The Baggage Room

Cockatoo Island is a favourite day trip for Sydney siders, a half hour ferry ride into the middle of Sydney Harbour.

But did you know that you can camp overnight and have free rein of the whole island?

I wanted a little solo camping adventure, on a tight budget so I took my own tent ( you can also rent their pre erected tents) and my backpack and picked a warm night.

Cockatoo Island is fascinating- it has so many layers of Sydney history and it’s like being in a museum that is completely open 24 seven and that lets you climb into the exhibitions!

It was a meeting spot for the Wallumedegal, Wangal, Cammeraygal and Gadigal peoples and it was called Wareamah.

At that time it was covered in Red Gum trees and cockatoos ( hence the modern name).

In the 1830s it was pegged to be a great prison site- surrounded with deep “shark infested” waters and with its own sandstone quarry.

So it became the most notorious prison in Australia, the convicts were made to build their own prison cells and the treatment was barbaric.

You can still see the isolation cells, under the prison floor, where men were locked in for weeks with no light and no room to stand up.

My favourite story was that of “Captain Thunderbolt” a convict who risked the sharks, swam to shore and escaped. with the help of his girlfriend, who was waiting with a white horse to whisk him away.

After the prison was disbanded it became a girls reformatory- for girls who were orphaned or in trouble. The poor girls had to exist in the same dire conditions as the prisoners had, but with a never ending sentence to serve.

It then became Australia’s main shipbuilding centre, making and mending ships for the Second World War.

To say that the place has atmosphere is an understatement- if you are brave enough to do your own ghost hunt I’m sure you wouldn’t be disappointed.

From the Cockatoo Island website there is the story of “Minnie” a little girl, aged 5 or 6, who kept coming into some student visitors tent. The girl was dressed in a white dress and had wanted the students, to come outside and play. When the teachers asked at the Visitors Centre who else was staying on the island… they were told they were the only ones there that night.

A tour guide, was doing a birthday tour for a group of kids, aged 10 and 11. On the lawn of Biloela House, a girl told the guide there was a little girl in a white dress looking at her from the window.

I explored the convict precinct after dark, mostly searching for the camp cinema ( strangely and terrifyingly located in the old prison dorms) but let’s just say I wasn’t brave enough to hang around, it’s hard to believe that there wouldn’t be ghosts here- so many people suffered in this place.

The camping set up is very good- there is a huge camp kitchen in the main camping area and another in the BYO tent area, with everything you need- including fridge space.

I had a waterfront view, on lovely flat ground and there was only one other person camping, apart from a small very well behaved school group in the pre erected tent area.

The night was quiet, just the lapping of the water, until the gulls wake up and the boats start ferrying people to work at the boatyard .

No visits from little girls wanting to play.

It was a fantastic, slightly different Sydney tourist thing to do, you get a sense of the history that you wouldn’t during a day trip and it really feels like you can slip into that island vibe, it’s amazing how when you have to get somewhere by boat you immediately feel chilled out.

Top tips

⁃ Take your own dinner as the cafes on the island close at 4pm, they open again at 8.30 and I can recommend the breakfast.

⁃ Get there by 4 pm while the gift shop is open and pick up a self guided tour headset, you don’t have to return it until the next day so you can do the tour and explore at your own pace.

⁃ Be prepared for a quick shower, the warm water is on a 5 minute timer and there is a 5 minute delay before it restarts!

To book your stay visit Camping and accommodation, Sydney Harbour | Cockatoo Island