Essay On Cockatoo Island

Transformation of Traditions towards Modernity: Cockatoo Island

Lisa Nguyen

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney

Introduction

The weight of the desolation immediately clung onto my shoulders as I stepped off the F3 Parramatta River Ferry. Remnants of shipyards and timeworn buildings are rooted into the ground as if the Indigenous had never occupied a speck of this island. The decaying atmosphere can be perceived through the moss that stretched over the steep cliffs, emphasising how this historical landmark has weathered the age of time.

With each step that I took, my eyes wandered around the empty warehouses filled with abandoned furniture, the agony of the tortured restless souls rooting me to the ground

as I stood to admire the beauty of pain. The pin drop silence contrasted against my previous memories on Cockatoo Island during the Biennale, in which my screams of joy echoed down the dimly lit tunnels as the ghost train raced down the tracks. So caught in my own contemplations, capturing a shot of Cockatoo Island never occurred to me until I was reminded by a friend, who appeared as stricken as I felt. Despite, tourists strolling about, especially the brunette with a bright orange floppy sunhat, who occasionally posed for photos in front of the woeful attractions with her goofy smiling expressions, it felt immoral to do the same, as if I would be insulting the tormented souls that resided this island. However, as I stood in front of the Cockatoo Island sign, my eyes squinting from the blazing sun, I posed like that tourist.

Historical Background

Cockatoo Island was renowned as a convict site associated with harsh, laborious conditions and imprisonment for the inhabitants, particularly the lower end of the social strata.

These tasks were mainly associated with quarrying, labouring and construction. (Cockatoo Island, History of Convicts n.d.). During 1857-1869, Cockatoo Island was transformed into one of Australia’s largest shipyards and also coexisted as the infamous ‘Biloela Gaol’, housing prisoners temporarily due to the overcrowding in Darlinghurst Gaol. In 1913, Cockatoo Island was transferred to the Commonwealth and became the dockyard of the Royal Australian Navy. The dockyard mainly operated to renovate and repair ships and later on functioned as the largest dockyard in the southern hemisphere during World War II (Fletcher 2011, pp. 78). The First and Second World War followed the conversion of merchant and luxury liners into stores, troop transports and hospital

ships.

From the 1870s to the 1880s onwards, reform schools were assembled in order to house orphan children and juvenile delinquents that were gradually increasing as a consequence of the Victorian Gold Rush that enforced men to leave their families behind without support. There was an assortment of institutions on Cockatoo Island ranging between Biolela Public Industrial School for Girls, The Biolela Reformatory and The Vernon (Cockatoo Island, Reform School n.d.)

Present day, Cockatoo Island is an artistic hub for contemporary art, often attracting thousands of tourists. It also showcases film and music festivals, demonstrating the contrasting changes in uses over time.

In order to link the concept of ‘modernity’ and ‘tradition’, we decipher the past, in an attempt to develop an understanding of the notions and evolution of human rights in relation to Cockatoo Island. Tradition can be defined as the “values... and codified patterns of behaviour. … It provided the order that helped stablilise social existence and it fortified community ties to give people a greater sense of belonging “ (Gross 1992). Modernity is defined as the encapsulation of the progress, from primitive civilisations to modern age, through industrialisation and capitalism” (Giddens 2002).

It was inevitable that modernity would unravel a sense of “unity” that could unfold among many different ethnic groups and thus manufacture social cohesion.

“Transformation of Traditions towards Modernity: Cockatoo Island” illustrates the evolution of human rights through the prisoners, labourers and children that occupied this island. This essay will argue about the extent that modernisation has affected traditions in relation with Cockatoo Island. These ideas and history associated with Cockatoo Island are devices utilised to understand how the traditional concept of ‘White Supremacy’ has driven modernity.

In this essay, the focus is driven towards the themes of ‘modernity’ and ‘tradition’ and how they are inextricably linked in the development of human rights, shaping the way Australia has transformed and evolved into a modern nation. Undoubtedly, the idea of modernity is attributed to the notions of ‘tradition’. By breaking down these notions through concepts of progress, we are able to link ‘traditions’ and ‘modernity’, showing how advancements in ‘modernity’ were met with conflicts in ‘traditions’.

White

Supremacy

Through the traditional Westernised perspective, the main foundation of Australia was associated with Britain’s aspiration to build a colony associated with promise and glory. However, in order to achieve this desired level of white supremacy, Australia would have to inflict the traditions from the Mother country, shaping democracy and cultural preference. This supports Hobsbawm’s theory that although traditions may appear to be old, they are often quite recent and are ‘invented traditions’, hence the enforcement of British traditions on Australia (Hobsbawm 1993). Similarly, Gross proposes that ‘Tradition was understood to be a continuous temporal chain linking the present to the most distant past” (Gross 1992), reinforcing Hosbawm thesis. This particular site and more importantly, the gender roles, industrial tensions and convicts, instigate critical judgements concerning the nature of Australia’s ethics in regards to human rights.

Convict Era

Australia’s colonisation provided British settlers with capital and natural resources as well as economic growth as a consequence from the exploitation of forced labour from the Aborigines and the convicts. However, the fundamental reason behind the traditional concept of forced labour was the superiority associated with a race holding authority over another because of the contrasting skin tones. The notion of forced labour was employed into Australia history, following the examples of other nations that were dominated by the British Empire. These Western practices were implemented towards the Aborigines, who were imprisoned on Cockatoo Island along with the convicts (Australian Government Sydney Harbour Federation Trust n.d.). In particular, The Empire newspaper detailed on the exploitation of the Aborigines and their exposure to the deteriorating conditions. Of the nineteen ‘Aboriginal Blacks’ that had been received from 1839 to 1851, twelve had died, one was freed, five sent to the other prisons and one had remained on the Island. A visitor’s account from The Empire Newspaper described the ‘ghastly situation’ of having to ‘co-mingle with villains of every shade and dye’ and listen to the ‘disgusting recital of deeds and darkness’ (The Empire 1857). In 1861, a Select Committee was prearranged to enquire into the circumstances of public prisons and to recommend humane improvements. The conditions on Cockatoo Island were central to their enquiries. These actions were an initial attempt towards improving the living conditions and treatment of the prisoners that occupied the island (Australian Government Sydney Harbour Federation Trust n.d).

Principally, the transportation of convicts was one of the many Western practices that were implemented to colonise over other nations as a result of the strong idealisations of white supremacy. Like other aspects of the Western culture, strict disciplined practices were implemented in regulating the convicts. According to the author, the fundamental purpose of Cockatoo Island was to be the ‘worst place imaginable and the ultimate deterrent’, making it the most severe punishment for convicts above execution (Logan 2007).

Therefore, the convicts suffered brutally over the years from the inhumane conditions that they had to endure. Initially, convicts were imposed to work as servants to prison officers or within the prison. Over time, convicts were allocated with tasks such as excavating, quarrying and painting (Fletcher 2011).
They were subjected to abuse as a result of being unfit for hard labour because Mann wanted to establish a large workforce since the jail was dependent on prison labour (Cockatoo Island n.d.). The deplorable working conditions can be described through the accounts of the convicts.

“We have to work from 14–18 hours a day, sometimes up to our knees in cold water, 'til we are ready to sink with fatigue... The inhuman driver struck one, John Smith, with a heavy thong.” (Australian Government n.d.)

As ‘White Supremacy’ reigned for a long period of time, it was evident that there was no light at the end of the tunnel for these convicts.

Gender Roles

The traditional concepts of gender roles were enforced with the patriarchal society, with men historically holding authority and being the more ‘superior’ gender whereas females were negatively perceived as ‘inferior’. These negative stereotypes are at the root of much of the discrimination and mistreatment experienced by females, particularly within Western civilisations (Women Speak Alliance 2009). These conventional norms were predominantly evident through the harsh conditions that the females endured in Cockatoo Island during the 19th Century at an established reform school renowned as ‘The Biloela Public Industrial School for Girls’. These residents were a mixture of neglected and orphaned girls as well as girls who had been convicted of crimes (Fitzgerald 2010). They were subjected to both mental and physical harassment and endured inhumane conditions including neglect, which shapes a traditional ‘lens’ into the tacit treatment that females experienced in the past. Witnessed accounts by social reformers visiting the dysfunctional institution elaborated upon the appalling conditions that the girls were exploited to, in contrast to the boys (Fitzgerald 2010). The harsh conditions varied from the prohibition of cutlery for meals and sleeping on the cold stone flagging but were not limited to lapping water from a common trough and being found with bruises and lacerations (Australian Government n.d.). These reports exposed how these enforced Western traditions have shaped the notions of gender inequality, providing comparisons between the conditions for boys and girls.

"We were agreeably impressed with the exquisite cleanliness of the ship, and the frank open countenances of the lads.” (Hill & Hill 1875)

“Cockatoo Island was chosen as the new location but this site was really no better than the old one. The building allotted to the school had obtained a terrible notoriety as a convict gaol. The home influences essential to the wholesome training of girls, the very lack of which had brought them to the school, are impossible of attainment within the gloomy walls of a prison... Not only did the evils described attach to the locality, but the Government dock, bringing necessarily large numbers of sailors to the spot, is upon the Island. Three hundred men, we heard, had been there a few days before our visit. The school premises are on high ground overlooking the dock, from which they are divided by a low wall or fence, and the presence of a policeman is necessary to prevent sailors and school-girls from crossing the boundary.” (Hill & Hill 1875)

The neglect of being locked in gloomy jail cells like prisoners for 12 hours a night with nothing to occupy themselves with led to the ‘wayward girls singing bawdy verses and drawing lewd cartoons to keep themselves entertained’ (Australian Government n.d). An account by 14-year-old Katie Solomon details the exploitation that occurred during the incident.

“Mr. Lucas came into the dormitory and saw some figures on the wall. He was very angry about them, and caught me by the hair of the head and told me to rub them out. I said I should not. He then dragged me down, and put his foot on my back and stood on me. He knocked my head against the wall, and said he would take my hair to rub the figures out with it. Annie Smith, Janet Boyd, and Mary Windsor were beat very badly.... I was kicked on the hop, and I have the mark on the place to show... I got that mark on my face when he hit my head and rubbed it against the wall.” (Australian Government Sydney Federation Trust n.d.)

Through the exploration of academic literature, the traditional concept of women being perceived as the ‘inferior’ gender was shattered through the gradual changes of beliefs and attitudes over the progression of time. Anderson specifies upon these modernisations that have occurred in the 20th century as a result to the introduction of the ‘feminism movement’, which promoted women’s rights and gender equality (Anderson 2012). The introduction of women’s political rights in Australia can be established through the passing of an act that allowed women to vote and stand in the 1903 federal election, making Australia the first country to permit women to run for parliament (Anderson 2012). World War I and II unlocked opportunities for employment for women, with many adopting ‘masculine’ roles such as farming and military duties including driving and manning radios, as a result to the shortage of male workers (Anderson 2012). The introduction of the contraceptive pill was a prospect for women as it enabled them to have a relationship and career at the same time, making more women join the workforce. The feminist movement represented this invention as an “equaliser” which gave women the ‘same sexual freedom as men’ (Anderson 2012). Recently, Julia Gillard was elected as Australia’s first female Prime Minister, which proved to be a turning point in the 21st Century. Ultimately, it was through modernisation that traditions were changed, empowering women to have more power than they once had.

Industrial Tensions

With the rise of industrialisation throughout the 20th Century, there was an increased demand in manpower for skilled labour, exposing the unsafe working conditions that the employers were exploiting in the past in order to increase the outputs in production. Berman (1983) proposes that it was the development of industrialisation, urbanisation and mechanisation, which were the key in driving modernity as well as the factory, the city and the nation (Morley 1996). The “belief in the necessity of social progress” (Gillen & Ghosh 2007) propelled social revolutions. Through their hardships, the unification of blue-collar workers was invoked, forming the basis of The Union Movement. Their difficulties can be distinguished through the tasks they were allocated with. For instance, the members of the Painters and Dockers Union suffered lead and arsenic poisoning from the noxious fumes. It was years before employers supplied them with oilskins and gumboots to work in the water beneath a ship’s keel (Australian Government Sydney Harbour Federation Trust n.d). Another trade union on Cockatoo Island; The Boilermaker’s Society of Australia used technology as a method to safety procedures with their members, exemplifying the progression of enforced work safety over time along with the radical changes in the methods of communications as opposed to the traditional procedures for communication in the past. During 1957, a film called ‘Think Twice’ was created for its members to highlight three main sources of injury – heat, rays and fumes, and illustrated safe and unsafe ways to operate in the workplace (Australian Government Sydney Harbour Federation Trust n.d).

With trade unions on Cockatoo Island established to petition for better health and safety conditions, it demonstrated that these employees sought for a voice, through the many strikes that occurred particularly during the post World War I and II period. In particular, The General Strike of NSW provides insight into how the development of modernity was instigated by the era of industrialisation (Jurkiewicz 1977). This event was ‘arguably the biggest class conflict in Australian history’ (Bollard 2007) with approximately 100,000 workers participating in this social revolution for over two months (Bollard 2007). As a result of the consequent high levels of unemployment following the World War I period, specifically during the Depression, conditions worsened for the employees in a precarious industry. It was through this era, that it was most evident that modernisations caused the change in traditions.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we are able to see that while modernity has brought progress, they have also brought upon many unethical and unsafe work practices. During the reign of white supremacy, a patriarchal society was promoted, causing men to be more empowered over women, which brought about unfair treatment of women in terms of opportunities and living conditions. Through the industrial era, in exchange things to be done more efficiently and more quickly, human rights have been ignored to ensure productivity. These include unsafe working conditions and unfair treatment of the workers. These changes in modernity have caused a change in traditions as people slowly started to fight for their rights. This could be seen in the Union movement of Cockatoo Island, and the women’s movement, which empowered women as well. While it can be said that the whole change in traditions could be an effect of the rapid modernisation, it might also have been through other causes. These causes are cultures of oppression, religion, and patriarchal societies.

Reference List

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