Cockatoo Island

And that was like the most wildest experience.

Like we filmed on an island called Cockatoo Island.

There were no cockatoos, just seagulls.

We did like jet footage, like all throughout the day we're doing interviews and B-roll, cooking in the Australian sun.

Okay.

Our next stop is Cockatoo Island.

And this story involves a little girl.

Where has she supposedly been seen?

Oh, Cockatoo Island, another favourite.

So there is a place there called Billowella House, which actually is very much associated with Newcastle, because some of the girls that were at Billowella House actually were here in Newcastle at the female factory for a while, or the industrial school, as they called it.

So Biloela House is on the upper part of the island, Cockatoo Island, also known as Warrima.

And it has a very layered history.

Amazing.

She, her and I, she directed me in a short that she produced and it was in a festival at Cockatoo Island in Sydney.

So we went up and actually fucking camped in a two-man tent.

There were three of us in the tent.

And we were drunk every night at this fucking festival… …camped in a tent on Cockatoo Island down the back of the island.

There was no shower fucking facilities and all of this.

But we were desperate to kind of meet people in the film industry… …and we went to a fucking workshop… …and Gillian Armstrong was talking at the fucking workshop… It was Gillian Armstrong and Jane Campion.

Well, you wouldn't do it today.

130 years ago, and I'll briefly tell you how it happened, the state needed a prison and Darlinghurst Jail was overcrowded and Cockatoo Island was a cesspit and the government was looking for land and the first place they thought they'd put it was Randwick.

The Premier at the time loved racing and didn't want a jail anywhere near the racetrack.

So they put it where they thought no one would ever want to go, where no tourists would lay eyes on it.

Well, you wouldn't do it today.

130 years ago, and I'll briefly tell you how it happened, the state needed a prison and Darlinghurst Jail was overcrowded and Cockatoo Island was a cesspit and the government was looking for land and the first place they thought they'd put it was Randwick.

The Premier at the time loved racing and didn't want a jail anywhere near the racetrack.

So they put it where they thought no one would ever want to go, where no tourists would lay eyes on it.

regatta.

Massive, massive intergalactic race around Cockatoo Island.

Good luck.

It's the focus of the year.

Cheers, mate.

See you, mate.

I'm just wondering, is it galah to go around a cockatoo island? Our boss, for those wondering, he's actually back in Australia.

He is in the middle of Outback Australia and he's broken down in his Land Rover.

But probably the cherry on top is that top room, which I think I just saw the image there.

That's got beautiful views, north-facing views across the Cockatoo Island and some wonderful water as well.

And in Balmain, again, hard to find.

We've actually got double parking as well.

...

Cockatoo Island?

Sorry?

Cockatoo Island.

You ever hear of Cockatoo Island in Australia?

Yes.

I have.

Yes.

They're talking about the fence.

Garden Island, Cockatoo Island, Carrington Shipwrecks, the, the place down in Melbourne-

Yeah

...

Uh, I won't mention his name.

One of my neighbors is a, a brilliant carpenter, but he's also a shipwright.

Now, he's in his 70s, you know, about basically the same age as me, and he's gone back to work at Cockatoo Island because there's no shipwrights to do the job.

There you go.

And then one evening you're walking around a former convict settlement in the dark wondering why you thought this was a good idea.

And then staying in Australia, there's Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour.

It has convict and industrial history and forms parts of the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage property.

But here's the bit that caught my attention.