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You are here: Home / Naval Heritage Sites / Cockatoo Island / The Commonwealth Naval Dockyard

Cockatoo IslandThe Commonwealth Naval Dockyard

· Sep 18, 2017 ·

The future shape of Cockatoo Dockyard was firmly established in the Naval Dockyard period from 1913 to the end of World War I. The pattern adopted was very like that of a typical Royal Navy Dockyard and, by the end of the war, Cockatoo had the capability of building and supporting most of the components of modern warships, apart from armament.

Part of the dockyard machine shop in 1914
Part of the dockyard machine shop in 1914

Further Development

Apart from the lengthening of the Sutherland Dock in 1928, the island changed little in the years between the wars.

There was a further period of intense development during World War II. A new Brass Foundry and a large Turbine Shop were built which required the excavation of a large amount of the island’s rock which was used to extend the northern part of the island by reclamation.

Completed in 1945, the Turbine Shop was the largest building on the Dockyard
Completed in 1945, the Turbine Shop was the largest building on the Dockyard

After the war changes to facilities were usually linked to the needs of individual major projects, like the provision of new equipment and cranes in the northern shipyard in 1947 to 1949 for the construction of all-welded destroyers.

In the mid-1960s, plans for a major modernisation of the dockyard as a whole were prepared, with particular emphasis on the shipyard and the facilities needed to refit the RAN’s Oberon-class submarines. Only a small amount of work was done in the shipyard, but the arrival of the submarines prompted the last major period of dockyard development.

Submarine Refit Facilities

The submarine refit facilities on Cockatoo Island
The submarine refit facilities on Cockatoo Island

The submarine refit facilities were built between 1968 and 1971, and mainly comprised two modern buildings, one next to the Bolt Shop Wharf and the other on the site of the old southern shipyard, south of the Fitzroy Dock. The facilities provided were among the most extensive and modern facilities for the refit of conventional (i.e. diesel electric) submarines in the world.

Final Works

In the late 1970s the lessee company, Cockatoo Dockyard Pty Ltd, carried out some modernisation of the shipyard, including the erection of a 50-ton lift travelling Butters crane, the largest shipbuilding crane ever erected in Sydney. The Brass Foundry, which had been closed in 1968, was also converted into a fabrication shop to support the construction of HMAS Success, but the dockyard modernisation begun by the Commonwealth during the early 1970s was never completed.

The 50-ton Butters crane towering over HMAS Success on No. 1 sllipway
The 50-ton Butters crane towering over HMAS Success on No. 1 sllipway

A project to replace the cranes at the Sutherland Dock and to modernise the dock pumping system was begun in the early 1980s. The dock pumps were replaced (the DC motors were retained) and the tunnels and valves repaired. The crane project was only partly completed. One 30-tonne portal crane was erected on the south side of the Sutherland Dock in 1984 (with limited travel), but the two other planned cranes never came. When the dockyard closed the 30-tonne crane was taken to HMAS Stirling, Fleet Base West, in Western Australia.

The 30-tonne portal crane being loaded on to a heavy-lift ship for transport to Western Australia
The 30-tonne portal crane being loaded on to a heavy-lift ship for transport to Western Australia

 

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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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