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You are here: Home / Naval Heritage Sites / Cockatoo Island / Cockatoo Island Today

Cockatoo IslandCockatoo Island Today

· Sep 18, 2017 ·

Following a review in the mid-1980s of the RAN’s need for dockyards on the east coast of Australia, the Commonwealth Government decided that the dockyard on Cockatoo Island should be closed when the lease expired at the end of 1992.

Plans to sell the island for redevelopment fortunately came to nothing and, following intensive representations by community groups, particularly the Friends of Cockatoo Island, the site has been saved for the people of Australia. Cockatoo Island is now managed by the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, a self-funding agency created by the Australian Government which is responsible for the planning and management of Sydney Harbour sites including Cockatoo Island and Snapper Island in Sydney Harbour, Woolwich Dock and Parklands in Woolwich, HMAS Platypus in Neutral Bay, Georges Heights, Middle Head and Chowder Bay in Mosman, North Head Sanctuary in Manly, the Marine Biological Station in Watsons Bay and the Macquarie Lighthouse in Vaucluse. The Harbour Trust’s role is to cultivate a long-term vision and plan for these sites to ensure that they are integrated into the life of Sydney and create a lasting legacy for the people of Sydney and Australia.

In 2010, parts of Cockatoo Island were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, along with ten other historic sites which together form the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage Property. The sites are recognised as collectively representing the best surviving evidence of the large-scale convict transportation and forced labour used to support European colonial expansion. On Cockatoo Island the listing includes, in addition to surviving penal era buildings, the Fitzroy Dock and the Engineering Workshop (Building 138).

More information about the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust can be found on the Harbour Trust website and Cockatoo Island today.

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Cockatoo Island

  • Early History — The Penal Era
  • The Dockyard Era
  • The Commonwealth Naval Dockyard
  • Shipbuilding
  • Ship Repair
  • Submarines
  • General Engineering
  • Other Activities
  • Dockyard People
  • Cockatoo Island Today
  • Dockyard Timeline
  • Dockyard Records

Additional reading for Cockatoo Island

  • I Name this Ship….
  • HMS Australia and the William Droudge Mystery
  • Occasional Paper 28: Cockatoo Island – An Historical Account
  • Cockatoo Island - An Historical Account
  • Cockatoo Dockyard and the American Fleet Cruisers
  • First of the Line - HMAS Albatross, first aircraft carrier
  • Spectacle Island Command 1894 - 1900

World & National Heritage Sites

  • Cockatoo Island
  • HMAS Sydney II and the HSK Kormoran Shipwreck Sites
  • HMVS Cerberus

Commonwealth Heritage Sites

  • Chowder Bay Naval Facilities
  • Royal Australian Naval Transmitting Station ACT
  • Royal Australian Naval College ACT
  • Garden Island WA
  • Naval Offices QLD
  • HMAS Cerberus
  • Admiralty House, Garden and Fortifications
  • Beecroft Peninsula NSW
  • Spectacle Island Explosives Complex NSW
  • HMAS Penguin
  • HMAS Watson

The NHSA acknowledges support provided by the Australian Department of Environment and Energy which made these pages possible.
Greater detail on building history, the natural and Indigenous significance to these sites is available by accessing the National Heritage List.

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