Cockatoo Island (Wareamah)

Cockatoo Island, known to the Eora as Wareamah, sits in the middle of Sydney Harbour and carries two histories stacked on top of each other. From 1839 it held convicts, who cut grain silos down into the sandstone and quarried out the dry dock that became Fitzroy Dock. From the 1850s it grew into a shipyard, and for more than a century it built and repaired vessels, closing in 1992. What remains is unusually raw for a harbour attraction: turbine halls with machinery still bolted down, tunnels driven through rock, a plateau of convict-era buildings, and a campsite where you can sleep with the city skyline in view. Self-guided routes and signage let you wander most of it at your own pace.

What you actually see

• The convict silos - grain pits cut down into the sandstone plateau by convict labour.
• Fitzroy Dock - the dry dock hewn from rock, still holding water at the island's edge.
• The turbine and machine shops - vast industrial sheds with cranes, lathes and gantries left in place.
• The rock tunnel - a passage cut straight through the island between the two dockyard areas.

When to go

Ferries run all year and the island is open daily. Weekday mornings are quietest; weekends bring day trippers and event crowds, and the island is sometimes closed or partly closed for festivals and film shoots, so check before setting out. There is little shade on the upper plateau, which makes the middle of the day in January and February hard work.

Honest expectations

Food and drink on the island are limited and priced for a captive audience, so bring water at least. The industrial buildings are impressive but bare, and the interpretation is thinner than at a curated museum. Surfaces are uneven, with steps, grates and steep paths between levels. If an event is on, whole sections can be fenced off with no warning on the day.

Nearby

The ferry route passes Balmain and Barangaroo, both easy add-ons on the way back.