Jenna Smith’s Opinion piece published in the Sydney Morning Herald 10 March 2020 received strong responses in Letters to the Editor (see below). She completely disregards the fact that Cockatoo Island is not an undeveloped island as was the case with Naoshima Island. Cockatoo Island has significant cultural and historical heritage, parts of Cockatoo Island are on the UNESCO World Heritage List, the National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heritage List.
Letters to the Editor
March 13, 2020 – Leave island alone
Your correspondents have nailed it with regard to Cockatoo Island (Letters, March 12). To wander around the place is an evocative experience because a visitor is never alone but accompanied by the whispering ghosts of all those who once toiled there, or were incarcerated there, or even had their Biennale art works briefly displayed there in those great, gaunt, echoing buildings. It is a hushed place, a rare retreat from the shrieking mad city. It is already a museum, a gallery, a library, a temple, a theatre of shadows. Leave it alone. – Kent Mayo, Uralla
March 12, 2020 – Cockatoo Island is its own celebration
What Jenna Price fails to acknowledge in her opinion piece (”It's the best place I've ever been and Sydney could do even better”, March 9), is that Cockatoo Island was a gift to all Australians by the Howard government. It is public land managed by the Harbour Trust with an obligation "to protect, conserve and interpret its environmental and heritage values".
Cockatoo Island is rich in Indigenous, convict, colonial, maritime and military heritage values. It is not enough to pay lip-service to our First Nations people by just renaming it Wareamah without further acknowledgement and interpretation of the island’s important heritage. It is hard to see how an art island, funded by the taxpayer to the tune of $200 million, "capitalising" on 100 buildings comprising the entire island, turning historic houses into "big money-spinners" by offering "opulent accommodation" for international visitors, interprets our heritage. – Jill L’Estrange, Headland Preservation Group
Would the Tasmanian government turn Port Arthur into an outpost of Mona? No. So why is Cockatoo Island seen as a vacant opportunity for people wanting to replicate art experiences they have enjoyed elsewhere? Cockatoo Island already has a use as a museum about itself. The place itself is the exhibit. This is recognised in its World Heritage listing. It doesn’t need to be filled with art to be a memorable experience for visitors because it has its own stories of transportation, work, industry and incarceration. Or can’t we face that? Having spent millions pursuing the World Heritage serial convict listing, the obligation on the Australian government is to conserve and manage Cockatoo Island for its universal values, not give it away for uses unrelated to the significance of the place. – Kylie Winkworth, Newtown
Jenna Price should avail herself of the facts before waxing lyrical about creating a Naoshima on Cockatoo Island (SMH 9/3/20). This land does not belong to the NSW government. It does not belong to 'philanthropists’, who are asking the Commonwealth government for $200 million for remediation, before a dollar is spent by them. Cockatoo Island belongs to the people of Australia, entrusted to the Sydney Federation Harbour Trust to manage so that its multi-layered history can be protected and conserved in perpetuity. The government should give the required $200+million to the Trust – and let them create an authentic space for all Australians to enjoy. – Barbara Sullivan, Neutral Bay
LETTERS MARCH 12, 2020 DOWNLOAD PDF →
March 11, 2020 – Cockatoo vision ruffles feathers
Well heck, Jenna, yes! Let’s “capitalise on” our precious world-heritage harbour site (the only other being the Opera House) with a giant outdoor spotted pumpkin, glamping, a theatre for “deluxe” events and “money-spinning” luxury accommodation (but not for us lowly Aussies who can “hop a ferry back to their Airbnb”). And let’s be sure to rename Cockatoo Island “Museum Wareamah” because it’s a “helluva lot more poetic”. I’m sure Indigenous Australians would agree. You are right, the result will be “strange and challenging”. Who cares if it eradicates decades of heritage rehabilitation by the remarkable Harbour Trust. Let’s go for it. – Linda Bergin, Millers Point