C O N T E X T 8 7 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 4 27 Empire has not been studied in detail. Such studies are restricted to individual countries such as Canada and the extensive study of British barracks published by English Heritage in 19981. Many similar details survive: the shelf and gun brackets in the Cockatoo Island guardhouse, dating from the 1840s, are identical to contemporary facilities in England, both supplied by the Board of Ordnance. The use of convict labour at the Cockatoo Island dockyard was phased out with the end of transportation. Free workers did not like working with the convicts, who were apt to put a spanner in the Noni Boyd is historic buildings and classifications officer at the National Trust of Australia (NSW). She is currently completing a PhD in architectural history at RMIT in Melbourne. References 1 Douet, James, British Barracks 1600–1914: their architecture and role in society, English Heritage, London, 1998 2 www.harbourtrust.gov. au/topics/about.html believe that its use as a garden wall is part of the ongoing pattern of use of the island, which is also of significance. This debate is continuing. The naval use of the island ceased in 1992, as has occurred with many English naval yards.The island has begun a new phase of use, under an agency specially created to manage the Commonwealth sites in Sydney Harbour, the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust. The Trust manages the ‘Defence and other special Commonwealth lands, most of which have been hidden away from the community for many years’2. Such large buildings as the steam workshops are problematic to adaptively re-use, as they contain enormous volumes and fabric that is often contaminated. A programme to remove contaminants is underway. Access is also an issue.Traditionally the dockyard was accessed by small boat and later by ferry (as were the other adjacent dockyards at Mort Bay and Woolwich, named for its London counterpart). It is hoped that the current conservation planning process will reveal patterns of use of the island that have vanished, such as the soldiers’ sea baths, necessary as the military barracks of the 1840s did not contain bathing facilities.We are also hoping to obtain a better understanding of how steam was employed within the dockyard workshop and have been searching for other comparative examples. The main conservation dilemma is that the Royal Engineers designed and built highly crafted, symmetrical buildings, achieving a high standard of craftsmanship from the convict workforce. Later modifications were undertaken in response to the threat of war, with little regard for aesthetics. Both aspects of the development and use of the island are of significance. So how do we conserve and adaptively re-use this entire island? There are likely to be long and interesting debates about the future of these buildings. Further details can be found at www.harbourtrust.gov.au/topics/plancockatoo.html. Copies of the latest edition of the conservation plan can be obtained from the National Trust of Australia (NSW): see www.nsw.nationaltrust.org.au/ conservationbooks.html. works. The Cockatoo Island dockyard continued to operate as a naval dockyard, with peaks in production during World Wars I and II. Features such as the convict lumberyard on the top of the island were replaced with large buildings to accommodate the ship drawing office. The original workshop has been extended in a bewildering number of stages, and the convict barracks was bomb-proofed by the addition of a blast-proof concrete lid during World War II. The hospital section of the prisoners’ barrack was converted into offices and a board room, retaining elaborate pressed metal ceilings with a Charles Rennie Mackintosh-inspired pattern. In the 1950s, sections of the guardhouse were progressively cannibalised for garden walls, and today stones with carved loophole numbers and slots can be found in the island’s garden walls. Some would have this stone reinstated in the guardhouse, while others The former Superintendent’s Residence. The building has been extended in two stages, the first addition doubling the size of the initial two-roomed quarters, and the second stage adding a sequence of substantial rooms for Gother Kerr Mann and his family. The SteamWorkshop at the Fitzroy Dock. Note the second-floor addition and the way in which the services have been introduced.To the left is the second stage of the steam workshop, dating from the 1860s.
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