The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, has announced the discovery of convict solitary confinement cells used for punishment in the mid-nineteenth century on Cockatoo Island.
Buried and forgotten for over 100 years, the two intact solitary cells were discovered during an archaeological dig on Sydney’s largest island.
The two cells were built in 1840 beneath the original convict cookhouse located on the top of the island. The cramped cells were each designed to hold a single convict and would have been used as a form of punishment for the hardened secondary offenders who were sent to Cockatoo Island from 1839.
Full media release: Convict cells discovered on Cockatoo Island, 24 September 2009.
