Friends Of Cockatoo Island

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Speakers - Kirkby The Hon Elisabeth
Business - Adjournment

FRIENDS OF COCKATOO ISLAND

The Hon. ELISABETH KIRKBY [6.40]: I bring to the attention of the House the work of a dedicated and diverse group of people who are leading on a most important project in the hope that their elected leaders will follow. I refer to the activities of the Friends of Cockatoo Island and their efforts to shake some action out of Federal and State decision makers. They have already taken the lead on an opportunity that rarely comes along at this stage in the evolution of a city - an opportunity that must be embraced and well thought out. Years of indecision and dithering have seen Cockatoo Island left in a derelict state. It has the potential to become the jewel in the crown of Sydney Harbour and, despite its current status as yet another contaminated former industrial site, must remain in public ownership and be rejuvenated.

Cockatoo Island is the largest island in Sydney Harbour and is worthy of special attention. It is enormously rich in heritage value. It has been a prison, reformatory, naval and commercial dockyard, ammunition store, and produce store in the earliest days of white settlement. I am reliably informed that some of the convict-built structures are older than those at Port Arthur in Tasmania. The 12 remaining convict-built underground grain silos were hand hewn out of sandstone. The barracks and guardhouse were also convict built and remain the only complete examples in their type in Australia. The island's remaining industrial heritage is equally remarkable and must be preserved for future generations. I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to meet with the Friends of Cockatoo Island and take a boat trip to the site on a wet and wind-lashed afternoon in mid-winter this year.

Momentum is gathering for action to be taken before any more of the site is damaged, and an international design competition has been conducted by landscape architecture students from the University of New South Wales to provide the kind of direction that is currently lacking from government. The issue of what to do with Cockatoo Island must not be relegated to the too-hard basket any longer. Equally important is that the people are given the opportunity to play a primary role in deciding what will happen to Cockatoo Island. I congratulate the visionaries who conducted the competition and the judges who very wisely chose to regard the prize-winning entries as a set of ideas.

Personally, I confess that I am tempted to pick the best and most outstanding ideas and to combine the outstanding features from the designs that can both complement each other and serve the public. In particular, there is a unique opportunity for the best of our sculptors to assist in the conversion from industrial site to public use. The stark quarried sandstone faces around the island are begging for the hand of artistic human intervention to assist the transition from despoiled industrial site to an island that should be part of the Sydney Harbour National Park. Ninety-two entries were received from Australia and around the world. They came from as far afield as Finland, Thailand, Switzerland, New Zealand, Singapore, the United States of America, Chile and Spain.

This project has attracted almost as much international attention as the Sydney Opera House design, and will certainly cost far less in order to complement the opera house and provide a focal point at the opposite end of the harbour. Designs submitted have included proposals for a national memorial to honour prominent Australians; the permanent home for the National Maritime Museum; an industrial heritage museum utilising the unique power station on the island; a prison in combination with multiple public use; a necropolis; a ferry interchange and water taxi depot; a public park and convention centre; Australia's cultural vatican; a sculpture park; and a centre for the study, creation, exhibition, research and performance of the arts.

There is also a proposal to cover the entire island in ficus, Moreton Bay fig and other species in order to let them take over and swallow the previous human occupation of the island. The proposal plans to shut the island for 100 years and then, after the strangler figs and other species have completely taken over all the buildings, allow the public to wander over it via a system of suspended walkways. I fully realise that some form of commercial involvement will be necessary in order to realise the potential of Cockatoo Island. It is the diversity of possibilities and combinations thereof that make this opportunity such a unique and exciting one. I call on honourable members to focus on all these possibilities. [Time expired.]

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