Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour
Many Koori people were imprisoned on the island in the early part of the nineteenth century. For instance, in 1826 a punitive expedition was mounted by the British against Koories near Wyong. Twenty men were captured and later eight were imprisoned on Cockatoo Island. Governor Bourke requested that a school teacher “should be prepared to teach elements of Christianity to the Aborigines held there”. (Bourke to Secretary of State, Historical Records of New South Wales, 1 May 1835) In 1842 an inquest was held on the body of ‘Toby an Aboriginal native’, who had been convicted of murder and had been conducted to Cockatoo Island, “until the pleasure of Her Majesty should be known”. He had died from inflammation of the lungs. (Sydney Gazette, 4 January 1842) Quite possibly his death had been hastened by the very poor conditions in which some prisoners were held there.