered that all the men employed in iron gangs were clothed and fed at the expense of the British government, whilst the colonists derived the benefit arising from their labour. After some further discussion, the Colonial Secretary moved that Captain Innes, the visiting justice of the gaol, be called in and examined. Mr. Lowe opposed the motion, on the ground that the estimate was not before the house in such a manner as would enable the house to deal with it in a proper manner; for it did not appear whether it was a part of the police establishment or not.
Mr. Windeyer supported the view taken by the hon. member for St. Vincent and Auckland as to the inconsistency of the estimate; but he thought the only proper course to pursue was to call in the visiting magistrate, and ascertain what was the expense caused by convicts, and deduct it.

The question that Captain Innes be called in was then put and carried, and Captain Innes was called in and examined, and stated that the whole expenses of convicts in Woolloomooloo gaol during the six months from the 1st January to 30th June last was £22 4s. 6d., and in the six months previous it amounted to £3 only. No convicts were under any circumstances retained in the gaol, except those under committal for trial, and during the last six months only three persons of this class had been committed; the expense he had mentioned included the maintenance of four men assigned to the gaol. The men of this class were clothed from the military chest. Captain Innes then retired. Mr. Wentworth said the smallness of the amount mentioned by Captain Innes had certainly surprised him, but whether the amount was £22 or £2200 it made no difference in the principle for which he contended, and he conceived that the government were bound to pay the expense whatever it was, and concluded by moving that the sum of £44 9s. be deducted from the estimate, as the expense for the maintenance of convicts for one year, and £60 as one-thirteenth of the amount of salaries occasioned by convicts being in the gaol.

Mr. Robinson seconded the motion.
The Colonial Secretary opposed the motion. Dr. Lang moved as a further amendment that the item for two chaplains at £200 each be struck out, as he saw no reason why that sum should be paid by this colony; he thought the salaries should be paid from another fund. Mr. Wentworth seconded the motion.

Mr. Robinson moved as a further amendment that the sum be reduced by £92 2s. 6d., being the salaries of two executioners, and the item for coffins, rope, and other expenses of executions. Mr. Murray seconded the amendment. Mr. Wentworth’s motion for the reduction of the estimate to £3364 8s. 6d. was then put, and on a division was carried by a majority of l8 to 3. The amendment of Dr. Lang for striking out the salaries of the chaplains was then put by the Chairman, and alter some discussion a division took place, when the amendment was lost by a majority of 4, there being 8 ayes and 12 noes.

Mr. Wentworth stated that he would withdraw his amendment for reducing £60 in the salaries, and his amendment would then be for a reduction of £44 9s. on the estimate. This amendment was carried.
The Colonial Treasurer then moved that the sum of £1102 9s. 7d. be voted for the gaol establishment at Parramatta.
Mr. Wentworth proposed that the item be reduced by £15, which was rejected.

The sum of £699 8s. 4d. was voted for Bathurst gaol.
The sum of £1165 8s. 9d. was voted for Newcastle gaol.
The sum of £972 17s. 6d. was voted for the gaol at Berrima.
The sum of £1428 11s. 3d. was voted for the gaol at Port Phillip.
The sum of £325 was voted for the health officer and medical board.
The sum of £1827 6s. 9d. was voted for the Lunatic Asylum, Tarban Creek.
The sum of £2000 was voted for the support of free paupers in the convict hospitals. The sum of £386 17s. 6d. was voted for the medical establishment at Port Phillip.
The sum of £2000 was voted for the male orphan school for Protestants near Liverpool 150 boys; and the sum of £1600 for the female orphan school for Protestants, Parramatta-140 girls.
The sum of £1200 was voted for the Roman Catholic orphan school Parramatta- 47 boys, 58 girls.

The house then resumed.
Mr. Windeyer enquired if any answers had been received from the home government to the address of that Council relative to colonial tobacco, wheat, and some others; to which the Colonial Secretary replied no answers had been received, The Council then adjourned.

Sydney Gazette 18 Nov 1845

Extension of dry dock
Mr. Robinson moved that the Governor be requested to cause surveys and plans to be made, with the view of erecting a dry dock at Cockatoo Island, fit for men-of-war.

Maitland Mercury 25 Sept 1847

Establishment of a dry dock
The Governor’s message respecting the formation of a dry dock at Cockatoo Island was then read, and the COLONIAL SECRETARY laid upon the table the report of the select committee appointed to consider the subject, and moved that the sum of £500 be appropriated for 1847 towards the construction of a dry dock at Cockatoo Island, which item was passed, and the same sum was voted for 1843

18 Oct 1855 Maitland Mercury

Question on viability of Fitzroy Wharf
Mr. COWPER said he was certainly surprised at the present proposal. He thought there was almost too much competition, and he had no faith in the completion of the Fitzroy Dock. He thought to launch out money in the construction of such a work was not expedient, and believed the union of free and convict labour on the land would be fatal to prison discipline.

Sydney Gazette 5 May 1847

Cayenne pepper grown on Cockatoo island
Cayenne Pepper.-Mr. Ormsby, superintendent of Cockatoo Island, has succeeded in growing and preparing excellent cayenne pepper, superior to any imported, in colour, strength, and fineness.-Australian.

Sydney Gazette 6 May 1848

Transportation of convicts – report
Transportation of Convicts.- Thirty five prisoners from Cockatoo Island and five from the gaol, were embarked on board the Governor Phillip yesterday. Of these, thirty-nine are destined for Norfolk Island, and the remaining one, being a runaway from Van Diemen’s Land, for the chain gangs.

Conviction information
State of Cockatoo Island, on the 31st April.- Prisoners under sentence on the island, 45-of these 41 were free prior to colonial conviction. In ironed gang 65, and 1 in general hospital-of these 14 were free prior to colonial conviction. Sentenced to house of correction, 3; sentenced for definite periods, 4; for further orders, or remainder of sentence, 50; and 2 in hospital. General total-177 on island, 3 in general hospital-180; of whom 55 were free prior to conviction.

Sydney Gazette 14 March 1849

Public objection to continued transportation of convicts
Public Meeting against the renewal of transportation Moved that

That his Excellency the Governor be requested, in the event of a ship arriving in the harbour with convicts, to send them back to England, if necessary, at the expense of the colony; or, if his Excellency should not feel justified in preventing their landing,, that he will cause them to be employed exclusively on Cockatoo Island. And later…..
The object of the Colonial Minister was to get rid of his prisoners, and what did it signify to him whether they were kept at Cockatoo Island or anywhere else. What did the Secretary of State know about Cockatoo Island, or how many prisoners might be contained there. The best way would be to send them back. He would move, as an amendment, that the latter part of the resolution he expunged.

Maitland Mercury Sept 3, 1851

Dry dock work details

THE DRY DOCK. We are glad to be able to report that the works at the Dry Dock on Cockatoo Island are proceeding favourably, and that there is every reason to hope that before the end of next year it will be completed and ready for use. Upwards of sixty thousand tons of superincumbent rock had to be removed before arriving at the level from which the excavation of a dock was to commence. This has been done, and a large portion of the dock has been cut out. The caisson for the entrance, and two twenty-horse power steam engines, have been sent for to England, and may be expected to arrive early next year, by which time the work will be sufficiently forward to require them. The dock is to be two hundred and fifty feet long, fifty feet wide, and twenty-four feet deep, which will take in any vessel likely to visit these seas. The position is an admirable one. It is sufficiently far from Sydney not to be in the way of the ordinary trade of the port, and it is yet close enough to be easily communicated with. The distance from Dawes’ Battery to the south-east portion of the island, where the dock is, is under three miles. Between the island and the bank of the river there is water for a hundred gun ship; and being above Sydney, the river itself is as smooth as a pond. The work is being performed under the superintendence of Mr. G. Mann, by convicts who are under sentence of hard labour from colonial courts. Many of them probably never did so much work in their lives as they are doing now. As an inducement to them, they work by task, and are allowed to perform extra work, which goes in mitigation of the sentence. A really industrious man can do a day and a half’s work in a day, and if he does so he shortens his sentence one day out of three, which he has to serve. We believe that both Mr. Mann and Mr. M’Lerie, the visiting magistrate, approve of this system, and consider that it answers admirably, both as regards the conduct of the men and the execution of the work. -Herald, Aug. 30.

Maitland Mercury 9 Oct 1852

Six convicts die in grain silos

SHOCKING OCCURRENCE AT COCKATOO ISLAND.    
The following are the particulars of a sad catastrophe, which happened yesterday at this penal establishment. In one of the wheat silos, 4000 bushels of wheat had been deposited for some time, and from which, it having been purchased by a contractor, quantities amounting to about 1000 bushels had been withdrawn, from time to time, upon his order.  The silo was opened on Saturday, the 25th ult, and a quantity taken out and placed in bags which were kept on the ground for some time   awaiting the contractors boat to remove them. It came on to rain heavily, and the overseer, fearing that the wheat, not being under cover, would be damaged if allowed to remain any longer in the wet, ordered it to be shot out of the bags into the silo again. This order, given with the best intentions, led it is to be feared, to the shocking occurrence we are about to relate. Yesterday, it was requisite to open the silo again, and a gang of the prisoners who have been accustomed to the duty were directed to perform it. Upon opening the silo, three men descended, but were immediately struck senseless by the foul air, which it is supposed had been generated by the unfortunate process of throwing back the wet wheat on the former day. Their situation being perceived, two of the overseers, and a gangs man, without hesitation, descended to attempt their rescue, but they also immediately fell. The alarm was given, and every endeavor made to save the six men.  In a short time, the bodies were got out of the silo, when it was found that the three generous fellows who had attempted to save the first three, were dead, and every effort to restore life was unavailing. Bleeding and other usual remedies were applied to the others, who may now be considered out of danger: although for some time very little hope of their recovery was     entertained, their blood being nearly jet black when the lancet was used. An inquest will be held upon their bodies to day. We may add, that one of the three men who thus lost his life was within a few weeks of obtaining his liberty.  

Sydney Morning Herald July 6th 1852

Inquest details

—An inquest was held yesterday at Cockatoo Island upon the bodies of James Holloway, Daniel Torpay, and John Williams, who met their deaths on Monday morning, whilst engaged in removing wheat from one of the silos in the Island. The jury returned the following verdict: “We find that the deceased came to their deaths by the accidental inhalation of noxious gas, and we desire to express our sense of the praiseworthy conduct of the several prisoners who exerted themselves in endeavoring to save the unfortunate deceased.”—

Maitland Mercury Oct 3 1853

Grain silos

SILO WHEAT. The authorities have determined upon selling a great quantity of wheat, which has been underground in the silos at Cockatoo Island for many years, to the Sydney millers. About a year ago a similar attempt was made to throw the article into the market, but very wet weather interfered with the operations, and three of the men serving sentences of hard labour on the island lost their lives through the foul air. As the Government has come to the determination to empty the silos, it is very probable that a temporary reduction of the price of wheat and bread will ensue.-Herald, 31 of October.

Escape from island – an observation

NB Escape from Cockatoo Island was rare. The prisoners were confined to Barracks at night and carefully supervised during the day. The public was prohibited from landing on the Island.
Frederick Ward escaped in September 1863 when, with another prisoner, he slipped into the supposedly shark-infested waters and swam towards Balmain. His companion drowned however Ward made it ashore where, aided by his Aboriginal wide Mary Anne Bugg, he absconded to the bush. Taking the name Thunderbolt he terrorized the New England district until shot dead by police in 1870. WF

Mr Inspector Lane…. Who has been in charge of the police on the Island for the last 13 months, says he has paid much attention to the condition of the prisoners at night. He has seen them at the iron gratings gasping for fresh air from without and he ‘wonders how they live’. The brutalizing effect upon the prisoners is admitted by all, and it is described by some as terrible in depravity. Crimes of the deepest dye are committed.

1861 Report of the NSW Legislative Assembly’s Select Committee on Public Prisons in Sydney.

NB: nothing changed despite the Report – until, in 1869, the prison was closed and inmates transferred to Darlinghurst Gaol.

Louis Becke, writer, recalling the Cockatoo Island of his boyhood, 1899.

A personal memory

“As a lad of ten years of age , I well remember the place with its gloomy prison buildings perched high upon its treeless sides, the ever-pacing, red-coated sentries, the sonorous clang of the prison bell, and the long lines of wretched convicts marching to and from their toil in the dry dock or among the sandstone quarries.”

Sydney Evening news, 1891.

Gruesome memory of Island William Derrincourt, prisoner.
(Swan was a stonemason at Cockatoo Island Prison).

“I saw Swan sitting in a recess….. I thought it a grand opportunity for settling old scores with my tormentor. Walking quickly to where he was I sprang at him, seizing him by the two ears, and in a death-like grasp, with the full strength of my powerful arms, dashed his head against the stone wall. The blood spouted in torrents from his mouth and nostrils. I dragged him forward, and, as a finisher, dealt him an upper cut under the chin, almost breaking his jaw.”

Cockatoo Island/Book:
Biloela and Vernon report

The prison complex was soon put to other uses. In 1871, an industrial
School for Girls and a separate reformatory took up residence following
riots in Newcastle where the two institutions were previously located and
incompetently managed. The Industrial School housed orphans and
neglected girls while the Reformatory incarcerated girls convicted of
crimes.

In the same year, an old ship Vernon was anchored off the north-east corner of the Island as a training shop for up to 6500 homeless or orphaned boys for the next 40 years. Vernon 1871-1890 and her successor Sobraon (1891-1911) taught boys trades such as tailoring, carpentry, shoe and sail making as well as nautical skills such as compass, lead line, sail drill, reefing, splicing and rowing.

The Argus Sept 1871.

Biloela fire

A girl in the Industrial School at Biloela Island has been committed for
trial on a charge of attempting to burn down one of the rooms in the
institution. Mary Meehan

The Argus 29 Sept 1871

Female prisoners and treatment

When the viragoes formerly domiciled at Newcastle were housed on Cockatoo Island, it was thought that they would be beyond that kind of public notice which tended to disorder, but the contrary is the fact. On Sundays, numbers of boats pass near the island, and it is found that the place is not so secluded as would be desirable. One of the inmates of Biloela (native name for Cockatoo), as that part of the island is called, endeavored to escape by burning the door of her apartment. She has since been committed for trial. The old barracks at Newcastle, in which these depraved girls were formerly kept, is to be converted into a temporary lunatic asylum. About 160 persons are to be sent immediately-adults suffering from chronic dementia, and idiotic children, Our public asylums are dreadfully overcrowded, and will remain so when the draught has been made to Newcastle, and yet the Government have removed a number of patients from the private asylum of Mr. Tucker, at Cook’s River (which is perfect in all its arrangements, and has many beds vacant), and returned them to their old quarters in the Government buildings, where the difficulty is to know how to accommodate them. The people of Newcastle are very irate at the barracks being turned into a lunatic asylum, and a sort of indignation meeting, at which some very curious opinions were expressed, was held a few days ago. One of the speakers objected to the arrangement because he regarded it as likely to develop lunacy in some of the inhabitants who might be “slightly tainted;” and a reverend gentleman caused some scandal by speaking of the location of these unfortunate people at Newcastle as “a nuisance.” Weighty reasons were given to show that the place was unsuitable for the purposes of a lunatic asylum, On the other hand it was urged that good order would be preserved inside, perhaps better order than that which prevailed “among the incurables outside.” Representations have been made to the Government in the hope that the intention to send 200 lunatics to the Newcastle barracks would be abandoned. The Colonial Secretary has replied to the effect that the persons to be sent would be rated imbeciles and idiots than lunatics, and consequently not so objectionable as ordinary lunatics might be.

The Argus Dec 19 1871

Rape of female prisoners by visiting American sailors

About 20 seamen from the U.S. war steamer St. Mary’s left their ship at Biloela Dock on Saturday night, and proceeded in a body to the Female Reformatory. Captain Harris, having received information of the intended outrage, speedily gave the alarm, and sent his officers in pursuit. When they arrived at the scene of action they found that a number of the sailors had forced their way into the girls apartments and but for their timely interference some violence would have been committed. The men were arrested and placed in irons, and it is the intention of the captain to make an example of them.

Brisbane Courier Mail 18 November 1873

Behavior at Biloela

I have so enlarged upon the prevailing topic of discussion – unmindful that perhaps what interests us may not interest you-that I have small space left for other matters. It happens, however, that there is not much that is worth chronicling. There has been a great disturbance among the girls of the Industrial School at Cockatoo Island-or, as it is now called, Biloela.  These young ladies, having got possession of a tomahawk and chisel, burst the doors of their dormitories, set fire to their beds, and setting at defiance the authorities over them, proceeded to smash windows, break crockery, and other wise damage the property of the institution. This Industrial School is one of the worst managed institutions in the world. The man who is now there in the position of superintendent is a kind-hearted, but perfectly uneducated  helpless, and shiftless old fellow, who has no more idea of managing a parcel of refractory girls than he has of taming zebras. A Royal Commission appointed to enquire into the working and management of the public charities, has taken a great deal of evidence respecting Biloela, and that evidence, it is said, discloses a state of things which is perfectly appalling. The institution was intended as a means of rescuing young girls from misery and vice. It is, however, a hotbed of iniquity. A child left upon the streets, or in the haunts of vice, may possibly be reached by some pitying hand, and saved from sin, but, for a child sent into that horrible place at Cockatoo Island, there is but little hope-she becomes tutored in foulness, and encouraged to boast of her familiarity with vice. If I were to relate some of the stories current about this institution, you would hardly believe that such depravity could exist.

Argus June 1874

Horrors of treatment at Biloela

Nothing, probably, could be much worse than the system of management which has been hitherto in vogue at the various institutions for the reception and relief of the destitute which are subsidised or supported by the state in New South Wales – for that system was based on the practice of the mother country with respect to her paupers half a century ago, when the old poor laws, with all their misery and abuses, were in force, and the wretchedness of the parish workhouse was, in many districts, so deplorable that even Crabbe’s graphic picture of it was rather under than over coloured. Now, although New South Wales has never adopted a poor law, she has borrowed from the mother country her long discarded methods of organising and controlling public crimes, and the revelations made by the commissioners concerning the state of the Reformatory Institution at Biloela serve to show what honors the system is capable of producing horrors which we thought had ceased to exist in any English speaking community for at least a century.

One of the questions which forced itself most pre-eminently and powerfully upon the attention of the gentlemen who conducted this inquiry was that of the management and care of pauper children The practice of massing them in a large establishment is unequivocally condemned, because, as it is observed, a barrack life is at utter defiance
with the natural or family system

Brisbane Courier Mail 12 June 1874

Harsh treatment at Biloela

Truly a dainty dish to set before the public is the Report of tho Charities Commission into the carryings on at Biloela (formerly Cockatoo), the Reformatory for young girls. Disclosures more horrible and revolting have rarely been made, even in the days of convictism, in which mismanagement and cruelty reigned supreme. The revelations made through the investigation of the Commission as to the conduct of the Sydney Infirmary were disgraceful and revolting enough, but Biloela appears, from the evidence, to have been simply a hell upon earth; the abominations  and acts of cruelty there practised being for the most part utterly unfit for publication. Not only had the superintendent, Mr. Lucas, no control over the inmates, but acts of riotous insubordination, requiring the assistance of the police to quell, were of almost daily occurrence. Windows were broken, clothes torn, furniture destroyed, and attempts even made to fire the building. The measures resorted to by Mr. Lucas for controlling the girls were – instead of being, as at Mettray or Redhill, and other Reformatories, firm and judicious – are alleged to have been harsh, violent, and cruel. Black eyes, the result of blows, appear to have been exhibited by several of the girls, and canings by the superintendent, leaving black marks for days on tall, grown girls, with the physique of women, are spoken of as matters of common occurrence.

One witness describes a girl with the blood streaming from her nose, and handfuls of hair torn out in a violent struggle that took place on her resisting a caning; others speak of the use of gags, and putting on of straight waistcoats by the police. The following is the account by the Commissioners of a scene of which they were eye-witnesses :-

“On opening the door of the dark room, eight girls, from fourteen to seventeen years of age, were found, four of them in a half-naked condition, and all without shoes and stockings. Their wild glare and half-crazed appearance as the light of the opened door fell upon them struck us with horror. The room had a stone floor, was without a chimney, had every window closely boarded up, was without an article of furniture, and had a foul and sickly stench, every call of nature being there answered by the inmates, On the door being closed it was impossible for us to see each other till accustomed to the darkness. Into this room eight girls had been put and kept in the dark from Friday morning till the visit of the Commission on Tuesday night, in the semi-nude condition in which they were found. Fed on bread and water, they drank, as they said, like dogs, from a bucket placed in the room, no utensil being allowed them. Three were so hoarse from the effects of their confinement in the closed-up room, and sleeping on flags, non bedding having been allowed them but blankets, that they were almost unable t speak.”

Mr. Lucas, on being called upon to answer the charges made against him, admitted that he had “quarrelled” with the girls, had rubbed their heads against the walls; and could only say that he did not think he had knocked a  girl down and stood upon her. The general management and domestic economy of this institution were found by the Commissioners to be in keeping with its system of discipline. It will hardly be credited that such things could be in a Christian and civilised country. Verily truth is stranger than fiction!  

Brisbane Courier Mail Wed 17 Sept 1879

Biloela girls escape

Two girls escaped from the Biloela Reformatory three weeks ago, having dressed themselves in the matron’s clothes, taken a boat, and got to the mainland. They have not yet been recaptured.

Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 3 Sept 1881

Cruelty at Biloela

Our correspondent of the Daily Telegraph tells an extraordinary story of cruelty practiced on girls confined in Biloela Industrial School. One of the statements is that it is customary to hold girls down, and cane them till their flesh is raw.

Maitland Mercury and Hunter 19 July 1883

Official report on Biloela

Official Visit to Biloela.
The Hon. G. H. Reid, Minister for Public Instruction, paid an official visit on Saturday (says the Herald) to the Girls’ Industrial School at Biloela. The Minister was accompanied by Dr. Tarrant, M.L.A., the Hon. R. D. Leefe, M.L.C. (Fiji), the Hon. Rufus D. Wood (member of the Executive Council of Massachusetts), Mr. D. M’Donald (engineer for the Harbour Trust of Auckland), and Mr. George Miller (Acting Secretary for Public Instruction). Mr. Reid was shown through the whole of the buildings at Biloela (or Cockatoo Island), and the working of the system under which the girls are trained thoroughly explained to him. -At present there are 116 girls and 13 boys in the institution. The boys are mere children, who have been sent to this institution until they are old enough to be transferred to the nautical training ship Vernon. The girls may remain at Biloela until l8 years old, but it is very rarely that they remain till that age, as they are eligible for apprenticeship as soon as they are 12. They can only be apprenticed till they are l8, and after that age they are supposed to be able to take care of themselves. They cannot remain in the institution after they are l8, but care is taken that they are fairly well provided for elsewhere. A half-time school is carried on in connection with the institution, and the girls are also instructed in sewing, cooking, and general household work. For the latter purpose each girl is placed for a year in the house of one of the officials, and trained in general housework, to fit them for the position of general servants. There is a constant demand on the part of the outside public for apprentices from this establishment. An average of three apprentices are sent out every week, but at the present moment there are upwards of 100 applications which require to be satisfied. The officers of the institution are :-Mrs. Walker, Superintendent ; Mrs. Rowland, matron ; Mrs. Dunn and Mrs. Brackenberg, assistant matrons ; Mrs. Kelly, teacher ; Miss Walker, storekeeper, and a cook and laundress. Dr. Evans, of Balmain, is the medical officer, and the health of the inmates is uniformly very good. The details of the management were fully explained to the Minister, who closely inquired into the working of i he system, and required that ample information should be furnished to him as to the method and cost of carrying on the institution. Everything was found to be in a remarkably satisfactory condition, and Mr. Reid expressed himself as highly pleased with the result of his visit. The party then proceeded to that quarter of the island opposite the Vernon.
Captain Neitenstein had about 150 of the Vernon boys drawn up here in line, and under his direction they ” marched past,” headed by their band, in an exceedingly creditable manner. The boys were, as usual,
in splendid condition, and went through their drill in first-class style.
The Minister and party then returned to town.

Maitland Mercury 18 Oct 1881

Report on Vernon training ship boys<br>

The Vernon Nautical School.
The report of the Superintendent for 1880/81 is before us. It states that on the 30th June, 1881, when the report ended, 165 boys remained on the ship. During the previous twelve months 108 were admitted, and 92 discharged, 74 of these having been apprenticed. The ages of the boys varied from 7 to 17 years, the largest number of the series being 33 between 12 and 13 years. The health of the boys had been good, and maintained a previous high standard. No deaths had occurred during the previous six years. The state of the health of the ship’s inmates was the more satisfactory, considering the privation, neglect, and squalor from which many of them were sent. During the year, the usual drills had been performed regularly, and Mr. Neitenstein dwells a little on the value of a systematic course of drilling, as being conducive to order, improvement of bearing, and personal neatness. A proof of the excellence of the discipline of the boys was given on one occasion, when at three o’clock in the morning an alarm of fire was given. They behaved well and quietly, and showed promptitude and coolness under trying circumstances. Besides drills, much other work has been performed, including that which is computed to be of the money value of £1323. By way of recreation the boys had a good library to resort to; they practiced solo and chorus singing; played cricket and other games on Cockatoo Island; and were taken on excursions in the harbour. Net and line fishing at suitable times formed a great source of amusement. Competing at regattas was also permitted, and deprivation of these various amusements constituted the principal and an, effective correction for misconduct. Corporal punishment was seldom resorted to, and the conduct of the boys, notwithstanding previous bad training, had been satisfactory. Mr. Neitenstein quoted a number of letters from boys out in service, to show the good feelings generated in the institution towards the master and ship companions. The educational attainments, testified to by the district inspector were good. During the year, the net cost of each boy’s maintenance was £23 13s l0d, a reduction of £4 upon the previous year. Parents and friends pay reluctantly, even when able, and must be compelled to recognise their obligations. £150 was received from this source being £34 more than the sum for 1879-80. As usual, some difficulties had arisen from the action of parents and relatives, who had enticed apprenticed boys, to their hurt, from situations. During the four-teen years of the Vernon’s existence as an industrial school, 1012 boys had been sent to her, chiefly from Sydney, of whom 847 had been apprenticed or otherwise discharged, and 165 remained on the ship at the end of June, as stated above. Respecting 153 apprentices, whose time at the date of the report had not expired, the report was good, as to 9 it was indifferent, 5 had absconded, of 8 the indentures were cancelled and the boys returned, respecting 23 no report was received. Subsequently to the preparation of the report, the Superintendent obtained further information about the 23 last cases, which raises the “good” reports to 174, a better state of things than had been recorded in any previous year. The report closes with a long series of extracts from letters written by employers of boys to Mr. Neitenstein, speaking in uniformly favorable terms of the lads.

The Argus 18 April 1884

Report on success and failure of Vernon boys.

REPORT ON THE TRAINING SHIP VERNON.
Sir,-In accordance with your directions I have visited Sydney for the purpose of gaining information with regard to the questions raised upon your visit to Ballarat when you were accompanied by the Hon. Mr. Coppin and other members of the Legislature. I have the honour to inform you that I visited twice the nautical school ship Vernon moored off Cockatoo Island,
There is at present no reformatory for boys Sydney but in many cases an evasion of the law has taken place so as to send young criminals on board the Vernon rather than to prison. At the time of my first visit to the Vernon viz on 31st March 1884, there were 216 boys on board and 12 at Biloela (an industrial school for girls at Cockatoo Island) awaiting the age of seven years before being transferred to the Vernon where they would have to remain for five years. Boys are committed to the Vernon at the early age of four years but the superintendent places them with the industrial School girls until they are seven. 1 saw the boys mustered and at their usual occupations and estimate their ages to be as follows -Between 30 to 40 appeared to be between 7 and 10 years of age, 60 to 70 between 10 und 13 years of age the balance over 13.

Five or six hammocks were slung that I might see what supervision during the night could be exercised. It appealed to be sufficiently good and safe. The Industrial School Act provides that every boy shall remain in the institution for not less than 12 months; that no boy shall be apprenticed until he be 12 years of age; and all must attend school until 14 years of age. Lastly, all remain under the control of the department until they reach the age of l8 years.

I pointed out several big boys, certainly over l6 years of age and I was informed they were troublesome young criminals, but there was no attempt made to separate them from the younger boys

There was not what can be described as any regular work going on in the Vernon excepting school which occupies half the day for each inmate. There were 31 boys (all but one under 12 years of age) in the tailor’s class, but these seemed to be under instruction more for the purpose of keeping their own clothing in repair than for anything else; Captain Neitenstein agreeing with me that the tailoring, as an industrial instruction did not offer a satisfactory future for the boys.

I can only summarise the general duties as keeping the ship clean, school, drill (not sail drill I understand) and boating. In the Vernon the boys have a pleasant time amid pleasant surroundings. A sojourn on board is not a punishment, nor do they learn beyond personal cleanliness and obedience what will help them in after life.

A boy committed after the age of 12 years, at the expiration of 12 months, obtains his liberty by being apprenticed until he shall reach l8 years of age. This liberty is gained without reference to his conduct. Even frequent cases of insubordination or laziness would only involve present punishment. In fact good or bad conduct makes no difference in the term of detention onboard.

I have the honour to be
J. Evans.

Argus May 2 1884

Response from Capt. Neitenstein

“A fortnight ago I classed the entire ship’s company of 216 according to their antecedents on shore. One hundred and thirty two had been guilty of theft, 14 were doubtful, and against the remainder I was unable to discover anything, although many of them have shown vicious traits.

Adelaide Advertiser 15 August 1913

The closure of Fitzroy Dock

A FEDERAL DEAL.
AMAZING DISCLOSURES. THE FITZROY DOCK
WHY IT WAS CLOSED DOWN.
PROPERTY THAT COST £867,000.
Melbourne, August 13.
Remarkable disclosures regarding the condition of the plant at the Cockatoo Island dockyard were made by the Minister of Defence (Senator Millen) today. – “I should like to get a little into the history of the case,” began Senator Millen, “seeing that it has culminated in the closing down of a property which was acquired by the Commonwealth at a cost of £867.000 without Parliament being consulted. According to the papers in the department, negotiations were opened between the Commonwealth Government and the Government of New South Wales for the building of cruisers at Fitzroy docks early in 1911. In March of that year the New South Wales Government agreed to do the work, stating that the whole of it would be completed in 26 months from the receipt of the plant and the ordering of the material. The terms of the New South Wales Government were accepted by the Commonwealth a month later, but it was not until August of that year that an agreement was prepared. In this agreement the date of the contract was fixed as August 1. The keels of the Brisbane and the two destroyers were laid in January 25 last, and the keel of the third destroyer has not yet been laid. Concurrently with the negotiations for letting this contract, correspondence took place as to the transfer of the island and the dockyard!« to the Commonwealth. This project was strongly reported against by Captain Clarkson, the member of the “Naval Board, when urged that a shipbuilding establishment should be erected on some other site. A little later Captain Clarkson further, reported:- ‘In my opinion Cockatoo dockyard has neither the staff, organisation, nor facilities for building vessels for the Royal Australian Navy with neither efficiency, economy, or dispatch. I consider that if the proposal to build vessels there is carried out the result will be disastrous.

“Position Very Unsatisfactory.”
Matters at the dock apparently did not proceed to the satisfaction of either the “Naval Board or the State Government. The latter appointed a committee to administer the yard, while the Naval Board was anything but satisfied with the reports reaching it as to the conduct and progress of the work. I will give some idea as to the condition of affairs if 1 give the following extract from a report of the Naval Board at Fitzroy dock. “The material, that is the material arriving for the construction of the Brisbane, is now lying on the island exposed to the weather, and if something is not done to put it in a proper rack many pieces will be ruined and others will be rendered much harder to work into shape. I consulted the engineer superintendent in the matter, but he said be would have nothing to do with the material until the contract was signed and he received definite instructions. The multiplicity of matters of this kind evidently induced the board on July 9, 1912, to represent to the Minister that the- position at “Fitzroy was very unsatisfactory, and that there was grave risk, of failure by the State Government to complete the building of the war-vessels. The board painted out that action by the Commonwealth seemed urgent, and that the only solution seemed to be the taking over of Cockatoo Island by the Commonwealth Government. Negotiations to this end followed and were completed by the end of 1912,

“The Boilers “Secondhand.”
Soon after taking over of the island the electrical engineer of the City of Sydney wrote pointing out that there would soon be required increased power at the dock. This communication was referred to the board, which replied that the position at the Fitzroy Dock was a very tenuous one, as the power plant was running with a heavy overload, and might at any time break down. The board recommended calling in an independent engineer, and Mr. G. A. Julius, of Sydney, was deputed to inspect and report. That was on March l8 last. His report was received on July 30, and here arc some extracts from the document:- “The whole of the boilers, of which there are six, are radically worn out. All of them were, believe, secondhand boilers when installed and at the present time ‘ considerable repairs have to be effected every week to keep them running for another week. Many of the motors are excellent machines, whilst others are obsolete and practically worn out”. The cables transmitting power from the power station to various parts of the island are in a bad condition, being run without system and in such a way as to break every regulation for the safe running of electric cables. The electrical equipment, as a whole, is in a very faulty and inefficient condition, and it is, quite impossible for the electrical engineer, on the island to meet the requirements of the dockyard with the present plant.”

Ferries

Mrs Ina Popplewell sings ‘Take Me Down The Harbour’. John Meredith Collection NLA

Small commuter ferries have been an important part of our major cities for many years, especially Sydney and Brisbane. Prior to the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, they were the only link between north and south.

Ferries were also seen as recreation transport, especially on Sundays, when workers had a ‘day off’. Manly, Coogee, Watson’s Bay were popular destinations for picnickers.

The thought of Sydney Harbour without its distinctive green and cream ferries is unthinkable. Replacing them with sensible, fuel efficient, faster and possibly more comfortable vessels would be the work of the devil. Our ferries are part of the Sydney maritime story and without them, what many have described as ‘the world’s most beautiful harbour’, would be a dull canvas. Replacing the old with the new witnessed our city lose much of its character. As a kid I saw my Sydney tumble down, particularly in the sixties, to be replaced by bland, colourless and often dog ugly functional architecture.  I was twenty when the Anthony Hordern department store, with its ’52 acres of retail’ selling everything from ‘a needle to an anchor’, became a massive hole on Goulburn street. Our colonial arcades fell too, the Royal, Piccadilly and Imperial all demolished. Shiny, look-at-me Westfield is no replacement for the architectural character of an old arcade. In 1972 one of Sydney’s most beautiful cosmopolitan streets, Rowe Street, and the adjoining Australia Hotel, were decimated. Theatres tumbled too. The old Theatre Royal on King, Embassy on Castlereagh, followed by the Regent which was replaced by the Hoyt’s complex and then the tiny Paris theatre on Liverpool Street disappeared. Sydney’s art deco dance palace, the Trocadero, called the last waltz in 1972. New is not necessarily better.

Sydney’s ferry service has a proud history tracing back to the early days of the colony when Jamaican boatman, Billy Blue, rowed passengers from Sydney Cove to the North Sydney point which now carries his name. Business must have been brisk for Billy Blue soon expanded his service to other parts of Port Jackson and up to Parramatta. Steam-powered ferries commenced working the harbour in 1842 and for the next fifty years several enterprises took to the waters to link south to north, east to west and out through the Heads to the new settlements of the coast. 

In 1861 the North Shore Ferry Company commenced the first formal service on the Harbour, between Circular Quay and Milson’s Point. The gold rush of the previous decade had also transformed the harbour and dramatically increased our population. By Federation, in 1901, Australia’s population pendulum had swung in favour of the cities. Thousands moved to Sydney for new work in manufacturing and commerce. This heralded a major social change and instead of seven days a week on the farm, people found themselves with a five and a half day week. Leisure was redefined and the harbour became a favourite for the new fashions of boating, swimming and picnicking. Cremorne, Manly, Clifton Gardens and Watson’s Bay were favourite destinations for ferry leisure trips. 

Taking pleasure trips on the harbour be it a group of colonials rowing over to Garden or Shark Island or catching a steam ferry to one of the many picnic spots has always been a favourite with locals and visitors. The highlight of so many trips to the ‘Big Smoke’ brightened the face of country visitors. Top of the list was a ride on the Manly Ferry. There was very little European settlement in Manly until the 1850s because of its distance from Sydney. In 1853 Henry Smith bought a sizeable package of land and, with an eye for real estate, two year’s later built the first Manly wharf. It wasn’t long before the ferries started to stop and, in 1859, Smith purchased shares in the paddle steamer Phantom, and the first regular Manly ferry service began.

Steam ferries chuffing across the Harbour became a familiar sight. Coal isn’t the cleanest of fuels and the ladies often complained about soot on their garments. The men, far more practical, sometimes threw potatoes into the coals and pocketed their ‘hot potato meal’ as they disembarked.

There was a time in our modern history, just before the Harbour Bridge was opened, when Sydney Ferries Ltd, the Sydney Harbour service established in 1899, was considered the largest and most successful ferry operator in the world by patronage and fleet size. It had taken over the North Shore Ferry Company and progressively its competitors, until, by 1914, Sydney Ferries Ltd. had 42 ferries and carried some 25 million passengers a year. By 1928 the fleet had grown to 50 vessels and the annual number of passengers to an estimated figure of 50 million. In 1932 the Sydney Harbour Bridge opened and passengers jumped ship favouring cars, trams and buses. The company suffered from mismanagement and bad fortune and, in 1951, the State Government assumed control incorporating ferries into the public transport system. 

Growing up in Sydney I was always fascinated why so many of the ferries had names starting with ‘K’. I assumed it was a tradition similar to the way the Cunard Line ended their ships with ‘A’. Folklore has it that in 1879 ,when the first steamer was built for the North Shore Steam Ferry Company, one of its directors christened the vessel with “Success to the Willoughby’ (their fleet was to be named for the various North Shore suburbs). He was a Scot and everyone cheered and assumed he had said, ‘Wallaby”. Having  Wallaby, Possum and Kangaroo, all marsupial names, the next ‘K’was the ‘Kurraba’ (the point near Cremorne) and a director of the company suggested they retain using ‘K’ for their vessels. Over time 30 ferries were named with a ‘K’ including Kalang, Kailua, Kameruka, Kanangra, Kamiri, Kanimbla, Karrabee, Kirribilli, Kookaburra, Kooleen, Koompartoo, Kooroongabba, Korte, Kosciusko. Kumulla, Kuttabul and, in a fit of patriotism, King Edward.

It was in 2005 the distinctive bush green and sandstone yellow became sanctioned as the fleet’s colour scheme. At the time, 15 vessels in the 31 ferry fleet were green and yellow and the remaining vessels either black and white or blue and white. The Minister for Transport, John Watkins, wanted the fleet to be more recognisable, hence the colours. Sydneysiders adopted the colour scheme as if it had been around since Billy Blue’s rowing boat. 

THE MAID OF RICHMOND FERRY Near Richmond ‘Flat there lives a maid More fair than summer morn, Who has completely turned my head, And left me now forlorn: This lass so neat, who smiles so sweet, To wed is in no hurry; Although she knows I languish for The Maid of Richmond Ferry. Now happy would this Digger be To call this nymph his own ! If she should say, “my husband be,” I’d live for her alone. But this lovely lags, whom none surpass, In love affairs does vary So much, I’ve almost lost all hope Of the Maid of Richmond ferry. St.. Kilda is a charming spot, And Collingwood is pretty, Prahran and Windsor I admire, And Hawthorne, for their beauty. But Richmond is the spot most deal For there I oft make merry With lemonade, and ginger beer, And the Maid of Richmond Ferry Source:  THE ARMCHAIR MAGAZINE Published Melbourne and also appears as Armchair Chronicle 1853

I was interested in this item primarily because of the suggested tune which is an old-timey American song and, possibly a minstrel tune.
I first heard it from Mike Seeger who had recorded it for The New Lost City Ramblers in the 1960s.
I am no longer surprised by tunes that found themselves landed in Australia! The Cremorne was a hotel on the outskirts of Melbourne where thirsty Melbournites would travel to on a Sunday and, being travellers, were entitled to order alcohol. Thirst knows no distance.

WE’RE ALL TRAVELLERS To be sung on Sundays by the visitors at Cremorne We’re all poor travellers, trav—trav—travellers, We’re all a travelling to the country from the town: So come along, friend Ellis, now, just let us have a glass To drink the health of your Cremorne in bumpers as we pass ; For, though the Melbourne magistrates have said you mustn’t do it, They’ve also said you must, you know, and you should keep them to it: And we’re all travellers, &c. This gentleman’s travelling, trav—trav—travelling, With his wife and his family they’re travelling for their health. He works hard all the week, and now on Sunday he would fain Enjoy the pure and fragrant air, and the fresh green trees again: So Ellis, serve them out some stout to wash their dinners down, They’re faint and thirsty after travelling all the way from town: For we’re all travellers, &c. These young ladies are travelling, trav—trav—travelling, With their sweethearts they’re travelling for love and change of air. See how the light of innocence in their clear eyes reposes, And how the dust has. settled down upon their cheeks and noses; They’ve travelled by a weary road—are choking, thirsty, very,— They can’t drink lemonade alone—come, just one glass of sherry: For we’re all travellere,..&c. We’re all a travelling, trav—trav—travelling, We’re all a travelling, sir, so let us have a drain: You need’nt fear that we would peach though you should transgress the Law, We like justice more than any law that ever yet we saw; Besides, it has been settled by the District Bench, you know, That travelers never from your doors unentertained should go; And we’re all travellers, &c. We’re all travellers, trav—trav—travellers, We’re all a travelling to the country from the town So now, throw open wide the gates—Cremorne’s restored at last To accommodate the travelers that come so thick and fast; Travellers from Hawthorne, Prahran, Richmond, Collingwood, Mid over the way, Travellers that are travelers for the sake of being able to say We’re all travellers, trav—trav—travelers, We’re all travellers, so turn us not away. Source:  THE ARMCHAIR MAGAZINE Published Melbourne and also appears as Armchair Chronicle 1853