Another good thing about working on this ship is that i have been given the opportunity to explore a place that i would almost certainly not have seen otherwise, Cockatoo Island. Every night we return to our mooring which is a small island opposite the suburb of Balmain in Sydney.
Cockatoo Island is a former imperial prison, industrial school, reformatory and gaol and is also the site of one of Australia's biggest shipyards during the twentieth century. The first of its two dry docks was built by convicts and was completed in 1857. The island's maritime industrial activity ceased in 1992 and the island has been deserted ever since but most important of all, it is a shed lovers dream! It really is the strangest place, at the height of its shipbuilding heyday cockatoo employed over 2000 men but today the island is abandoned, all of the buildings remain and indeed most of the machinery remains. It is an eerie and ghostlike place, kind of like a forgotten world.
I must admit when i first moved onto the ship i felt rather frightened being moored on this island at night but as time passed i came to love it. Its an island that represents a moment in time and it remains unchanged. I am not at all against redevelopment, infact I'm all for the reuse of brownfield sites however I'm quite glad that this place has remained the way it was. There is now a campsite on the island and a small visitor centre where you can find out information of its rich history. Most people hated the place, i loved it.
