People

Governor Sir George Gipps

Governor Gipps, unknown artist, NSW State Library
Governor George Gipps (1791-1847) was responsible for the effort to create a penal establishment on Cockatoo Island. In 1839 he announced that the island had been chosen as an ideal location due to its isolation.

..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

Governor Sir George Gipps, 8 July 1839

Henry Parkes

Sir Henry Parkes, unknown photographer, 1880s, NLA
Before becoming premier of the colony of New South Wales, Henry Parkes (1815-1896) was an outspoken public figure who attracted the attention of political elites in his role as owner of The Empire (published 1850 to 1858). By 1858 it became clear to Parkes that conditions for the convicts at Cockatoo Island were dire. He agitated for change and was successful in the appointment of a Board of Inquiry in 1858 into the management of the penal island. Later in 1861, as a member of parliament, Parkes chaired a Select Committee of Inquiry into Sydney prisons. His statements of the conditions at Cockatoo Island reveal problems of overcrowding in the sleeping quarters.

On the occasion of your Commitee's first visit to Cockatoo Island, on February 1, 1861, there were 167 prisoners in that establishment, 63 of whom, on the previous night, had been confined in one dormitory...

While the physical suffering from this inadequate night accomodation must aggravate the sentance [sic] of the law to many men to an extent beyond any calculation, the moral results of such a state of existence are, as might have been expected, of the very worst description...

He [chaplain Mr. Inspector Lane] had often seen them at the iron gatings grasping for fresh air.... and he 'wonders how they live'.

The conditions improved little until the time that the penal establishment was officially disbanded in 1869 and the prisoners transferred to Darlinghurst.

Frederick Ward

Samuel Calvert, VIC State Library
The deep, shark-infested waters that surrounded Cockatoo Island made escaping a dangerous and difficult affair however some successful escapes are known. In September 1863 Frederick Ward, who later gained notoriety as the bushranger Thunderbolt, attempted a daring escape. Slipping into the harbour at night he swam to Balmain where he was met by his common law Aboriginal wife Mary Anne Bugg. Together they sought refuge in the bush. Thunderbolt died from a police bullet in 1870, though his story of escape like the escapades of his time as a bushranger have been immortalised in national history.

Jack Clark

In 1995 the Friends of Cockatoo Island was formed to rally for the preservation of the site. The most vocal member of the group (and its leader) was Jack Clark, a resident of Lindfield. The group began lobbying the Government to ensure the site remained in public hands. Furthermore, they insisted that the docks and slipways should be retained for martime activities.

The group's campaigning was successful in 1999 when the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust was formed by the Federal Government. The Trust was charged with the responsibility for planning the future use of the site in consultation with community members.

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