Plans to elicit stories from Sydney's biggest harbour island

Cockatoo already has evidence of a complex history, including convict-era buildings – for which it is inscribed on the World Heritage List – and dockyard infrastructure pertaining to ship repair and building activities from colonial times, through two world wars and beyond. 

“It has a very diverse narrative”, says Turf Design director Mike Horne. He sees the project – a concept that will need to process through many levels of stakeholder, community and government consultation – as “a huge and rigorous project” that is “something like taking a precious family heirloom that’s a little bit bashed about, and repairing and polishing it so it can it can be better understood and admired”.

As the island sits off the point where the Parramatta and Lane Cove rivers come together, Wareamah has significance to many Indigenous groups, and Horne believes there are terrific opportunities to explore the traditional use of the place in a contemporary way. 

“That really interesting part of the story before white people came is missing, and we’re really interested in balancing it up,” he says.

However, also “incredibly important” are the ruins of the guardhouse, mess hall, solitary confinement cells and grain silos that were built of sandstone excavated by convicts from the site during the island’s penal use as a secondary offender’s prison from 1839 to 1861, he says. “They could do with some love.”

The maritime era of Cockatoo (1857-91) also left almost half the island as an industrial are. Some of the infrastructure is used as venues for events, exhibitions and corporate functions. “Cockatoo,” Horne emphasises, “has a great, proud history as a music festival and events place.” It’s also one of the hot tickets for the fireworks show on New Year’s Eve. 

It also hosts year-round camping, glamping and accommodation options, which keep it in the commercial domain. Yet what Horne is very pleased about since the Harbour Trust accepted Turf’s tender for the concept future master plan, is the imputation that, while there are commercial opportunities, the primary goal is about keeping the island as a public asset – “one that we can bequeath to future generations … I’m passionate about that”. 

He says stitching together the various aspects of the island to create a better flow will make it a more attractive visitor destination. “It has significant opportunity for higher levels of visitation” without overwhelming the sheer elemental nature of the place.

“Cockatoo is so raw and beautiful,” Horne says. “And at the headwaters of the two rivers, and in the middle of this great harbour, why can’t more visitation come to Cockatoo rather than going to Manly?

“The scale of this project is big. Cockatoo has got a grandeur to it because we’ve got the sky as our ceiling and the earth and the harbour as our floor. Working within those elements will be the key to it.

“And in working with the important heritage, we will have to be subtle. We will have to be disciplined.”

The tender and award-winning concept plan for Cockatoo/Wareamah are the first step “that will pave the way for the next master plan that will occur next year”.