AGY-3417 | Civil Engineer, Dry Dock, Cockatoo Island

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In 1839, convict labour was used to cut sandstone on Cockatoo Island in Port Jackson for use in the construction of wharves at Circular Quay and Cockatoo Island.(1) Throughout much of the eighteenth century, Cockatoo Island would be used as a penal establishment. In 1846, Governor Gipps reported to the authorites in London that he had directed the convicts on Cockatoo Island be employed in clearing and preparing the island for the purpose of erecting a dry dock. Although the Lords of the Admiralty approved of the construction of a dry dock on Cockatoo Island, they did not recommend to the Colonial Office that the dock be funded by the British Treasury.(2) On 3 February 1847, Gother Kerr Mann was appointed Civil Engineer in charge of preparing plans for the construction of a dry dock at Cockatoo Island and he subsequently became the Chief Engineer during construction.(3) Mann also served as Commissioner for Railways and as a member of the Immigration Board. Gother Mann gave evidence in July 1847 to a Select Committee of the Legislative Council appointed to investigate the costs and benefits of constructing a dry dock in Sydney.(4) The Committee reported favourably on the construction of a dry dock on Cockatoo Island and in 1847, the Legislative Council voted the sum of £500 for the current year and the same amount for the following year’s construction costs.(5) With the discontinuance of transportation to Van Diemen’s Land, it was proposed by the Governor to use these convicts as labour to construct the dry dock.(6) Work on the dry dock commenced in 1847 and by 1850, those employed included the civil engineer, an overseer of works, an assistant to the overseer, and two boatmen.(7) By 1854, those employed on the dock’s construction included the Civil Engineer, Clerk of Works, Draftsman, Foreman of Engineers, four Foremen of Works, Task Work Clerk, and from January 1855, a Clerk to the Dry Dock, a boiler maker, blacksmith, and two boatsmen.(8) The Civil Engineer and his staff were part of the Convict Establishment on Cockatoo Island until 1850, when it became known as a Penal Establishment.(9) From 1851, the Civil Engineer and those working under him were part of the Civil Establishment of the Colony.(10) By 1856, the Dry Dock on Cockatoo Island was renamed the Fitz Roy Dry Dock after Sir Charles Fitz Roy and the Civil Engineer and those working on the Dock were responsible to the recently created Department of Lands and Public Works.(11) The first vessel to be docked at Cockatoo Island was a punt from the Colonial Steam Dredge "Hercules" on 30 September 1857. The first major vessel to use the dry dock was HMS Herald on 1 December 1857 and between this date and 8 May 1860, a further twenty-three vessels used the Dry Dock.(12) On 1 August 1859, Gother Mann became superintendent of the Penal Establishment on Cockatoo Island and remained Chief Engineer of the Dry Dock. Mann continued to serve in this capacity until his resignation in 1870. Mann’s "retirement" coincided with the closing of Cockatoo Island as a penal establishment.(13) Although the Fitz Roy Dry Dock continued, the position of Civil Engineer ceased.(14) ENDNOTES
1. Australian Encyclopaedia, vol. 2, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, p.438.
2. Historical Records of Australia (HRA), series 1, vol.26, p.50.
3. Returns of the Colony for 1847.
4. Report from the Select Committee on the Proposed Formation of a Dry Dock at Cockatoo Island, Votes & Proceedings of the Legislative Council, vol.2, 1847, pp.403-406.
5. HRA, series 1, vol.26, p50.
6. loc. cit.
7. Returns of the Colony, 1850.
8. Concise Guide to the New South Wales Archives, Civil Engineer, Dry Dock, Cockatoo Island.
9. Returns of the Colony, 1850.
10. Returns of the Colony, 1851.
11. State Records Agency registration Number 44.
12. Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee on the Fitz Roy Dry Dock, Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly 1859-60, vol.4, p.1079.
13. Concise Guide to the New South Wales Archives, Civil Engineer, Dry Dock, Cockatoo Island.
14. New South Wales Blue Book for the year 1871.