Under the Colony’s Eye: Gentlemen and Convicts on Cockatoo Island
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Under the Colony’s Eye: Gentlemen and Convicts on Cockatoo Island is about the penal settlement on Cockatoo Island and the struggle to build the Fitzroy dry dock. But the task was compromised when an autocratic superintendent turned the island into a secret gentleman’s fight club with his prize-fighting convicts. Under the Colony’s Eye reveals some of Cockatoo’s long-held secrets.
Under the Colony’s Eye: Gentlemen and Convicts on Cockatoo Island is about the penal settlement on Cockatoo Island and the struggle to build the Fitzroy dry dock. It focuses on Charles Ormsby—the autocratic superintendent who organised a secret gentleman’s fight club on the island with his prize-fighting convicts—John Perry and Patrick Sinclair.
This is a true story of patronage, corruption and intrigue. Gaolers and gentlemen struggled for power and convicts met turmoil, farce, death, and the occasional moment of compassion.
Cockatoo was an island that surprised and confined them all. Guarded by sea and circling gulls, the island was a powerful force in the lives of all who lived on it.
Under the Colony’s Eye reveals some of Cockatoo’s long-held secrets.
About this Book
Under the Colony’s Eye: Gentlemen and Convicts on Cockatoo Island was awarded the Kay Daniels prize for outstanding original research by the Australian Historical Association in 2016.
The judges called it ‘a particularly important contribution to the convict story of NSW’ and ‘a gripping tale of colonial politics ... told in stylish but economical prose that reveals the hand of a gifted and confident storyteller.’
Cockatoo Island is one of four sites in New South Wales granted World Heritage listing.
Under the Colony’s Eye: Gentlemen and Convicts on Cockatoo Island 1839-1869
Author: Sue Castrique
Publisher: Anchor Books Australia
ISBN: 9780992467111
Date of Publication: 2014
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